# OOPS!  (How I had to fit 33 lbs of bacon into my MES40)



## xutfuzzy (Nov 19, 2012)

So my bacon supply was getting low, and I asked the wife if it was cool to get some more pork bellies.  She gave the nod, and I went to the butcher that I have been going to where I have been getting pork bellies that were in the 3 to 4 pound range.  They were out, so I asked if they would order 3 pork bellies for me, thinking I would get about 12 pounds of pork belly to make bacon.

When I went to pick them up a few days later the rather large and muscular butcher grunted when he lifted my bag onto the counter.  I knew that something was wrong.  He shouldn't have grunted lifting 12 pounds.  When I said, "Three pork bellies," he took it as 3 WHOLE pork bellies, not the cut-down ones they were selling to customers. 

So...wanting to keep a good relationship with my butcher, I was now the proud owner of 33 POUNDS OF BACON!  Thank God the wife was out of town for a few days on a business trip.
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






So here is what I was facing:













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When I unrolled them, this is what they looked like.













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I figured I would cut them in half, giving me 6 slabs that I could flavor 6 different ways.













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Each went onto a scale that had been tared so that I was only measuring the belly.













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I then plugged in those numbers into Digging Dog Farm's online cure calculator.  For the first slab, I wanted to keep this basic.  The only change I would make to the default calculations was to change the sugar from 1% to 2% because the wife likes a sweeter bacon.













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Here is the 2% sugar bacon ready for a 10 day cure.













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To help keep track of them, as I wrapped them in a couple of layers of plastic wrap I slipped in a piece of paper between the layers that identified them.  Later I would buy the 2.5 gallon Ziploc bags and place them in those.













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Going off my positive experience from my last bacon-making adventure, I wanted to make jerk bacon again.  I call it Jamaican Bacon.  To the basic cure (sugar back down to 1%) I match the salt grams with jerk rub grams.













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I always keep this stuff on hand.













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Rubbed up and ready to go!













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For the third bacon, I had some of Jeff's Rib Rub laying around, so I figured I would make BBQ Bacon for when I needed bacon for something BBQish.  To be honest, I only used the cure calculator to get the right amount of cure, figuring that I liked the sugar and salt levels where they were in the rub already. 













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Rib Rub Bacon, rubbed up!













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Now it was time to get a little fancy.  My favorite spice shop has bourbon-smoked salt and bourbon-smoked sugar.  Why not use those as the salt and sugar?













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You could probably make this stuff yourself if you bought the bourbon barrel pellets, but I figured I would use the spice shop's to see if it made any difference in the final bacon product first.













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Only a few more bacons to go!













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This one speaks for itself.  I like savory bacons, so I went with Salt, Pepper, Onion, & Garlic bacon.













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I may have gone a little heavy with the onion and garlic, but hey, I like it.













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Finally, my favorite region to cook from is the South of France, especially Provence.  I wanted to try making an herbed bacon with a tribute to that region.













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Thyme, savory, lavender, rosemary, etc.  These were all dried herbs.  This I went with an approximate volume measurement as herbs weigh so little that it would have been hard to use grams without getting silly.













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WHEW!  Time to take them to my second fridge.













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Ten days later, it was time to let them form a pellicle.  Six slabs of pork belly take up a bit of space, especially when you need air on all sides.  To solve this problem I found stackable cooling racks.  Six racks cost me 15 bucks.













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I reinforced the racks with zip ties, just to be safe.  But, as you can see, it was easy to fit 6 halves of pork belly in the lower part of the fridge.













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Each rack from my MES40 (below) got a slab of belly and a second slab sitting on a wire rack.  I forgot to take a picture, but by doing this I was able to get all 33 pounds of belly in my MES40, and the 4th rack was still free.  Using this method, I could have had a total of 4 whole slabs at once!  The stacking wire cooling racks were a godsend!













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I microwave my pellets for 2-3 minutes, and if you look at the moisture pictured below that comes off of them you can see why.













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SPOG bacon after 12 hours.













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Jerk Bacon after 12 hours.













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Bourbon Bacon after 12 hours.













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2% Sugar Bacon after 12 hours













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Rib Rub Bacon after 12 hours.













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Herbes de Provence Bacon, after 12 hours.













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WOW!  I had to get up on a step ladder to get this overhead shot of my kitchen island after I was done slicing, bagging, and tagging.













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The wife has since calmed down, and we have agreed to use some of them as Christmas gifts (mentioned in my Christmas Cheese post).  Either way, we will not be short on bacon for quite some time.

The details:

Smoker: MES40 with AMNPS

Wood: Apple pellets

Smoking Temperature: cold

Ambient Temperature: 45-60 degrees

Duration: 12 hours

Final Thoughts:  My wife's favorite was the herbed bacon (you have to fry it at a slightly lower temperature so that you don't burn the herbs) and I agree that it is really delicious.  My favorite was the SPOG bacon...the smell is AMAZING.  The Bourbon bacon was a bust...no bourbon flavor at all, it just tastes like plain bacon so don't waste the time/money...just use good salt and sugar like you normally would.  The Rib Rub bacon is good, it will be great with a fatty or something like that.  The jerk is something that I still also highly recommend.

Now...is there a way to make sure my doctor NEVER sees this post?


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## diggingdogfarm (Nov 19, 2012)

Wow!!!!!!

Sure looks great!!!!



~Martin


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## kathrynn (Nov 19, 2012)

Oh my goodness! You did a ton of work.....and have lots to show for it! Haven't tried doing bacon yet. Great pics!


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## linguica (Nov 19, 2012)

I'm sure it was a tremendous amount of labor (and materials) but you have a years worth of bacon in your freezer and a packages of home cured/smoked bacon that would be a gift any meat eater would be thrilled to receive. Nice Pics

                                                                      
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





PS my birthday was last week


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## daveomak (Nov 19, 2012)

What a shame ....  Your butcher did you wrong.... NOT .... he needs a special gift for that mistake.....  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





  ... Good Butcher.....


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## mossymo (Nov 19, 2012)

Nice selection of flavors there xutfuzzy, outstanding!
Wife and I do large amounts of pork bellies quite often, think I will be referring back to this thread for future flavor ideas... thanks for posting this!


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## thoseguys26 (Nov 20, 2012)

yah! bacon-mania, love it! I'm actually thinking about doing bacon for Christmas too! My lady seems to approve when I make bacon for gifts, even though only 30% of the final is for gifts :)

The herbed sounds nice.


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## smokinhusker (Nov 20, 2012)

Great job! The MES 40 will definitely hold some meat! I really like your flavor profiles and I'm going to have to try some. 

I got 33 lbs of belly last month but I squared mine up, cut into slabs, vac sealed and froze!!!! I only have fridge room for curing one slab at a time.


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## redheelerdog (Nov 21, 2012)

Very Nice Bacon!

I'm on your Christmas list right?


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## xutfuzzy (Nov 21, 2012)

Found the pic...this is how the wire cooling racks helped me fit it all in the smoker.













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## thoseguys26 (Nov 23, 2012)

Nice!


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## snorkelinggirl (Mar 3, 2013)

Hey fuzzy,

Wow!  I love the different types of flavors you used on your bacon. They all really look great!

A couple of questions....skin on or skin off before curing?  Also, any rinsing or soaking on the bacon before forming the pellicle?  

I just finished trying out a couple of belly sections using 2.5% salt (with skin on).  Even after soaking for 1 hour, still too salty. I'm planning to bump down to 2% salt for my next batch. Just wondering if pulling the skin off before curing would make a difference since I guess the skin doesn't absorb much salt.

Thanks!

Clarissa


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## bear55 (Mar 3, 2013)

Great idea using the cooling racks...


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## xutfuzzy (Mar 3, 2013)

SnorkelingGirl said:


> Hey fuzzy,
> 
> Wow!  I love the different types of flavors you used on your bacon. They all really look great!
> 
> ...


I used skin off because that is the only way I could find to buy them around here.  I didn't rinse this batch, although I may in the future and then apply a second rub before smoking, but haven't settled on that yet.   I keep reading books/articles that say to rinse, but there are many trusted members here who don't.  I did, however, give these a serious rubbing with a paper towel to get rid of the liquids that were extracted from the meat and to help the pellicle form.


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## snorkelinggirl (Mar 3, 2013)

xutfuzzy said:


> I used skin off because that is the only way I could find to buy them around here.  I didn't rinse this batch, although I may in the future and then apply a second rub before smoking, but haven't settled on that yet.   I keep reading books/articles that say to rinse, but there are many trusted members here who don't.  I did, however, give these a serious rubbing with a paper towel to get rid of the liquids that were extracted from the meat and to help the pellicle form.


Thank you very much for the info!


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