# Mo bacon!



## crankybuzzard (Dec 14, 2014)

Decided to try Pop's brine for some bacon.  I've always done the dry brine in a bag and did the flip flop stuff for a couple of weeks or so.  This was SO much easier!

Made the brine, dropped in the belly pieces, and then waited 3 weeks. 












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__ crankybuzzard
__ Dec 14, 2014






Pulled a piece out Friday night, rinsed, patted dry, then left it in the frig until around 10 Saturday night.  Then she went into my big vertical with only an 18" Amazen tube of pecan pellets.  Definitely a cold smoke.  It was 52 here last night, and the tube, in my big vertical, only raises the temp around 8 degrees. 

Got up after 6 hours, pulled and stuck it in the frig.  I then went back to bed!  Sorry, bleary eyed and didn't get pics except before the smoke. 












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__ crankybuzzard
__ Dec 14, 2014






Got up this morning, put the belly piece in the freezer to firm up a bit, then sliced!













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__ crankybuzzard
__ Dec 14, 2014






Fried a few strips and end pieces, then made a killer BLT!












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__ crankybuzzard
__ Dec 14, 2014


















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__ crankybuzzard
__ Dec 14, 2014


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## themule69 (Dec 14, 2014)

Looks very tasty! If you will give it a few days before you smoke it it will have a better smoke flavor all the way threw.

Happy smoken.

David


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## foamheart (Dec 14, 2014)

Some good looking bacon! But the other side is I never saw any that wasn't. I am a bacon junkie.

Once you've done bacon, you better lay in a new project reefer to hold the sides cause store bought will never be good enough again.

Great lookin bacon man.


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## dirtsailor2003 (Dec 14, 2014)

Great looking bacon! Pop's Brine makes it an easy process!


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## driedstick (Dec 15, 2014)

Cranky looks great!! you are a smoking machine lately - I enjoy your posts, 

DS


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## disco (Dec 15, 2014)

Terrific looking bacon, Cranky!








  for trying a new technique! I love Pop's brine.

Disco


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## roller (Dec 19, 2014)

Bacon looks great..


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## azbohunter (Dec 19, 2014)

Bacon looks great, could almost smell in the fry pan shot!

Did you do a mental comparison to the dry method compared to brine?


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## crankybuzzard (Dec 19, 2014)

azbohunter said:


> Bacon looks great, could almost smell in the fry pan shot!
> Did you do a mental comparison to the dry method compared to brine?



Funny you ask about the comparison!  We actually opened a frozen vac pack of the dry cured goodness and fried some of it up the next day.  My son is as big of a geek as me, and he thought about trying it.  He also mentioned getting a salinometer, but I shut him down on that....  It's no wonder he has colleges offering him rides, he's a geek, like his dad!  :yahoo:

As expected, the flavor was different since we used different spices, it fried up about the same, and the drippings were about the same in quantity, but it was still a great bacon!

Now, one thing I did notice without the comparison, the bacon from the wet brine seemed to slice better due to it being a bit more firm.  I hand slice a lot of the time and prior to slicing, the bacon goes from the frig to the freezer for 45 minutes.  Now, that could be attributed to a difference in the bellies I got, etc...

Also, the wet method takes a LOT of real estate in the frig.  The dry cure doesn't take as much since it's in bags and you can stack them up.   I may try a wet cure in my 1.5 gallon bucket next time just to see how it goes. 

Either method you choose, will work well.


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