# Letting it mellow....



## wibigfish (Dec 24, 2020)

Ok, so I’ve done a few batches of cold and hot smoke bacon that turned out wonderful this far.  

I’ve only let them mellow in the fridge a day after smoking and am thinking I can maybe improve flavor a bit by letting the bacon rest in fridge longer after smoking.

when letting the bacon mellow out, can I chamber vac the bellies after they are cooled down  and let them mellow out that way, or is open air the best way?


----------



## thirdeye (Dec 24, 2020)

After smoking I allow up to 4 hours uncovered on the counter for the color to bloom, which is a slight darkening in color.  For the mellowing you are asking about I go at least 24 hours uncovered in the fridge, but prefer 2 - 3 days.  I loosely cover mine with a paper towel.  I've seen methods where folks mellow bacon much longer and somewhere I've seen a post that showed a rack that held the slabs vertical.  Check out this video on Benton's bacon, theirs has no cure but their processing times from to start to finish are quite long.


----------

