First attempt at bacon - some thoughts and questions

[tallyboy]

Hello Brothers - it's been a while!

Making my first attempt at bacon - so far so good. Just took the pork bellies out of the dry cure and cooked some up to see how salty they were. Gotta say - unfreakin believable how good they are! I'm resisting the urge to slice up some more as I still need to smoke them. The wife and kids almost fell over when they tried some samples.

Couple thoughts... Is it just me or does homemade bacon fry up at a much lower temp than store bought bacon? Also, I like "crunchy" bacon - seems hard to do without burning the heck out of them.

For those that slice by hand - any tips/tricks?

My bellies still have the skin on them - any good ideas on removing it?

Finally - cold or warm smoke? I can get my Big Chief in the cold smoke range by using foil pans full of ice. Kindof a PITA but if it makes for better bacon then I'll do it. Without the ice pans, I'm running around 160-170 depending on outside temps.

 

[HookedOnQ]

I too noticed you have to fry it super slow to get it crisp without burning not sure why hopefully someone ealse will chime in on that because id like to know also. As for slicing stick it in the freezer for a while and let it firm up and it will make slicing much easier. I cold smoke mine never tried hot smoking so I cant say if ones better than the other just know I get good results cold smoking

 

[oifmarine2003]

If you go warm smoke (to an IT of 150), the skin is very easy to cut off after the cook while still warm.

 

[Rover24]

Removing the skins:

I've only made bacon by hot smoking, and I've cooked both skin on and skin off. For skin off, all it takes is a sharp knife and some patience. For skin on, after smoking I just grab a corner of the skin with a paper towel and peel it off. Kinda like peeling the membrane off of a rack of ribs. It comes off way easier than the rib membrane though.

I didn't really notice much flavor difference between smoking the bellies skin on vs. skin off, except that you won't have any seasoning on the skin side after you pull the skin off. If I do my pepper crusted bacon, I make sure to remove the skin before smoking so that I can crust all of the sides of the bacon with pepper.

 

[Smoking Westy]

I've noticed they fry up at a lower temp as well.

I Hot smoke mine, just did 30 pounds over the weekend. I run the pit 200-225ish until they hit 150 IT. As others have mentioned, if you hot smoke them the skins will come off easily afterwards.

 

[IamMadMan]

Making my first attempt at bacon - so far so good. Just took the pork bellies out of the dry cure and cooked some up to see how salty they were.

Couple thoughts... Is it just me or does homemade bacon fry up at a much lower temp than store bought bacon? Also, I like "crunchy" bacon - seems hard to do without burning the heck out of them.

I too noticed you have to fry it super slow to get it crisp without burning not sure why hopefully someone ealse will chime in on that because id like to know also.

You have to remember that store bought bacon is stitch pumped with a brine and it retains a lot of water. Thus it can take more heat, and it gives more fat into the pan which helps crisp it well without burning.

Your dry cured bacon contains much less water, more sugar and has less fat to render out. This lack of water (brine) causes the bacon to dry out quickly, less fat in the pan and it doesn't crisp well, and lastly the sugar in bacon from the cure burns causing the bacon to burn easily.

For those that slice by hand - any tips/tricks?

As for slicing stick it in the freezer for a while and let it firm up and it will make slicing much easier.

^ +1 Yes firm, don't freeze and a good graton slicing knife works well until you can get a deli slicer.

My bellies still have the skin on them - any good ideas on removing it?

If you go warm smoke (to an IT of 150), the skin is very easy to cut off after the cook while still warm.

I've cooked both skin on and skin off. For skin off, all it takes is a sharp knife and some patience. For skin on, after smoking I just grab a corner of the skin with a paper towel and peel it off. Kinda like peeling the membrane off of a rack of ribs. It comes off way easier than the rib membrane though.

^ +1 ... Easy Peasy....

Finally - cold or warm smoke? I can get my Big Chief in the cold smoke range by using foil pans full of ice. Kindof a PITA but if it makes for better bacon then I'll do it. Without the ice pans, I'm running around 160-170 depending on outside temps.

I cold smoke mine never tried hot smoking so I cant say if ones better than the other just know I get good results cold smoking

I've only made bacon by hot smoking, and I've cooked both skin on and skin off. I didn't really notice much flavor difference between smoking the bellies skin on vs. skin off.

I cold smoke for 4 hours then raise the smokers temperature to to 130° continuing to smoke for 2 more hours slowing raising the smoker to 170° until the internal temperature of the bacon is 135°. The higher the internal temperature, the more fat that renders out.

Everybody has a method that works best for their smoker and their personal choice of finishing temperatures.

 

[tallyboy]

Great information everyone - thanks!