# Smoked some fresh pork bellies... Qview



## motoman3b (Jan 29, 2012)

Worked out a deal this year, butchered a couple deer for a guy in trade for a pig so these bellies were probably the freshest you can get.  Smoked with a mix of hickory and apple.  Turned out great!


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## sprky (Jan 29, 2012)

Looks like your links are broken I get page not found error.


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## motoman3b (Jan 29, 2012)




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## pit 4 brains (Jan 29, 2012)

What cure did you use for those? Did you season at all or just go bare and let the smoke do all the flavoring?


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## motoman3b (Jan 29, 2012)

Did a dry cure with mortons sugar cure, and yes they were bare in the smoker, I dont like to season things more then they need to be.  The one belly I did pour some pure maple syrup in while it was curing and it complemented the bacon very well added a hint of maple flavor!


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## venture (Jan 29, 2012)

Looks good!

Good luck and good smoking.


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## SmokinAl (Jan 30, 2012)

Looks real good from here!


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## africanmeat (Jan 30, 2012)

It looks really good


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## jrod62 (Jan 30, 2012)

Looks great :drool


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## rbranstner (Jan 30, 2012)

Looking good. I'm smoking a few bellies this weekend for the first time. So what was your smoking process? Hot or cold smoked, what temps, how long, etc.???


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## scarbelly (Jan 30, 2012)

They look good from here


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## motoman3b (Jan 30, 2012)

Cold smoked, kept the smoker around 100 degrees for about 10 hours using a mix of apple with a little hickory mixed in.  After it smoked I let it rest in the fridge overnight before slicing.  Going to be getting another pig in a month or two which is good cause this bacon sure isnt going to last.  I also make a ground and formed venison bacon so thats on my to do list sometime soon as well.


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## mballi3011 (Jan 30, 2012)

Nice bacon you have there.


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## smokinhusker (Feb 6, 2012)

Nice!!!


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## dave5440 (Feb 20, 2012)

I'm doing my first pork belly in a couple of days , i'm going with 200f untill an iT of 150 , but I'm not sure if I should use water or not. Any ideas?

Thanks

Dave


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## desertlites (Feb 20, 2012)

Are you going 200* because your not using a cure? and yes if your going to go that hot a water pan will keep the fat that will render from dripping into your heat source and causing a fire or flare ups.


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## dave5440 (Feb 21, 2012)

I did use a cure , I was following Michael Ruhlmans directions  http://ruhlman.com/2010/10/home-cured-bacon-2/

So I take it 200 is too hot , I can change that, I'm not doing it till thurs now as it seems I can't remember when I supposed to be at work.


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## chef jimmyj (Feb 21, 2012)

That cooking at 200*F is probably an Insurance policy that Mr. Ruhlman added because he has no idea who is reading his info. It lets you eat the Bacon right out of the refer with no further cooking, like BBB or CB. If you Always cook your Bacon before eating it, cold smoke it at <100*F until it gets a nice color, may be 10+/- hours...JJ


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## dave5440 (Feb 21, 2012)

Thanks for the info, I didn't realize I was in the cold smoke forum, I did a search to avoid starting a new thread. I like to eat it both ways so I'll have to decide which way to go.


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## alblancher (Feb 22, 2012)

I don't think the forum you are posting in is what prompted Chef JJ's response.   Dave I don't know how much experience you have with bacon but most of us cure with either a brine or dry cure and then cold smoke.  Some of us smoke for a couple of hours some of us smoke for a couple of days.    I've never hot smoked bacon but I know a bunch of members do and they seem to be pretty happy with their results.  

Good luck,   when you get it going post some Qview!


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## dave5440 (Feb 23, 2012)

Well it's done and it taste amazing, I'm never going to buy bacon again(willingly). I turned the smoker as low as it would go which wasn't below 140f. I left it in for 6hrs with apple wood.












I'm new at posting pics but the raw one is the next project, 14lbs for 25$ came with a bonus rack of ribs, the knife is 14" long


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