Bikes, Beers, and Bytes

The bacon was successfully cured after 7 days, but true American bacon is also smoked. Not just smoked, cold smoked. This was the first challenge since I only had a hot smoker. Not to worry I on occasion like to fabricate solutions when a need arises. This twisted desire could very well be why I fell into IT and network security. It’s a curse at times.

I found a suitable solution here http://virtualweberbullet.com/coldsmoker.html#more
I bought a tiny weber charcoal grill called a smokey joe, and several pieces of duct work, and a drier hose. Put it all together and presto a cold smoker.

While the coal heated up in the smokey Joe I pulled the cured bellies out. Gave em a good rinse, seasoned one with pepper, and the other with Old Bay. Plopped one on the bottom rack the other on the top. Closed it all up and added cherry wood to the coals. I monitored the smoker every forty five minutes for temperature and smoke. When smoke would thin out more wood was added, if the temp got too high I would close some of the vents and open the smoker. Although the temperature never got over 72 degrees F.

After five and a half hours of smokey goodness I wrapped the slabs of bacon and tossed them in the fridge for an hour. This hour helps make the bacon solid and easier to slice. Trust me it’s hard enough to slice as is.

I fried up some slices of the pepper bacon that very morning. Amazing! Since then I’ve also cooked up some of the Old Bay bacon. Mmm very good. Will have to add more old bay next time.

Soon I will update this post with pictures of the smoker and the bacon.

Mmmmm bacon. Say it with me bacon. Smokey, greasy american bacon. Bacon makes everything better, sandwiches, salads, soups, steaks, and even some deserts. Bacon has also been called the gateway meat.

If you love bacon and use it as much as I do, or want to, I have some questions for you. How much money do you spend on bacon? Did you ever want a different bacon like cajun hickory, or black pepper cherry and applewood? Right now if your wiping your chin and dreaming bacon dreams your answer must be yes. In which case there is really only a few options, find an artisan bacon supplier, or learn to create your own.

Since I like to brew my own beer it would only make sense to learn how to make my own bacon. My first batch of bacon was three one inch by one inch, by 7 inch strips. It was straight up salted smoked bacon and wrapped it around a filet mignon. It was perfect, just needed a tad less salt in the next cure. All the bacon I made went fast, it only lasted a day.

Starting my next batch I knew I needed two things out of my pork belly purchase. First a larger single piece of belly. Second a higher quality belly. It took a few days but I found a butcher that would sell me a small (7 Lbs) belly. This butcher is so good I will try to purchase most of my meat there for now on.

Now this 7 Lbs belly I cut it into two pieces for two different flavors. The first is a Brown sugar and black pepper bacon. The following ingredients are based on 3.5 Lbs of the belly.

2 oz. Kosher salt
3 Tbs coarse ground pepper
2 Tbs coriander
3 crushed bay leafs
1/4 cup dark brown sugar

-Public service message you may want to use pink salt (butcher salt) it contains nitrates, but prevents botulism. If you use pink salt be sure to follow the directions for quantity. If you don?t use pink salt, by reading on, you release me of all liability etc.

First as the home brewers out there know we must follow sanitation and sterilization at all times. Clean everything before preparing the bacon, and everything the bacon, your hands or drippings may have touched. Clean, clean and clean again.

Here is the belly (folded in half and wrapped) and ingredients. BTW real butchers wrap their meat in brown paper. 😉

This is the unwrapped belly its longer than my roast carving board.

Now I cut the meat in half, and used the first part for the recipe listed above. Below is a picture of what 3.5 Lbs of pork looks like.

The next step is to mix all the ingredients in a bowl to make the cure mix. Lightly mix everything together.

Get a 2 gallon bag ready, and rub the mix on the side facing up, and the edges.

Slide the belly into the bag, and flip the bag over. Now pour in all the remaining mix and rub the remaining sides. Close up the bag, and double wrap that bad boy by sealing it in a second bag. Label the bag according to the contents, or by recipe. Put the bag in the fridge.

I still had 3 Lbs of belly to cure. This half of the belly is an east coast bacon experiment. It?s a Old bay seasoning cure mix I created. Mmmm bacon, and Mmm old bay. Only time will tell.

Every day the bags get flipped. Then in seven days both bellies get washed, smoked, chilled and sliced. Seven days, well thats shorter than brewing a batch of beer.

Check back in 7 to 8 days!