# First Round of Bacon



## phanman (Sep 17, 2020)

I love bacon! Everyone loves bacon. I found myself at Costco every couple of weeks buying the 3lbs worth of bacon they offered and just disappointed every time and swearing I wont do it again.  So, next time I decided to not buy the bacon but instead go back to the meat department and buy a 10lb slab of belly.  The belly was really nice and uniform and already had the skin removed.  I divided up the belly into 2.5lbs sections (mostly so it would fit into my vacuum seal bags better) and gave it a good rub of Hi Mountain Buckboard Bacon Cure from Amazon.  I had seen numerous recipes for cures but figured since this was numero uno I would try a pre-made cure (came out fantastic, really tasty bacon).  I bagged them up and sealed them in the vacuum sealer (no vacuum, just seal) and let them go in the outside fridge for 10 days, turning each day.  I was surprised after the 10 days there wasn't that much liquid as others have had on videos I have watched, but the belly was very firm.  I washed up the belly really good and soaked it in water for about 3-4 hours.  I then rinsed really well again and put on a drying rack, uncovered, overnight in the fridge.  Next day, I fired up the Vision Grill and got the temp rocking at 200 degrees (fluctuated between 200 to 215 the entire cook) and put my bellies on to smoke up to 150 degrees internal.  I normally throw chunk wood for smoking but wanted to try a smoking tube this time.  I filled the tube with cherry pellets a bit of hickory chips mixed in lightly.  On a side note, going to have to work with the tube some more, it seemed to not stay lit well and I kind of fought it.  The bacon took about 2.5 hours to get up to 150 and I pulled them off.  I let them cool on the counter then wrapped them up in plastic wrap and put them back in the fridge for 2 days.  I finally cut it up this morning and fried me some bacon!  The bacon didn't curl or shrivel up like the store bought stuff and tasted divine and melted in my mouth!  I gave some to the wife and she said, this is the best bacon I ever had, we aren't buying store bought bacon any more.  Although not a dark bark, the bacon had a good mild cherry wood flavor to it with a hint of hickory.  Definitely well worth it and now I have 5 pounds for the freezer.  Going to try my hand at cold smoking once I dial in that smoking tube and the Florida temps start to drop.  Will definitely be hot smoking some more bacon before then.


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## smokerjim (Sep 17, 2020)

Looks great


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## JLeonard (Sep 17, 2020)

MMMMM......Got me wanting a BLT now! Looks great.
Jim


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## PPG1 (Sep 17, 2020)

Man...that looks good


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## Brokenhandle (Sep 17, 2020)

looks good! Welcome to the addiction...no turning back now!

Ryan


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## homebrew2 (Sep 17, 2020)

Looks Good, I just put 39 lbs in cure yesterday!


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## HalfSmoked (Sep 17, 2020)

Nice looking bacon could sure go for some either a BLT or some fried eggs. 
One question how did you get the cherry flavor using apple and hickory.    

Warren


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## Sowsage (Sep 17, 2020)

Nice job! That bacon looks great!


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## phanman (Sep 17, 2020)

HalfSmoked said:


> Nice looking bacon could sure go for some either a BLT or some fried eggs.
> One question how did you get the cherry flavor using apple and hickory.
> 
> Warren


PFM my friend! lol Thank you for pointing that out.  I used cherry pellets not apple.


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## Steve H (Sep 17, 2020)

For the first time. You did a very good job. Nice color.


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## GATOR240 (Sep 17, 2020)

Very nice. That reminds me that I'm almost out and need to get a belly soon. Like


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## Braz (Sep 17, 2020)

Good looking bacon there. Many people have trouble keeping the cherry pellets lit,  including me. Now I mix cherry with something else, like hickory, about 50/50.


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## dons2346 (Sep 17, 2020)

Looks good. In my area, Costco is the go to place for belly's. Seems like everyone has caught on because the price is going up


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## SmokinAl (Sep 18, 2020)

That is some fine looking bacon!
Nicely done!!
Al


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## dirkster (Dec 12, 2020)

try putting the smoking tube near the front of the smoker where the gap for the lid is.  It will get a better supply of oxygen there and burn better.


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## HowlingDog (Jan 2, 2021)

phanman said:


> On a side note, going to have to work with the tube some more, it seemed to not stay lit well and I kind of fought it.



The bacon looks great, Nice Job!    I guess I need to get off my rear end and head to Costco to get a belly as I am almost out of bacon.

I elevate my tube just a bit so there is airflow all around the tube. I have seen somewhere on here a "U Bolt" mod...


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## olaf (Jan 2, 2021)

Can't go wrong with that buckboard bacon cure its about perfect. I've been looking to make a copy of it so I got some maple sugar.


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## holliday58 (Jan 2, 2021)

That looks amazing!


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