First attempt at Bacon

[jbellard]

I’ve been wanting to make bacon for awhile now so today I went to Walmart it get some pork belly.
All they had was pork belly cut into 1inch strips that were about 6 inches long. Very meaty though!
Got the cure #1 from academy for only $1.29. Should last a long time unless I find some cheaper whole pork bellies then it’s game on!

So I have a total of 5.1lbs of meat which is 2313.309 grams.
Using diggingdogfarms calculator here’s what it told me.

Cure #1 5.78 grams
Salt 40.89 grams
Sugar 23.14 grams

Had a recipe that was for 12lbs so I took a little less than half of his recipe.
Used brown sugar and black pepper on top of the cure, salt and sugar.

Storing it in a glass 9x13 cake pan with a snap on lid. I did use press and seal under the lid for a little extra protection.

Heading out of town on Saturday so waiting the 7 days should put it being ready on the 27th. Will do the fry test and then smoke with pecan.
Can’t wait and really hoping it comes out well.

 

[SonnyE]

Sounds/looks like a great start. I hope it comes out fabulous!
Looks a lot like what I found at Sam's Club (Which is a Walmart with an admission fee. :rolleyes:)
But I got to talk to the head Butcher, who apologized for somebody cutting the slabs into strips like that. He said he would order a box and should have slabs in a day or two. And to call first.
Well, why would I want to call first? I'd rather show up early and buy other stuff I don't need. Which I did, but day two shown up with a nice row of slabs.
Best wishes for a great first try at BACON!
You might also like to try Disco's Back Bacon (Canadian Bacon) made with Pork Loin. Or his Peppered Back Bacon.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

I haven't tried with the pre cut slabs just because they are so thin I'd assume they'd basically cure more like jerky then bacon.

Curious to see how it turns out!

 

[jbellard]

Yea Tom I’m not sure how they will turn out either.
We are leaving town for Christmas so I thought I’d have them curing while we aren’t gone then the day after we get back get to smoke them up.
Will see. Never cured anything before but love eating bacon!

 

[jbellard]

So we are back home now and today is BACON SMOKING DAY!
Here is the bacon after washing off the cure.
Sliced up a few pieces for tasting to make sure it wasn’t too salty. Nope, perfect!!! Let it sit in front of a fan for about an hour and then it’s on to the smoker.
Bacon into the Bradley where it will get a pecan and oak smoke bath until it hits 140 IT. Then will wrap in wrap and seal, put in fridge and get ready to slice. I will be slicing by hand so will freeze before slicing. Hoping I can get it thin enough.
Until later, see ya!