# Did I break my bacon?



## rainyprincess (Feb 18, 2017)

My first time curing and smoking pork belly. I used Morton's Tenderquick (couldn't find Instacure and didn't want to wait for it to be shipped) and bought a 9lb belly at Costco for about $25, skin already removed. Three pounds I roasted fresh using Gordon Ramsay's recipe with fennel, star anise and cardamom and ate in sandwiches with kimchi and Big Bob's white BBQ sauce. The other six pounds I cut in half and made three pounds of maple bacon and three pounds of pepper bacon. 

I put the bellies on dry cure a week ago and flipped them every day. I had read that sometimes cure has a problem penetrating to the center, so I wanted to cut each piece down the middle to check since it's my first time. What I found was that the outside layer of meat was clearly cured, but it didn't penetrate the internal fat layer, so the pink meat in the center appears to have remained regular pork pink, not that deep red cured color that the outside meat part got.

So, my question is, since it doesn't look like the cure penetrated, am I okay or does it need to cure more? I already pulled each three pound piece out and rinsed it off, blotted it dry, cut it in half to check, and put it on a rack in the fridge for pellicle to form before the smoke, 4-16 hours away depending on if I do it late tonight or in the morning. 

*tl;dr After a week of curing does this look okay to smoke or does it need to cure more? I'm hot smoking at 180 until 150 IT.*













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Above you can clearly see the dark cured part and the lighter colored less-cured part. 












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Above is a shot of the outside of one of them. 












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Above, side shot - and I think I cut it in the wrong direction on accident....












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Above, how they are resting in the fridge for four hours to maybe overnight before I hot smoke at around 180.


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## pc farmer (Feb 18, 2017)

Your good to go.     They look perfect.


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## rainyprincess (Feb 18, 2017)

Awesome, I'm gonna smoke them tomorrow so they'll get a full night chilling in the fridge to dry out.


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## pc farmer (Feb 18, 2017)

RainyPrincess said:


> Awesome, I'm gonna smoke them tomorrow so they'll get a full night chilling in the fridge to dry out.


Why hot smoke????    I either cold smoke or warm smoke.


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## rexster314 (Feb 18, 2017)

Hot smoking you're gonna end up with something that tastes kinda hammy, not bacon. No heat or cold smoking is the way to go for bacon. I do about 120 pounds a month. Did you just use TQ by itself, or mix up with salt and sugar?


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## rainyprincess (Feb 18, 2017)

Okay, so I was just following some directions I found online. Was looking at Steven Raichlen's BBQ Bible page. Said to air dry in fridge for at least 4 hours and then smoke at 170-180 until it hit 150 IT. I don't want ham. I want bacon. It's still in the fridge and I'm not smoking till tomorrow so I've got time to figure this out. 

As for cure, I did Tenderquick with a mix of pepper, salt, brown sugar and pure maple syrup. So if I'm going to cold smoke with a total of six pounds in there, how long should it go? Am I not looking for a particular IT? Each of the 3lb portions I cut in half to look at them so I'm not sure how that changes the time. 

Tenderquick, as far as I understand, is a mix of salt, sugar and .5% sodium nitrite. I think I did a tablespoon of TQ for each of the three pound portions, which I also found online as the ratio, along with the other ingredients.

*Basically, I'm looking for advice on what I need to do to make this into bacon. And I appreciate the help - very much!*


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## jipnsmoke (Feb 19, 2017)

RainyPrincess said:


> Okay, so I was just following some directions I found online. Was looking at Steven Raichlen's BBQ Bible page. Said to air dry in fridge for at least 4 hours and then smoke at 170-180 until it hit 150 IT. I don't want ham. I want bacon. It's still in the fridge and I'm not smoking till tomorrow so I've got time to figure this out.
> 
> As for cure, I did Tenderquick with a mix of pepper, salt, brown sugar and pure maple syrup. So if I'm going to cold smoke with a total of six pounds in there, how long should it go? Am I not looking for a particular IT? Each of the 3lb portions I cut in half to look at them so I'm not sure how that changes the time.
> 
> ...


​I can only tell you how I did my pork bellies. Some where I read meat will absorb smoke better around the temp of the live animal, I know sounds crazy. I smoked mine for about 7 hours at a temp of around 100 degrees. Was easy to keep temp down around 100 in the winter. Put in fridge two days and then put in freezer couple hours to make it easier to slice. Turned out great for me. Hope this helps give you some insight. Good luck.


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## jipnsmoke (Feb 19, 2017)

Also the fat wont render start to melt. If keeping temp low.


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## tropics (Feb 19, 2017)

RainyPrincess said:


> Okay, so I was just following some directions I found online. Was looking at Steven Raichlen's BBQ Bible page. Said to air dry in fridge for at least 4 hours and then smoke at 170-180 until it hit 150 IT. I don't want ham. I want bacon. It's still in the fridge and I'm not smoking till tomorrow so I've got time to figure this out.
> 
> As for cure, I did Tenderquick with a mix of pepper, salt, brown sugar and pure maple syrup. So if I'm going to cold smoke with a total of six pounds in there, how long should it go? Am I not looking for a particular IT? Each of the 3lb portions I cut in half to look at them so I'm not sure how that changes the time.
> 
> *"Tenderquick, as far as I understand, is a mix of salt, sugar and .5% sodium nitrite. I think I did a tablespoon of TQ for each of the three pound portions, which I also found online as the ratio, along with the other ingredients."*


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## SmokinAl (Feb 19, 2017)

I don't use TQ, so I can't comment on the amount used.

But I do cure my bacon for 14 days, then rest in fridge uncovered for 4 days.

Cold smoke for 10-12 hours, then another 4 day rest in the fridge uncovered.

Finally I put it in the freezer for 3-4 hours & slice it with my meat slicer.

Al


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## rainyprincess (Feb 19, 2017)

I must have done three tablespoons for each of the three pound portions then and just forgot. I know I followed the instructions because I read them several times, afraid to mess up! Thanks for pointing that out.


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## rainyprincess (Feb 19, 2017)

SmokinAl said:


> I don't use TQ, so I can't comment on the amount used.
> But I do cure my bacon for 14 days, then rest in fridge uncovered for 4 days.
> Cold smoke for 10-12 hours, then another 4 day rest in the fridge uncovered.
> Finally I put it in the freezer for 3-4 hours & slice it with my meat slicer.



Okay, good to know. I think I'm going to cold smoke like everyone here seems to be saying and see how we do. I'll post some pics of the process later today.  Thanks!


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## tropics (Feb 19, 2017)

RainyPrincess said:


> tropics said:
> 
> 
> >
> ...


RP Thanks for clearing that up,we try to keep everyone safe.Looking forward to the final pics

Richie


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## rainyprincess (Feb 19, 2017)

Yeah yeah, thanks! Here are a couple shots. First one is when I put them in around 12:30pm today after resting overnight. Second shot is after about 5 hours, halfway there I'm thinking. Smoking apple chips in cold smoker attachment at 125 on MES 30. 













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## tropics (Feb 19, 2017)

RainyPrincess said:


> Yeah yeah, thanks! Here are a couple shots. First one is when I put them in around 12:30pm today after resting overnight. Second shot is after about 5 hours, halfway there I'm thinking. Smoking apple chips in cold smoker attachment at 125 on MES 30.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Looking good I have drool point for you

Richie

Can't wait for the sliced pic,let it rest a few days in the fridge.


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## pc farmer (Feb 19, 2017)

Looking good.


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## jipnsmoke (Feb 19, 2017)

Getting nice color to them Good job.


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## rainyprincess (Feb 19, 2017)

Alright, here's my progression from the start to 5 hours to ten hours. I think I'm going to give it 12 hours and then pull it off and give that slice sample for ya'll. So I've got two more hours on the smoke. Then slicing sample pic. But I'm going to put in the fridge for a few days before they're done. 













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^Start













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^ 5 hours













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^ 10 hours













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^ Close shot at 10 hours.


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## rainyprincess (Feb 20, 2017)

Alright friends, here's the real deal! This was a group effort and I appreciate all the advice. I was definitely going to mess this all up before ya'll chimed in. First time making bacon and never would have thought how much better it is than store bought, but OMG! Ya'll know. I'm not even going to narrate. Just scroll on down.....













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## tropics (Feb 20, 2017)

I guess you will be looking at slicers pretty soon! Nice job! 

Richie


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## jipnsmoke (Feb 20, 2017)

Looks great. Good job, well done. Yep slicers are so nice to use and come in handy for kinds of slicing jobs..


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