- May 4, 2019
- 13
- 15
Well all we can say is Thank You!!! We asked for your input on our bacon research and you answered quickly.
Hubby and I decided to try Bear's Smokey Bacon recipe using TQ for the cure for our first attempt at bacon. Our pork belly was 12 pounds that we cut into two 6 pound sections. We cured it for 10.5 days.
During the cure, we realized that our Smoke Hollow propane would not go low enough like bear's did. But luckily had read a lot on the forums about the AMNPS and Amazon did not disappoint. However, we still had questions and we reached out to chat with Bear and Disco for their input. Thanks to both of them, we quickly had answers to keep us moving forward.
Our next step was to rinse the excess cure off then soak for an hour in ice cold water. We dried it off and did a test fry for saltiness. Was pleasantly surprised it was good. Next we seasoned one section with PGO and left one section as is before placing uncovered in refrigerator for 12 hours. Everyone had different opinions on how to season and what wood to use for smoke. But a couple of our research advisors stated to go with what we thought we would like. Which is what we did.
Our next morning started early with getting the smoke going with apple wood dust. We decided to go with a cold smoke for 12 hours. There is just something about smoke that makes the neighbor (our son) ask "What's for dinner?" When smoke was complete, we wrapped it up in plastic wrap and back in the refrigerator for couple days until we had time to slice it up and freeze.
Sorry for the long post but wanted to share our appreciation for everyone on this forum, especially bear and disco for giving their time and sharing their talents, to make our first attempt at bacon a huge success. The neighbor said it's better than the store bacon and that we didn't make enough. LOL!
THANK YOU ALL!!! Here are some pictures of our bacon success...
Now we need to invest in a new meat slicer because the home slicer, we borrowed from our brother, broke the main plastic gear (ugh!) while slicing and it would only cut thick slices. On to more research!
Hubby and I decided to try Bear's Smokey Bacon recipe using TQ for the cure for our first attempt at bacon. Our pork belly was 12 pounds that we cut into two 6 pound sections. We cured it for 10.5 days.
During the cure, we realized that our Smoke Hollow propane would not go low enough like bear's did. But luckily had read a lot on the forums about the AMNPS and Amazon did not disappoint. However, we still had questions and we reached out to chat with Bear and Disco for their input. Thanks to both of them, we quickly had answers to keep us moving forward.
Our next step was to rinse the excess cure off then soak for an hour in ice cold water. We dried it off and did a test fry for saltiness. Was pleasantly surprised it was good. Next we seasoned one section with PGO and left one section as is before placing uncovered in refrigerator for 12 hours. Everyone had different opinions on how to season and what wood to use for smoke. But a couple of our research advisors stated to go with what we thought we would like. Which is what we did.
Our next morning started early with getting the smoke going with apple wood dust. We decided to go with a cold smoke for 12 hours. There is just something about smoke that makes the neighbor (our son) ask "What's for dinner?" When smoke was complete, we wrapped it up in plastic wrap and back in the refrigerator for couple days until we had time to slice it up and freeze.
Sorry for the long post but wanted to share our appreciation for everyone on this forum, especially bear and disco for giving their time and sharing their talents, to make our first attempt at bacon a huge success. The neighbor said it's better than the store bacon and that we didn't make enough. LOL!
THANK YOU ALL!!! Here are some pictures of our bacon success...
Now we need to invest in a new meat slicer because the home slicer, we borrowed from our brother, broke the main plastic gear (ugh!) while slicing and it would only cut thick slices. On to more research!
