Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
Ok, I plan to smoke about 10 pounds of pork belly for bacon maybe as early as next weekend.
This thread has great info and debate on cold vs hot. I am thinking I will do a little of both cold'ish and hot smoking but only because I don't know if they produce a different texture. I'm sure I can get the smoke flavor with either approach..
My questions are:
1. When fried, is the texture of the bacon any different when cold smoked (no heat) vs hot smoked ( IT 145F)?
2. If so what is the texture like cold smoked? (I imagine the same as what store bought produces)
3. If so what is the texture liked hot smoked ( IT 145F)?
I personally like soft bacon but most people I know like crispy bacon. I would like to be able to produce both types of textures but have read some cases where the bacon doesn't get crispy. I know my Ground Formed Bacon wouldn't get crispy like bacon but GFB is a different ballgame. Once I know what will be produced I may plan to do both types of smokes to then see which one I like best or stick with the approach that gives me the soft or crispy texture after frying.
I am thinking I would prefer hot smoking because I like shorter times vs half a day smoking. I like the idea of being able to eat the bacon when it comes out of the smoker (provided I go to a safe IT) of when it is cold. Finally, reports are that the color and smoke absorption is better at higher/hot temps.
Your answers to the questions and feedback are greatly appreciated :)
That was my initial plan unless someone says texture would be a problem, I don't think texture will be though.
I originally read your step by step and with your info/advice I knew I would want to warm smoke some. You raise too many good points in your post about the warm smoke so I will surely follow those guidelines.
I may also save a smaller piece of pork belly to experiment with by walking a temp up to 160F. I've read that when smoking sausage to use a temp of 160-165F max to keep the fat in sausage from rendering. I'm wondering if the bacon fat would also work at those temps. Only playing around will let me know but I will only experiment with one piece of the whole batch :)
Hopefully I'll have some answers. I like experimenting a bit so I'm sure I'll be trying something out of the ordinary or try something out there that doesn't have much detailed info so I can answer any questions I have :)
That was my initial plan unless someone says texture would be a problem, I don't think texture will be though.
I originally read your step by step and with your info/advice I knew I would want to warm smoke some. You raise too many good points in your post about the warm smoke so I will surely follow those guidelines.
I may also save a smaller piece of pork belly to experiment with by walking a temp up to 160F. I've read that when smoking sausage to use a temp of 160-165F max to keep the fat in sausage from rendering. I'm wondering if the bacon fat would also work at those temps. Only playing around will let me know but I will only experiment with one piece of the whole batch :)
That is good info to have. I will use it for sure when I smoke the bacon. I bought 16 pounds of belly and have it curing right now. I will post when it is all done :)
It has been stated often here on the forum that if you are going to have meat in that temperature range for 4 hours or more then you should cure #1 it while smoking/cooking.
You will want to make sure your bacon is cooked/fried to an internal temperature of 145F or higher. If it is wild pig bacon then go up to 160F. Do not eat the bacon if it has never been cooked to the internal temperatures I just mentioned.
So in short, use cure #1 when smoking bacon and use the proper amounts, no more no less (1tsp per 5 pounds).
Whenever you put meat in a smoker, it is advisable to use cure#1 to cure the meat... It prevents botulism and other pathogens from growing.... Cold smoking meats has been around for centuries... It's a method for preserving meats...
There is one site, on the web, that mentions cold smoking is dangerous and should never be attempted, unless you are an expert or something like that....
Want to be an expert ??? Properly salt and cure the meat... smoke with light smoke for (up to days) at a temp below 70ish deg. F... Properly cook the meat prior to eating....
The information below is from Stanly Marianski's web site... He is a member on this forum..
[h1]Cold Smoking[/h1]
Cold smoking at 52-71° F (12-22° C), from 1-14 days, applying thin smoke with occasional breaks in between, is one of the oldest preservation methods. We cannot produce cold smoke if the outside temperature is 90° F (32° C), unless we can cool it down, which is what some industrial smokers do. Cold smoking is a drying process whose purpose is to remove moisture thus preserving a product.
You will find that different sources provide different temperatures for cold smoking. In European countries where most of the cold smoking is done, the upper temperature is accepted as 86° F (30° C). The majority of Russian, Polish and German meat technology books call for 71° F (22° C), some books ask for 77° F (25° C). Fish starts to cook at 85° F (29.4° C) and if you want to make delicious cold smoked salmon that is smoked for a long time, obviously you can not exceed 86° F (30° C). Cold smoking assures us of total smoke penetration inside of the meat. The loss of moisture also is uniform in all areas and the total weight loss falls within 5-20% depending largely on the smoking time. Cold smoking is not a continuous process, it is stopped (no smoke) a few times to allow fresh air into the smoker.
In XVIII century brick built smokehouses a fire was started every morning. It smoldered as long as it could and if it stopped, it would be restarted again the following morning.
Cold smoked meats prevent or slow down the spoilage of fats, which increases their shelf life. The product is drier and saltier with a more pronounced smoky flavor and very long shelf life. The color varies from yellow to dark brown on the surface and dark red inside. Cold smoked products are not submitted to the cooking process. If you want to cold smoke your meats, bear in mind that with the exception of people living in areas with a cold climate like Alaska, it will have to be done in the winter months just as it was done 500 years ago.
Cold smoking at its best. Smoking continues through the night. Photos courtesy Waldemar Kozik.
Using dry wood is of utmost importance when cold smoking. It is recommended to keep wood chips in a well defined single pile as they will have less contact with air, thus will smoke better without creating unnecessary flames and heat. By following these rules we achieve 75-85% humidity, creating the best conditions for moisture removal. Once the moisture content drops low enough, the salt present in the meat will further inhibit the development of bacteria and the products can hang in the air for months losing more moisture as time goes by.
Lox (smoked salmon) is smoked with cold smoke for an extended period of time. Applying hotter smoke (over 84° F, 28° C) will just cook the fish, the flavor will change and we will not be able to slice it so thin anymore. Cold smoking is a slow process and the hams, which lend themselves perfectly to this type of smoking, can be smoked from 2 to even 6 weeks. During smoking they will slowly be acquiring a golden color along with a smoky flavor.
Cold smoking allows us total smoke penetration inside of the meat. Very little hardening of the outside surface of the meat or casing occurs and smoke penetrates the meat easily.
Hot smoking dries out the surface of the meat creating a barrier for smoke penetration.
dd- It depends on what kind of smoker you are using as far as keeping temperatures down. I'm guessing most folks just roll with what ambient temperatures they have. However, you need to use a COLD smoke generator of some sort. In other words, don't use the burner inside your smoker to keep your type of wood burning , but rather a tube or maze tray of pellets or dust or anything similar that you light and it will raise your only temps marginally. Some will put pans of ice or frozen water bottles in their smoker to keep temps down, but that can open up creosote issues depending on your smoker set-up.
In Dallas right now it's 90 degrees and getting hotter every day. The smoker cabinet is outside so it will be minimn of 90 degrees starting out.
I understand a cold smoke gen off site from the cabinet! Thanks for that.
Can you air condition the smoke cabinet in some way that is safe to 70 degrees? Ice would help but as you said cause issues taste and health wise
In Dallas right now it's 90 degrees and getting hotter every day. The smoker cabinet is outside so it will be minimn of 90 degrees starting out.
I understand a cold smoke gen off site from the cabinet! Thanks for that.
Can you air condition the smoke cabinet in some way that is safe to 70 degrees? Ice would help but as you said cause issues taste and health wise
Highly recommend the 5x7 maze tray called an AMNPS. Put that sucker right inside your cabinet! It doesn't need to be in a separate box outside your cabinet although that is more ideal. I didn't catch what kind of cabinet smoker you have, but you just need to keep your vents open for enough oxygen to keep your pellets smoldering. Even in Texas at 100' or even 110' outside air temps I doubt your smoker will get over 125' inside the smoker without any need for cooling. That's a "Warm Smoke" and perfectly acceptable and excellent range to smoke bacon.
In Dallas right now it's 90 degrees and getting hotter every day. The smoker cabinet is outside so it will be minimn of 90 degrees starting out.
I understand a cold smoke gen off site from the cabinet! Thanks for that.
Can you air condition the smoke cabinet in some way that is safe to 70 degrees? Ice would help but as you said cause issues taste and health wise
You can smoke the meat at night.... Around here it can be 90+ during the day and drop into the 40's or 50's at night... there's usually a cool window from midnight to 8 AM.... I will hang the pig belly in the smoker around 10 PM or so ... give it a chance to warm up... I don't smoke, cold refrigerated meats... the meat should be up to ambient temp... then add the AMNPS with around 6 hours worth of pellets when the temp gets to about 70 ish... Come back in the morning.... Now granted, some nights never get down to 70 so I wait.....
Highly recommend the 5x7 maze tray called an AMNPS. Put that sucker right inside your cabinet! It doesn't need to be in a separate box outside your cabinet although that is more ideal. I didn't catch what kind of cabinet smoker you have, but you just need to keep your vents open for enough oxygen to keep your pellets smoldering. Even in Texas at 100' or even 110' outside air temps I doubt your smoker will get over 125' inside the smoker without any need for cooling. That's a "Warm Smoke" and perfectly acceptable and excellent range to smoke bacon.
Thanks for the tip on the AMNPS I have read several good articles on them. I have a few smokers. A vertical offset Stick burner and a Smokin Tex electric. Both serve well for hot smoking. I will run a smoke gen of some type once I get the cabinet temp question figured out. I understand warm and hot smoking. Hot smoke I am not afraid of and do it all the time. I was trying to get to 70 degrees in a hot climate to cold smoke fish bacon and cheese. Ihave hot smoked Bacon and fish but Cheese ...well I don't want that mess!! !LOL!
You can smoke the meat at night.... Around here it can be 90+ during the day and drop into the 40's or 50's at night... there's usually a cool window from midnight to 8 AM.... I will hang the pig belly in the smoker around 10 PM or so ... give it a chance to warm up... I don't smoke, cold refrigerated meats... the meat should be up to ambient temp... then add the AMNPS with around 6 hours worth of pellets when the temp gets to about 70 ish... Come back in the morning.... Now granted, some nights never get down to 70 so I wait.....
You can smoke the meat at night.... Around here it can be 90+ during the day and drop into the 40's or 50's at night... there's usually a cool window from midnight to 8 AM.... I will hang the pig belly in the smoker around 10 PM or so ... give it a chance to warm up... I don't smoke, cold refrigerated meats... the meat should be up to ambient temp... then add the AMNPS with around 6 hours worth of pellets when the temp gets to about 70 ish... Come back in the morning.... Now granted, some nights never get down to 70 so I wait.....
In Dallas right now it's 90 degrees and getting hotter every day. The smoker cabinet is outside so it will be minimn of 90 degrees starting out.
I understand a cold smoke gen off site from the cabinet! Thanks for that.
Can you air condition the smoke cabinet in some way that is safe to 70 degrees? Ice would help but as you said cause issues taste and health wise
I feel the pain about cold smoking in TX. Just plan on cold smoking Late Nov to early Feb and overnight as well.
I did Salmon Lox at the end of Feb earlier this year and lucked out that it was a cold day enough day. I think the high only reached 60F that day and my smoker hit a max of 64F. I put a whole foil pan of ice cubes in the smoker to help keep it as cool as possible.
It was only a 4 hour cold smoke but that was all the Salmon Lox needed. It turned out great and now my brother wants to add about 6 pounds on to my next batch... Which can only happen at the end of the year in North Texas :(
But I heard a Sushi chef once say he piped smoke into salmon that was basically on ice in a contraption he made. I bet if you took a good size cooler, filled half way with ice and then set bacon on racks in the cooler and piped in smoke you could cold smoke that way. You might have to get creative with a little fan to suck air out of one end with the smoke being piped in from the other end. This way you get the smoke to actually flow and vent.
I feel the pain about cold smoking in TX. Just plan on cold smoking Late Nov to early Feb and overnight as well.
I did Salmon Lox at the end of Feb earlier this year and lucked out that it was a cold day enough day. I think the high only reached 60F that day and my smoker hit a max of 64F. I put a whole foil pan of ice cubes in the smoker to help keep it as cool as possible.
It was only a 4 hour cold smoke but that was all the Salmon Lox needed. It turned out great and now my brother wants to add about 6 pounds on to my next batch... Which can only happen at the end of the year in North Texas :(
But I heard a Sushi chef once say he piped smoke into salmon that was basically on ice in a contraption he made. I bet if you took a good size cooler, filled half way with ice and then set bacon on racks in the cooler and piped in smoke you could cold smoke that way. You might have to get creative with a little fan to suck air out of one end with the smoke being piped in from the other end. This way you get the smoke to actually flow and vent.
That was what I was thinking a Fridge or cooler or something to keep it cool for a while. I just hear stuff about the smoke issues with creosote. I wonder how to get around that. Great thinking. It was 90 hear today. I checked the boxes outside . They were right up there on the inside!
