# Bacon question????



## forktender (Sep 19, 2021)

What is the difference between the texture of cooked hot or cold smoked bacon? Or is there a difference between the two different type's of bacons?


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## SmokinEdge (Sep 19, 2021)

Honestly, in the end it’s usually all fried and texture is same.
That said, cold smoked has a deeper smoke flavor, not strong but more in depth. Hot smoked just has a lighter smoke, but if your sugar is high, it tends to burn less in the pan, making it easier to cook, for me at least.
True old school smoking is of the cold variety, for preservation. Hot smoking just gets it done faster, with a little less flavor.
I hot smoke everything. Just because of time.


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## forktender (Sep 20, 2021)

I cold smoked 2 bellies for 6 hrs two days in a row with an overnight in the refrigerator. And I'm thinking about finishing off 1 of them to 130 internal temp just to see which I like best. Am I wasting my time? Should I just slice it and be done with it?


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## daveomak (Sep 20, 2021)

You will enjoy the cold smoke...  It's old school...  How bacon was made, generally, pre 1960....  You could buy bacon in the meat market and they sliced it while you waited...   More depth of flavor..  More concentrated flavor...   That's how I do all my bacon...








Then I bake it on a wire rack, and sometimes swab it with maple syrup as it is finishing up...







Cold smoked is still available...  There are artisan shops that sell it for around $8-10 a pound...

Brican, a meat shop owner, can't keep cold smoked in his shop....  sells out too fast....

*Brican's bacon...*


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## zwiller (Sep 20, 2021)

daveomak
 How many hours smoke you doing now?


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## daveomak (Sep 20, 2021)

zwiller said:


> daveomak
> How many hours smoke you doing now?



I'm smoking belly, generally, 6 hours per day (1 full tray of dust in the AMNPS) and 2 days smoking below 70 F...   I've tried longer but, since going to pellet dust, I prefer the "lighter smoke" that doesn't over power the meat..
I can now taste the maple flavor from the dry brine I'm using...  It's a commercial product...  It does not have the the cure accelerator added to it..   I'm not interested in speeding up the curing process...  I cure for 2 weeks..  Old world style of curing...
This turkey cure is one I'm trying now....  Same as the old stuff (I can't find any longer) only the nitrite is 1% in stead of the 0.86% the old stuff had...  It's from Walton's...   They sell it as a Turkey Brine but dry rub works just fine...  You just omit the water.....  
Use 9 grams per pound of belly for the rub...  That returns approx. 200 Ppm nitrite, which is lawful according to the FSIS for a dry rubbed  product...
7 grams per pound for approx. 156 Ppm nitrite..  You may have to add a little extra kosher salt.. which would be about 1 gram per pound...


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## Brokenhandle (Sep 20, 2021)

I would suggest doing both ways. Only way you're going to know which you like best or if you notice a difference.  

Ryan


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## SmokinAl (Sep 20, 2021)

Dry cure & cold smoke makes the best bacon, IMHO!
Al


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## Bearcarver (Sep 20, 2021)

I tried may ways:
I've done Cold smoked for 24 hours (Under 70°), and it was Good.
However I warm smoked (100° to 130°) many times for 10 to 11 hours.
In my opinion the warm smoked got better color & better flavor in the 11 hours, than the Cold Smoked got in 24 hours.
 I imagine the cold smoke for days, whether continuous or in separate stages could be the best, but I never felt like spending that much time on it, when my Warm Smoked is Awesome in 11 hours.

Bear


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## zwiller (Sep 20, 2021)

Thanks 

 daveomak
.  Those 

 brican
 threads are off the chart!  Probably my fave of all the stuff here.  Wish he was still active.  

Totally agree you have try both ways and decide for yourself.  I have not run warm yet.  I suspect you can get very similar effects by either method but depends on duration.  I think cold smoking is like 2-3x less potent than warm but as usual YMMV.


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## smokeymose (Sep 20, 2021)

I've never done "hot smoked" so I guess I really can't say about texture.
My rationale is: Why pre-cook it when it's going to be cooked somehow anyway?
I also don't have an electric smoker...
6 to 8 hours of cold smoke with a tube and pellets is enough smoke flavor for us.
Try it both ways and see what you like best :-)


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## Winterrider (Sep 20, 2021)

You will enjoy the cold smoke... It's old school... How bacon was made, generally, pre 1960.... You could buy bacon in the meat market and they sliced it while you waited... More depth of flavor.. More concentrated flavor... That's how I do all my bacon...



 daveomak
 , your bacon looks fantastic !


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## forktender (Sep 21, 2021)

It's hot outside so tomorrow afternoon I will run 1 or 2 slabs through the smoker at 170* until it reaches an internal temp of 130-135*.
The rest are ready to slice.
They have 2 days of cold smoke with hickory &pecan smoke on them .

Im looking forward to this batch of bacon.


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## Bearcarver (Sep 21, 2021)

forktender said:


> It's hot outside so tomorrow afternoon I will run 1 or 2 slabs through the smoker at 170* until it reaches an internal temp of 130-135*.
> The rest are ready to slice.
> They have 2 days of cold smoke with hickory &pecan smoke on them .
> 
> Im looking forward to this batch of bacon.




I've seen others intentionally stop at those temps. (130°--135°)
I never figured out why anybody would stop that close to 140°.
Stopping below 140° means you still have to cook it in some way to 140° before you eat it.  However if you go just a bit more---To 140° IT, that means you don't have to heat it at all---You could eat it cold. Or better yet, you could just warm it up to your liking, instead of having to worry about burning it or cooking it more than you like, while taking it those few degrees higher to make it safe.

Just thought I'd mention,

Bear


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## forktender (Sep 21, 2021)

Thanks John,  my Gramp's used to always have 2 to 6 bacons  hanging in his cellar at any time that you could slice and eat.  The only way I will eat it is fried of trim chunks in green beans or other veggies. The 130 to 135* temp is what the recipe calls for, for whatever reason.


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## daveomak (Sep 21, 2021)

Then the recipe says "to hold at that temp until desired color is obtained".....
Probably  up to 12 hours...  
Then the intention is to cook the bacon.....


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## forktender (Sep 22, 2021)

It was too hot for me to be messing around with the smoker today. So I said screw it too the hot smoke'in test.
I had my work cut out for me with the 2 bellies that I cold smoked last week.  6-8 hours in my Drum using pecan dust in a maze and hickory pellets in a tube. After the first smoke I let it harden 2 nights uncovered in a 34* refer.  On day 4 I  cold smoked them  again exactly like the first time. Then 4 more days uncovered in cold refer to harden even more.

Like a bonehead, I forgot to take pictures of the bellies and what they looked like before and during the process.

Today, I stayed home soaking up the AC, it was 100* outside, heck it's almost midnight and it's still 81* outside. Today I broke out my meat slicer and sliced up almost 19 lbs of bacon with at least 4-5 lbs of ends, trim and slices that had very little meat or none at all .

Speaking of slices that are pretty much all fat. What do you guys do with the stuff?
How do you use it?

Here's 13lbs plus portioned and vac sealed in to 1 1/4lb- 1 1/2lb bags. I have 2 more trays of sliced to portion, bag and seal tomorrow.
*












I test fried up a skillet full and I finally get it. Now I can understand why guys love this stuff as much as they do.

This batch taste 5X better than my first batch, I used Tender Quick on the first batch, and it was too salty for me, but my little brother loved it and has been pestering me to make up some more, so I did.

Thanks for all the tips, help and support,  once again you guys were right, it is very easy to do.  If you have a little free time and a belly handy, go for it. The dry cure took less than an hour from start to finish.

And the smoking, you can do that whenever you have some free time. I smoked mine at night because of the heat, and I don't sleep when it's hot in the house.

Once again sorry for long rambling post, sleep deprivation/desperation is a REAL BITCH!!!!!  
Dan     *


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## Brokenhandle (Sep 22, 2021)

We typically just try to divide the mostly fat pieces up among the decent slices evenly so we don't get a pack of mostly fatty pieces.  

Ryan


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## Bearcarver (Sep 22, 2021)

Brokenhandle said:


> We typically just try to divide the mostly fat pieces up among the decent slices evenly so we don't get a pack of mostly fatty pieces.
> 
> Ryan




^^^That's Pretty much My Method too! ^^^

That Looks Awesome Forktender!!
Nice Job---Boy are you eating good Now!!!
Like.

Bear


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## forktender (Sep 22, 2021)

I was too hot and tired to do that. I just threw the fatty prices in with the ends and trim. I guess I'll use it in soups and vegetables.

Thanks.
Dan.


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## tallbm (Sep 22, 2021)

forktender said:


> What is the difference between the texture of cooked hot or cold smoked bacon? Or is there a difference between the two different type's of bacons?



Answer to your initial question is that the texture for me isn't very noticeable if noticeable at all.
I smoke my bacon to an IT of 145F so I can eat it out of the package and while I'm slicing it lol :D

I compare it to store bought bacon and it's not much different in texture.
I have not cold smoked my own bacon so I can't speak to home cold smoked bacon texture.

I LOVE pulling this bacon from the package and just eating. I tell people it's "Bacon Cold Cuts" and they go wild over it.  Also when bacon is is like this or is fried but still soft (not crispy at all) you can still taste the different smoke flavors.

When you fry/cook the bacon to a crispy consistency the smoke flavor is there but I noticed that the subtle differences in smoke flavor are not detectable.  I've read in the past that no matter the smoke, bacon all taste the same smoke flavor... my tests say that is true but ONLY when you cook/fry bacon hard.

So there are some interesting reasons to do a hotter or fully cooked bacon vs a cold smoked bacon.  Feel free to experiment, I guarantee you will love eating the results no matter what :)


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## forktender (Sep 24, 2021)

tallbm said:


> Answer to your initial question is that the texture for me isn't very noticeable if noticeable at all.
> I smoke my bacon to an IT of 145F so I can eat it out of the package and while I'm slicing it lol :D
> 
> I compare it to store bought bacon and it's not much different in texture.
> ...


Great answer,  is the texture simulator to prosciutto?  

 I was having a super bad flare up. My back and neck are completely 100% F.U.B.A.R!!!!! Or else I would've tried the hot smoked method, Next time I will for sure, as it sounds really good.

It was all I could do to cold smoke, slice and bag this batch. Cold smoking is SUPER EASY.

 My wife was going to help me get the smoker up and running to temp but I was being a cranky dick I guess.lol  So she said that she quits and went back inside the house.lol

 She knows it's best to just leave me be when I'm hurting really bad. I swear that woman is the Saint of all angels for putting up with my shit all of these years. I got a good woman, she's a keeper for sure. I'm not so sure she would say the same about me with my broken down body. 

Thanks for the great post.
Dan


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## tallbm (Sep 24, 2021)

forktender said:


> Great answer,  is the texture simulator to prosciutto?
> 
> I was having a super bad flare up. My back and neck are completely 100% F.U.B.A.R!!!!! Or else I would've tried the hot smoked method, Next time I will for sure, as it sounds really good.
> 
> ...



No the texture is much more like bacon from the store.  Prosciutto is nice and firm'ish and silky.  My hot smoked bacon to 145F is not anything like that.  

I have an electric smoker so hot vs cold is all the same. The difference is I turn the smoker on and set a temp for hot smoked haha :D

Having a good woman is a great thing, be sure you let her know :D

I may go buy some pork belly this weekend for bacon next weekend...who knows. St Louis ribs are on sale $1.77/lb and babybacks are for like $2.12/lb so might do ribs. Options are good :D

I know for sure I'm going to attempt 3 pounds of 73/27 all beef German Bologna as a bologna test run. I have the meat thawing right now. Likely to run it tomorrow or Sunday, we'll see.

Lots of smoking fun ahead of me... if my herniated disk stops acting up. My body is not happy with me at the moment either, lets both get well soon :D


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## forktender (Sep 25, 2021)

The reason I asked about the Prosciutto is when I slice my cold smoked bacon it looks and feel exactly like Prosciutto.  Cold smoking would be simple in your electric smoker. Buy a smoke tube or maze. I like the maze because I like using dust for cheese and fish. Check them out if you haven't already.

Good luck with your back, back pain is no joke. I've been dealing with it for 20+ years unfortunately. 

Take care.
Dan


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## Burlymanchef (Nov 28, 2022)

daveomak said:


> I'm smoking belly, generally, 6 hours per day (1 full tray of dust in the AMNPS) and 2 days smoking below 70 F...   I've tried longer but, since going to pellet dust, I prefer the "lighter smoke" that doesn't over power the meat..
> I can now taste the maple flavor from the dry brine I'm using...  It's a commercial product...  It does not have the the cure accelerator added to it..   I'm not interested in speeding up the curing process...  I cure for 2 weeks..  Old world style of curing...
> This turkey cure is one I'm trying now....  Same as the old stuff (I can't find any longer) only the nitrite is 1% in stead of the 0.86% the old stuff had...  It's from Walton's...   They sell it as a Turkey Brine but dry rub works just fine...  You just omit the water.....
> Use 9 grams per pound of belly for the rub...  That returns approx. 200 Ppm nitrite, which is lawful according to the FSIS for a dry rubbed  product...
> 7 grams per pound for approx. 156 Ppm nitrite..  You may have to add a little extra kosher salt.. which would be about 1 gram per pound...


Good evening Dave,
I picked up some of the Walton's Turkey brine as well as a 13lb butt and would like to make BBB per your dry brine method. What is your recommendation on grams per pound....7..9? 14 days with a flip and quick rub in the two gallon bag? Thanks Burlymanchef


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