# My first smoke (with pics)



## salahaddin (Nov 11, 2012)

Here's my first experience making smoked bacon:

Got my hands on 5lbs of pork belly and decided to do some pancetta. Dry cured in a mix of salt, pepper and #2 cure (keep in mind I was planning on doing pancetta)

Here it is ready to go in the fridge with the dry cure in the ziploc:













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__ salahaddin
__ Nov 11, 2012






Turns out that 5lbs of pancetta is a bit too much, so after 7 days I decided to cut the slab in half and cold smoke one of the two pieces. 

Since I had to leave on a business trip, I didn't have time to let it rest and form a pellicle, so I smoked it right away (I know, I know.... not very smart, but time was an issue). I used my AMNPS with hickory pellets and smoked it at 40F for about 10-11 hours.

Here it is coming out of the smoker:













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__ salahaddin
__ Nov 11, 2012






Here it is a cross section













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__ salahaddin
__ Nov 11, 2012


















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__ salahaddin
__ Nov 11, 2012






Conclusion?

Took a piece and ate it, it's a bit tougher than what I was expecting, but that may just be the really cold smoking temperature. Haven't tried frying it yet, all the pieces are in vacuum packs resting in the fridge for now.

For those interested, here's the ingredients:

2500gm of pork belly

75g of kosher salt (for 3% salt content)

6.3g of Cure #2

20g of black pepper

1 bay leaf

(the other half is currently drying in the fridge) I'll take pics of that one when I get back.


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## bama bbq (Nov 11, 2012)

Looks good.  I hpe it fries up well for you.


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## hoity toit (Nov 13, 2012)

o'baby...I bet it'll be good...Haven't done baco myself yet but it is on my bucket list.!!


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## smokinhusker (Nov 13, 2012)

Looks good! I had a batch that was a bit tough too...but I think I sliced it the wrong way.


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## BGKYSmoker (Nov 14, 2012)

Nice bacon there.


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## driedstick (Nov 14, 2012)

That looks great to me


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## shannon127 (Nov 16, 2012)

Looks really good, since you used Cure #2 do you let it age a bit longer?


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## pit 4 brains (Nov 17, 2012)

I'm really wondering if that cure #2 had enough time to do it's job??


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