# Smoking the bacon tomorrow



## fftwarren (Jun 28, 2010)

well I washed all the cure off this morning and got things ready to put in the smokehouse tomorrow. I seasoned one slab up with black pepper and did another with honey and brown sugar. I left 2 slabs plain. I'm gonna smoke em up tomorrow. hopefully everything goes as planned. I'm going to cook it low as possible, but with louisiana summer heat that may be difficult. I'll post some view throughout the process.


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## meateater (Jun 28, 2010)

Looking forward to it!


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## pineywoods (Jun 28, 2010)

Good luck and I'll look forward to the Qview!! While I'm up at camp I'm gonna see about rigging a sprinkler head on top of the metal roof of the smoke house to try to cool it down a bit


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## eman (Jun 28, 2010)

Pineywoods said:


> Good luck and I'll look forward to the Qview!! While I'm up at camp I'm gonna see about rigging a sprinkler head on top of the metal roof of the smoke house to try to cool it down a bit


works on the camp . why wouldn't it work opn the smokehouse


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## scarbelly (Jun 29, 2010)

Good luck with the bacon smoke - I am so jealous - I have several days before mine is ready to smoke - my new AMNS will be running this one for sure


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## fftwarren (Jun 29, 2010)

Just put the bacon in the smokehouse. Here's a couple pics to get the Qview going. Standby for more.


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## tjohnson (Jun 30, 2010)

Mighty Fine Looking Smokehouse.

I just realized that I'm short on bacon...OMG!

Todd


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## walle (Jun 30, 2010)

FFT - Way cool smoke house!  Man, I recognize the work that went into that - thanks for making everyone here jealous first thing this morning.... ;o)

Bacon looks awesome, can't wait to see the final shot.


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## Bearcarver (Jun 30, 2010)

FFT,

Great lookin' smoke house !!!

Looks like some blue smoke coming out that top vent!!!!

Keep us posted----This is gonna be some fine Bacon!!!

Bear


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## squirrel (Jun 30, 2010)

Awesome bacon happening Warren! That is one beautiful smokehouse too. That's what I'm gonna ask for for Christmas! (Yea right!)


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## fftwarren (Jun 30, 2010)

thanks guys, Im in the process of trying to semi freeze it for slicing. It came out really good but with the cold smoking, its still soft and flimsy which makes it a little tough to slice. So hopefully in an hour or so it'll be firmed up enough to slice.


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## fftwarren (Jun 30, 2010)

here it is in the freezer. Soon as it gets firm, I'm gonna slice it up.


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## fftwarren (Jun 30, 2010)




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## mrsb (Jun 30, 2010)

Oh my! That is beautimous!

Awesome job


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## mythmaster (Jun 30, 2010)

AWESOME!  I'll PM you my address.


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## fftwarren (Jun 30, 2010)




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## fftwarren (Jun 30, 2010)

mythmaster said:


> AWESOME!  I'll PM you my address.


I love that lil pic its so funny


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## mballi3011 (Jun 30, 2010)

WOWIs about all I can say with this thread there Warren. I just made some bacon but it doesn't look like this bacon. I used some honey and browns sugar on mine. I have been liking a little sweet with my pork lately. I really like your smokehouse too. Where is your fire box??? Is it in the back of the stucture.???


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## Bearcarver (Jun 30, 2010)

If you look at my earlier post, you can see I was right again!  T[color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]his is some fine Bacon!!![/color]

Bear


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## fftwarren (Jun 30, 2010)

mballi3011 said:


> WOWIs about all I can say with this thread there Warren. I just made some bacon but it doesn't look like this bacon. I used some honey and browns sugar on mine. I have been liking a little sweet with my pork lately. I really like your smokehouse too. Where is your fire box??? Is it in the back of the stucture.???


yea, its that barrel you see in the background. After I cured it, i too added some honey and brown sugar to one slab, and added some CBP to another. The other two I just left plain. you can see the pile on the left is a little bit deeper red, thats the slab that I put the sugar and honey on


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## pineywoods (Jun 30, 2010)

That looks outstanding gonna be some good eating


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## Bearcarver (Jul 1, 2010)

FFT,

Looks like you're set for awhile with some outstanding Bacon!

I have one question-----Did the freezing help much?

I notice some of the pieces have the yellow flap on them. The part that folds under the slicing table while slicing. I got the same thing on my one Bacon batch that I took out at a low temp (still very soft). I'm planning to partially freeze my next batch before slicing, but wondering how much to freeze it, and if it eliminates that problem. I don't get that when I slice something more solid, like Pepperoni.

Thanks,

Bear


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## fftwarren (Jul 1, 2010)

Bearcarver said:


> FFT,
> 
> Looks like you're set for awhile with some outstanding Bacon!
> 
> ...


yea the freezing made a world of difference. about 3/4 through every slab I would flip it over to cut it off. But yes freezing is definitely the way to go. I should've actually froze it just a little harder. If I had froze it for another 20 minutes and actually cut the slabs down to size, it would have sliced everything perfectly. It was only when I tried to cut the whole slab that caused some screw ups because I had to keep messing with the meat to make it cut because it was too long


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## fftwarren (Jul 1, 2010)

actually I just looked at it and I see the pic thats showing it bad.That was actually before I froze it that did that. Once I froze it, that wasn't a problem. like I said about 3/4 through a slab I'd flip it and cut off the little fat tab left and then keep on slicing. none of the semi frozen pieces had any left on the slices


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## Bearcarver (Jul 1, 2010)

Thanks FFT,

Sounds like in the freezer for 75 to 90 minutes ("hour or so plus 20 minutes").

I just picked up 11 Lb 6 oz this morning. Put in cure at 10 AM. Should be smoking next Sunday. Gonna smoke it strictly with A-MAZE-N-SMOKER, so it will be low in temp when I take it out. I never did one that low, but I didn't have my favorite little gadget back then.

Thanks again,

Bear


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## fftwarren (Jul 1, 2010)

yea, I kept mine around 80-90 for about 6 hours then around 125 or so for 2 hours just to darken it up just a little. I was trying to rush it a lil because I had to be somewhere later. But it turned out perfect so I'll stick with that method.

And yea I'd say around 1-2 hours in the deep freeze and then slice. It got really firm, but it wouldn't have hurt to let it go a little longer. I'd let it go till its almost frozen


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## tjohnson (Jul 1, 2010)

I like about 6 1/2 hours of smoke too.  Seems the nice mahogany color really come out in the last couple hours.

Todd


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## Bearcarver (Jul 1, 2010)

FFTWarren said:


> yea, I kept mine around 80-90 for about 6 hours then around 125 or so for 2 hours just to darken it up just a little. I was trying to rush it a lil because I had to be somewhere later. But it turned out perfect so I'll stick with that method.
> 
> And yea I'd say around 1-2 hours in the deep freeze and then slice. It got really firm, but it wouldn't have hurt to let it go a little longer. I'd let it go till its almost frozen


Thanks FFT,

Perfect?

LOL, I'm going to try low & slow with a lot of smoke, because I'm searching for better than perfect.

I've pulled my Bacons out at 4 different internal temps---They have all been perfect. I'm starting to think no matter how we do homemade Bacon, they are always "perfect". Maybe I just love Bacon so much, it doesn't matter. Kinda like when I was a kid---All girls were perfect!

Just sayin',

Bear


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## fftwarren (Jul 1, 2010)

Bearcarver said:


> Thanks FFT,
> 
> Perfect?
> 
> ...


LOL yea. But with the cold smoke, the temp doesn't matter. you smoking for flavor not "doneness". mine is heavily smoked with hickory. should be really good


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## pandemonium (Jul 3, 2010)

OMG I'M IN BACON HEAVEN!!!  That looks too good im in awe lol and Myths pic is GREAT too hhaha I want that bacon wallet


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## old poi dog (Jul 5, 2010)

OH My......I've got some bacon curing in he refrigerator right now....I will refer to this post when its Smoke time for me. 

I hope my first bacon comes out half as good as yours FFTWarren...


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## fftwarren (Jul 5, 2010)

hey, OPD it definitely can. this was my first attempt as well


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