# First time bacon



## the smoker (Oct 16, 2020)

Hello everyone. My first attempt at making bacon. I will get to the details, but here's where I am... 9 days curing, flipping daily. Virtually no liquid in the bags. Pulled them out, cut a couple strips and fried them. They were a bit too thick. They didn't crisp like they should. They didn't taste like bacon from the store. Now I need to soak them in water, then 2 days open air in the fridge to pull remaining salt and moisture out. Smoking them after that. Anyone that has experience in bacon let me know what you think. Thank you all! 
	

		
			
		

		
	
















5 lbs belly
1 tsp curing salt (maybe need more?) 
About 1/3 cup sea salt (maybe to much from tasting it, but didn't look like it was enough)
Little pepper
Little garlic (maybe leaving it next time)


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## thirdeye (Oct 16, 2020)

What was the source of your recipe?  And did it include the procedure?  Cooks has a similar one that still uses dry measurements by volume instead of weights but it uses maple sugar.

Your recipe looks straight forward, although I prefer working from percent of the meat weight to calculate my dry cure mixture. For example I like 1.8% salt, 1% sugar, and 0.25% Cure #1 (which should NOT be changed). Other people like different percentages. Using percents,  I can take ANY weight of belly and mix the exact proportions needed.  That said, I used volume measurements for many years, and the most important one (1 teaspoon of Cure #1 to 5# of meat weight is correct).  Salt and sugar can be varied to suit your taste.   Sugar is often used to offset the saltiness. 

When sampling after curing and before a soak-out or smoking, you can expect it to be more salty, and a little bland since there is no smoke flavoring.  And it didn't crisp up because it's in sort of an immature state. Once you complete the finishing procedure it should be fine.

I "overhaul" daily (flip over), and soak-out my cured bellies too, an hour or two usually does the trick.  The 'equalization' time in the fridge varies.  I like 18 hours, but 12 hours works too.  A lot of folks go longer like you are planning.   I always add black pepper, and refresh it after the soak-out.  I like garlic powder on some of my bacon too.

Smoking options are cold smoking, hot smoking, and double smoking... which can be  more than one cold smoke session, or a cold smoke session + a hot smoke session.

Following smoking, there is some 'blooming' time when you allow the bacon to cool at room temperature and darken slightly.  There is also some 'mellowing' time when you keep the bacon in the fridge a day or so before slicing and /or packaging.

Anyways, keep us posted...


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## the smoker (Oct 16, 2020)

thirdeye said:


> What was the source of your recipe?  And did it include the procedure?  Cooks has a similar one that still uses dry measurements by volume instead of weights but it uses maple sugar.
> 
> Your recipe looks straight forward, although I prefer working from percent of the meat weight to calculate my dry cure mixture. For example I like 1.8% salt, 1% sugar, and 0.25% Cure #1 (which should NOT be changed). Other people like different percentages. Using percents,  I can take ANY weight of belly and mix the exact proportions needed.  That said, I used volume measurements for many years, and the most important one (1 teaspoon of Cure #1 to 5# of meat weight is correct).  Salt and sugar can be varied to suit your taste.   Sugar is often used to offset the saltiness.
> 
> ...



Thank you for the insight. I was all over the place looking at recipes. I found a Calc that uses weight based off of %. So I started there. But it seemed that the salt was too low so I upped it. I'll know more after the soak and smoke. I won't try another piece after the soak or the dry out. I'll wait until I smoke it. 

This is the Calc


			DiggingDogFarm


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## Murray (Oct 16, 2020)

You don’t mention any sugar in your recipe.  I believe that helps with the crispness.


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## thirdeye (Oct 16, 2020)

That's a great calculator, as is the ones at Dr Blonder's guinineideas.com.  The purpose is so YOU can enter the percentage of salt and sugar that YOU like, then the calculator does the rest of the calculations for you. I was making bacon before the internet, so I'm comfortable with long hand calculations.  But if I'm doing 5 or 6 pieces of belly, I double check with one of those calculators. Plus I normally do pieces in the 3# to 5# range, so it's easy to spot a number that is way off (like when you miss a decimal point).

You should probably use caution when assuming something is too high or too low.  NEVER fool with the 0.25% of Cure #1, that is a benchmark engineered  for food safety.

The Universal calculator you used will allow you to put ANY value for your salt percentage, but the normal salt ranges are 1.5% to 3.5%.  On occasion I've seen some 5% recipes, but that would be pretty salty in my book.  Sugar is generally in the same range, and if you like a sweeter bacon you can go somewhat high.  You have to be careful when frying hi-sugar bacon as it can burn easier.

Sample a slice or two (you don't want the outer slices) after the soak-out and if it's too salty, soak for another hour or two.


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## the smoker (Oct 16, 2020)

Murray said:


> You don’t mention any sugar in your recipe.  I believe that helps with the crispness.



I was trying to stay away from sweet. I really wanted to see what it was like without the sugar. Do you feel sugar is a necessity? 



thirdeye said:


> That's a great calculator, as is the ones at Dr Blonder's guinineideas.com.  The purpose is so YOU can enter the percentage of salt and sugar that YOU like, then the calculator does the rest of the calculations for you. I was making bacon before the internet, so I'm comfortable with long hand calculations.  But if I'm doing 5 or 6 pieces of belly, I double check with one of those calculators. Plus I normally do pieces in the 3# to 5# range, so it's easy to spot a number that is way off (like when you miss a decimal point).
> 
> You should probably use caution when assuming something is too high or too low.  NEVER fool with the 0.25% of Cure #1, that is a benchmark engineered  for food safety.
> 
> ...



From all my reading, I really wouldn't mess with the curing salt. I was just thinking out loud lol. Other then 'maple bacon' I really didn't know sugar was a main player. So I left it out. Say for 5 lbs belly, how much sugar? Sugar doesn't play well with CI skillets lol. But we like to keep sugar low


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## shaneyb72 (Oct 16, 2020)

I just did my first bacon very recently.  I’d say you are doing just fine. I had so many concerns throughout the whole process!
I also had little to no liquid in the bags while curing.
But I followed almost the exact process you are and it turned out great!


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## Fueling Around (Oct 16, 2020)

Sugar is used to balance the saltiness.  By keeping the salt under 1.5% you can omit sugar.

I use Blonder calculators for wet or dry curing.


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## the smoker (Oct 17, 2020)

shaneyb72 said:


> I just did my first bacon very recently.  I’d say you are doing just fine. I had so many concerns throughout the whole process!
> I also had little to no liquid in the bags while curing.
> But I followed almost the exact process you are and it turned out great!



Did you taste right out of the bag before the soak and dry out?


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## thirdeye (Oct 17, 2020)

the smoker said:


> I was trying to stay away from sweet. I really wanted to see what it was like without the sugar. Do you feel sugar is a necessity?
> From all my reading, I really wouldn't mess with the curing salt. I was just thinking out loud lol. Other then 'maple bacon' I really didn't know sugar was a main player. So I left it out. Say for 5 lbs belly, how much sugar? Sugar doesn't play well with CI skillets lol. But we like to keep sugar low



Sugar is a variable and is mainly used to knock the edge off the salt.  So let's say you are NOT shooting for a very sweet or maple bacon type of product you could omit sugar if your salt percentage is low.  If you have a mid-range salt amount (say 2%) you might opt for 0.7% to 1.25% sugar.  And... if you like your bacon with a salty footprint,  and select 3% salt,  you might bump the sugar to 1.5%+.   It's all a balancing act of flavors and totally up to you. 

One thing to keep in mind is that salts and water easily penetrate meats during curing and the penetration is very predictable.   Sugar is a larger molecule, so it has to work a little harder when penetrating meat.  Some authors feel the concentration of sugar is higher near the edges.  A friend currently is dry curing bacon that called for a maple syrup injection, so this step eliminates the worry that the maple flavor won't penetrate the full thickness.


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## shaneyb72 (Oct 17, 2020)

the smoker said:


> Did you taste right out of the bag before the soak and dry out?


I did not!  I decided to trust the process and just go with it!  But the more I read, the more I realize I should’ve at least had a quick taste test for salinity.


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## the smoker (Oct 18, 2020)

OK, the soak and dry out stages are complete. They firmed nicely and smell great. They do definitely need the smoke. But I have to leave for work so I have to vacuum seal and freeze until I'm back. Then I can get it on the smoke


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## ab canuck (Oct 19, 2020)

Looks good so far, I do similar style but I do not soak at all, 10-14 days dry cure, hang in smoke house and away we go. Also use diggingdogfarm calculator. I found it to be the best so far.


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## the smoker (Nov 19, 2020)

Thank you to all who I have chatted with on this, my first homemade bacon attempt. I just smoked them, so now they're bacon complete lol. It took about an hour and a half at between 175-200 to get to 150°F and that's when I pulled them. So now they're resting on the counter to cool off before I slice into them for a taste test and hope they are as good as they smell. In either case, there will be many more times making this top only get it perfected!


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## the smoker (Nov 19, 2020)

So there we have it. I've noticed that it doesn't look exactly like the store bought stuff. It doesn't cook the same either. I cut it by hand and I know that I had a few really thick pieces. It seems that those over thick pieces tasted more like ham than bacon. What is everyone's experience on the flavor? How close did you get to the flavor that we know of from store bought? Is that the flavor that you were expecting or wanting to get?


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## bill ace 350 (Nov 21, 2020)

the smoker said:


> So there we have it. I've noticed that it doesn't look exactly like the store bought stuff. It doesn't cook the same either. I cut it by hand and I know that I had a few really thick pieces. It seems that those over thick pieces tasted more like ham than bacon. What is everyone's experience on the flavor? How close did you get to the flavor that we know of from store bought? Is that the flavor that you were expecting or wanting to get?


Bacon looks good!
I have made bacon with both Pop's Brine and Bearcarver's recipes, both with excellent results. 

Both recipes can be easily modified to adjust to the flavor you're looking for. Do a little experimentation!


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## Murray (Nov 21, 2020)

Congratulations on your first batch of bacon.  I agree with bill ace, experiment until you find what you and your family like.  I find that my bacon doesn’t taste like store bought it’s way better! In our case we found that we love salt so I use 2% salt and no rinse, cold smoke as opposed to hot smoke is our preference, 14-16 hours of cold smoke if using hickory pellet dust, 18-20 hours cold smoke if using apple pellet dust. My first 5-6 batches I did Buck Board Bacon to figure out what we liked since shoulders come on sale more often than belly. If you plan on doing lots of bacon then I would suggest you look for a electric slicer.


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## the smoker (Nov 21, 2020)

Murray said:


> Congratulations on your first batch of bacon.  I agree with bill ace, experiment until you find what you and your family like.  I find that my bacon doesn’t taste like store bought it’s way better! In our case we found that we love salt so I use 2% salt and no rinse, cold smoke as opposed to hot smoke is our preference, 14-16 hours of cold smoke if using hickory pellet dust, 18-20 hours cold smoke if using apple pellet dust. My first 5-6 batches I did Buck Board Bacon to figure out what we liked since shoulders come on sale more often than belly. If you plan on doing lots of bacon then I would suggest you look for a electric slicer.



Yes I have a great SS slicer. I still have half of this batch to slice and I'll be using the slicer. I will be playing around with seasonings for the next one. Just trying to figure out how to lessen the ham flavor just a little bit. Don't get me wrong, it came out great, but not really sure what way I want the flavor to go from here. What seasonings are you using?


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## Murray (Nov 21, 2020)

Cure #1, Kosher salt at 2% and brown sugar at 1.5%.  I use diggingdogfarm to calculate the weights.  I cold smoke with hickory pellet dust 90% of the time and sometimes apple pellet dust about 10% just to mix it up. If I want any additions (pepper)  I’ll add it just before frying. I have gotten the ham flavour with thicker pieces on the BBB, not sure why.


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## Murray (Nov 21, 2020)

I should add that with the BBB it was the thicker meaty parts that had the ham flavour not the pieces with lots of fat. Maybe the fat to meat ratio makes a difference? Never had the ham flavour with belly bacon but I only cold smoke bacon now so that might also be a factor?


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## the smoker (Nov 21, 2020)

Murray said:


> I should add that with the BBB it was the thicker meaty parts that had the ham flavour not the pieces with lots of fat. Maybe the fat to meat ratio makes a difference? Never had the ham flavour with belly bacon but I only cold smoke bacon now so that might also be a factor?



I noticed the jam flavor with really thick pieces as well. I didn't use any sugar with this batch. I wanted a pure bacon this round. But I'll be adding a small amount of sugar on the next one. I didn't want it to caramelize on me while cooking in the CI. Why is cold smoking better? What temp do you run at? I don't have the ability to cold smoke right now.


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## Murray (Nov 21, 2020)

the smoker said:


> I noticed the jam flavor with really thick pieces as well. I didn't use any sugar with this batch. I wanted a pure bacon this round. But I'll be adding a small amount of sugar on the next one. I didn't want it to caramelize on me while cooking in the CI. Why is cold smoking better? What temp do you run at? I don't have the ability to cold smoke right now.


I don’t find caramelization an issue except around the edges.  Cold smoking isn’t better or worse, it’s what we like.  I have a MES, in the summer I pick a cold day(Canada)and cold smoke at what ever ambient temperature is. In the winter I let the MES heat to 70-80F shut it off and let it cool to 40F then turn it back on so my smoking temperature is a yo-yo between 40F and 100F.  With cheese it’s the same only I pay closer attention to the upper limit.


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## gmc2003 (Nov 21, 2020)

I'm no bacon expert by any means, but I think the leaner the belly the more of a hammy taste you'll get. Your bacon looks mighty good from my screen.

Point for sure
Chris


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## the smoker (Nov 21, 2020)

That seems to be what everyone's saying about the ham flavor. I seem to be noticing that the thinner ones do have the bacon flavor in looking for


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## the smoker (Nov 21, 2020)

Murray said:


> I don’t find caramelization an issue except around the edges.  Cold smoking isn’t better or worse, it’s what we like.  I have a MES, in the summer I pick a cold day(Canada)and cold smoke at what ever ambient temperature is. In the winter I let the MES heat to 70-80F shut it off and let it cool to 40F then turn it back on so my smoking temperature is a yo-yo between 40F and 100F.  With cheese it’s the same only I pay closer attention to the upper limit.



Cold smoking is definitely on my list of things to try


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## Murray (Nov 21, 2020)

You have a stick burner, correct? All you would need is a insulating blanket of sorts, a heat source for winter operation(light bulb, small hot plate) and a smoke generator(Amazen tray) and pellets/dust and a remote digital thermometer. Ideally you would want a warmer winter day. Opens up a whole new world of smoking without having guests waiting for supper to finish.  Looking through this forum, if it’s not moving or nailed down someone has tried to smoke it.  The cold smoking list of foods is only limited by you imagination.


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## Fueling Around (Nov 21, 2020)

I am not a bacon expert. REPEAT

I do have loin bacon recipe that fits my taste. To me, loin bacon is the perfect meld of ham and bacon flavors.  I need to make another batch.  We get farm fresh eggs  in exchange for smoked meats.

Belly is still a work in progress.  I'm waiting for the prices to come down.   Until the supermarket and box store bacon is less than raw belly I will wait it out.  Trying to get the flavor and texture I remember from my youth of local slab bacon.

Just did my first shoulder (buckboard) bacon. Did not get a big ham flavor.  I think that was because I injected Pop's brine (salt, sugar, and nitrite) in the muscle.  Needs to be thicker sliced as it is very lean compared to belly if you want to fry it out.  It was fully cooked (pasteurized)per 

 daveomak
 method.


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