I Finally Smoked one....

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old poi dog

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
Aug 26, 2007
1,232
11
Maui, Hi.
Hello All,

I Smoked my first Bacon last week.   I used Rytek’s basic rub: salt, dextrose and pink cure.  Nothing fancy just so I could have a basic idea of what my plain bacon would taste like.

I rubbed down two slabs of pork belly that totaled 5lbs..

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Here they are again after spending 10 days in the refrigerator and after a 1 hour soak in cool water.

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Into the smoker they went where they spent 8.5 hours.  I could only keep the temps in the 125-130 degree range.  I didn’t apply smoke for the first hour and from the 2[sup]nd[/sup]hour to the end of the smoke I used applewood chips in the Smoke Daddy that I rigged up.

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Here they are just prior to being pulled from the smoker.

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I let them rest overnight in the refrigerator before attempting to slice with a friend’s Krups slicer.  The slicer was underpowered so I just cut the bacon in 4 pieces and gave three pieces to friends.  I kept one piece for myself and fried some up this morning……Bacon came out great tasting.   I will make it again, but now am seriously trying to score a used Globe slicer.  I talked to a repair person in town and he thinks he’ll have a Globe 12 inch slicer coming in as trade in a month or so.  I got first dibs on that one.
 
NICE!!!! I have 10 lbs. of wild hog I still need to make into bacon. Seeing this makes me think maybe next weeked. Well Done my friend.
 
It looks awesome congrats on the first of what I'm sure will be many bacon smokes
 
Thanks All,

I will try to duplicate this Bacon Smoke a few more times before I start considering infusion of maple flavor  and or cracked pepper etc. 
 
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Now that's some fine looking bacon there Poi dog. It seems like everyones is doing bacon but yours will stand out for sure.
 
Looks great. How did you get the golden color mine tasted good but not much color on the outside?

Robert
Hi Robert,

This was only my first Bacon Smoke but I also wanted to achieve that color you refer too.  I am not sure but it may be the lower temps I smoked it at.  I know there were a bunch of threads recently about smoking at lower temps for 6 hours or more....

Perhaps Bearcarver and other  experienced Baconeers will be along shortly to give us their take on coloring.
 
Iaorana Poi,

You did good, looks great, congrats my friend.

You were able to smoke at 125°-130° in your GOSM, and plus it's summer for you, I'm jealous, this Wednesday I got down to 150°, but it's winter here.

You tried cooking in banana or ti leaves yet?

Gene
 
Aloha Gene,

First of all, "Thanks Gene."  

I took a hint from you and others and got myself  two needle valves and hooked up my GOSM and Smoke Vault to them.  Your parts list that you shared on line some time back helped me get the parts I needed to hook up.

AS a result, I am better able to control the heat the smoker puts out.  I am also hooking up an external smoke source (Smoke Daddy).   Perhaps I should have put ice in the water pan to drop the temps even lower on the Bacon smoke.....next time.

Ti leaves for smoking.....I haven't done that yet, but will give it a try.  I've got a bunch of em growing in the yard.

Take care Friend

Val
 
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Nice job there OPD.  Now that Ma Dutch is back to work (at least part time), we might be able to get back into doing up some bacon for ourselves.

I deleted you duplicate post for you.
 
Nice job there OPD.  Now that Ma Dutch is back to work (at least part time), we might be able to get back into doing up some bacon for ourselves.

I deleted you duplicate post for you.
Aloha Dutch,

Mahalo (Thank You) for removing my duplicate posting.  Looking forward to your next batch of bacon.  Take Care

Val
 
 
Hi Robert,

This was only my first Bacon Smoke but I also wanted to achieve that color you refer too.  I am not sure but it may be the lower temps I smoked it at.  I know there were a bunch of threads recently about smoking at lower temps for 6 hours or more....

Perhaps Bearcarver and other  experienced Baconeers will be along shortly to give us their take on coloring.
OPD,

I'm not sure about the color either. I have smoked Bacon to internal temps of 100˚, 128˚, 135˚, $ 139˚. Probably the one with the least color was the one I took to 100˚, but that one had less time smoking too. I think it's more how many hours you're putting smoke on it, not how low the temp is. Next time I will use only my AMNS, but I won't bother with the ice.

Bear
 
Thanks All,

I will try to duplicate this Bacon Smoke a few more times before I start considering infusion of maple flavor  and or cracked pepper etc. 
OPD,

You don't have to get fancy to add seasonings.

Next time, after curing & rinsing & patting dry, take one of the pieces, and sprinkle some Black Pepper, garlic powder, and Onion powder on it before smoking it.

Personally I tried adding Maple Syrup, to the cure, and I tried injecting it. IMO it wasn't worth the effort. Maybe it would be OK on the outside before smoking, but then it would get all sticky, and probably burn in the pan too.

Bear
 
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OPD,

You don't have to get fancy to add seasonings.

Next time, after curing & rinsing & patting dry, take one of the pieces, and sprinkle some Black Pepper, garlic powder, and Onion powder on it before smoking it.

Personally I tried adding Maple Syrup, to the cure, and I tried injecting it. IMO it wasn't worth the effort. Maybe it would be OK on the outside before smoking, but then it would get all sticky, and probably burn in the pan too.

Bear

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Hi Bear,

Thanks for the tip.  I'll try sprinkling on the pepper garlic / onion powders like you suggested.

Val
 
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