I smoked a cured 5 lb. pork belly yesterday. The brine was a dry rub of a salt, brown sugar, nutmeg and thyme mixture. I coated the belly in raw apple cider vinegar before applying the rub. I let it cure in the brine for 5 days flipping it in the liquid that formed daily. I smoked it until the internal temp was 150 degrees F. Took about 3 hours with the wind yesterday. I used a blend of pecan and apple woods. Mmmmm! Bacon!
Recipies & Cooking
Bacon!
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Kev. I will use a small brush and scrub the brine off the bacon before smoking. Otherwise yes it will be salty. I just did 5 bellies that turned out well, not salty. We can't eat store bought any more. Washing will also remove the sugars that will burn around the edges when cooking.
Made 10 pounds of bacon for the first time last week. Used a curing mixture from a local butcher. Cured for 5 days and then split up into 3 different groups: plain, bourbon and bourbon maple and continued curing. I thought I read somewhere that you can't "over-cure" pork belly but I think I was mistaken. I ended up curing it for 11 days because I didn't get a chance to smoke it until then (1.5" thick belly) and after smoking it at 200 degrees for 3 hours over apple wood chips on Sunday, I made some last night and it is overly salty. Great flavor, but very salty. Maybe I didn't rinse the belly enough between curing and letting I form the pellicle? Not sure but next time I won't cure it as long to see if that helps. Haven't tried the bourbon or bourbon maple yet to see if it affected the flavor.
Are there different ways to flavor the bacon or did I do it right by just adding it to the ziplock bag it was curing in?
Anyone have any issues with the saltiness too? I'm not sure if I started out with too much salt, over-cured, didn't rinse, etc.
Definitely a learning experience I'll be trying again!
Saw some posts about venison bacon that looked interesting so I decided to give it a try.
Used a 60/40 mix of venison/pork and the bacon seasoning from PS.. Smoked at 120 for 2 hours and then at 175 for 2.5 more hours until the meat hit 145. Used cherry wood.
Finished product turned out OK but I thought it could have used some different seasoning to give it more flavor or kick. Will be good to use for a variety of uses (breakfast sandwiches, BLT's etc)..
Dodger,
I did Zeps recipe and it was very good. I did mine in 3 sections because of size and the only size bags I could find was 2 gallon.
the only thing I will do different is when slicing bacon. I will slice thinner because of less shrink when frying. I used apple wood and it gave it a nice flavor.
good luck
Bugle, Zep and others. Absolutely Beautiful. We bought a hog from my cousins farm. We butchered and packaged the meat ourselves.
We have about 17 pounds of belly for smoking.
I would appreciate any tips and suggestions. I want to do a wet brine. By the way the meat has been in the freezer for a month now.
Thank you !
Looking for tips and comments on making venison bacon. Will be making the type using ground venison. My plan is a 50/50 mix venison/pork. Season mix I have says to mix meat and seasoning, place in pans, age in fridge 24 hours then smoke. I plan on using 9x13 cake pans, smoke at 100/110 degrees three hours with applewood smoke. Finish at 160 degrees till internal is 145 degrees. Cool and slice with a meat slicer, place slices on wax paper and vacuum seal a pound at a time. Input?
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