Pork Belly 1st attempt

[Donmac]

Hey Everyone, Woke up this morning to a crisp 55 degrees and thought this would be a good day to smoke the bacon. I am using 2 oz of hickory chips in an aluminum boat, 2 oz of maple block and a couple of left over pieces of wood from a previous smoke. I also added a 2 liter bottle of ice just above the smoke box. Will do 5 hrs. smoke at box temp. of 90, then up to 200 for an internal temp. of 150. Was going to do an 8 hrs. cold smoke but did not want to stay up that late last night.

Bill is your first attempt at bacon? I have been wanting to do one but haven't yet, kind of scared of screwing it up.

[DivotMaker]

Good day for a bacon smoke, Bill!  Wishing you luck!

[elkins20]

Hey Don & Tony, First Don yes this was my first attempt at doing bacon. Next time will have a cold plate for my #3 and also a 12 a-maze-n smoker tube. But, the bacon was in the smoker for 8 hrs. at 90 degrees with an ambient temp. starting at 56 degrees and warmed up to 66 degrees. Yes, Tony was a great day to smoke the bacon. After the 8 hrs. at 90 the auber took the temp. up to 200 and was there about 2 hrs. to reach the internal temp. of 150. Pulled the bacon out, then cut the skin off, which was easier than I thought it would be. But, used a very sharp fish filleting knife. I actually thought the skin would be thicker than about an 1/8 of an inch. I did cut off a small slice and fried it, was out of this world good. A little salty but after a night in the fridge that should mellow out. Enjoy the pictures. One last note, thank-you Brian/Pork Belly for your posts on bacon and your advice. With your help turned out a great belly bacon.

[gregbooras]

Great job on the bacon bill!

I bought a belly a few months ago, but with all my travel it still is in the freezer. Most likely I will not get around to it until December. The one thing I plan to do different is to give it a pepper rub before smoking it!

Greg

[Donmac]

Looks good man, I will get around to doing one of those someday.

[elkins20]

Great job on the bacon bill!

I bought a belly a few months ago, but with all my travel it still is in the freezer. Most likely I will not get around to it until December. The one thing I plan to do different is to give it a pepper rub before smoking it!

Greg

Hey Greg, I believe I seen some instructions on doing the black pepper, but for the life of me can't remember who posted it now. Mine did not have as much of a sweet maple flavor that I thought it would have.

[elkins20]

Looks good man, I will get around to doing one of those someday.

Hey Don, It is pretty easy, to do. Just a bit time consuming except for the smoke. I think you can do 2 hrs. at a box temp. of 100 and then up the box temp. to 200 and look for the internal temp. of 150.

[DivotMaker]

Nice job, Bill!

[elkins20]

Nice job, Bill!

Thanks Tony, just got my computer back working. Windows ten froze it with a blue screen error. Long story short had to reload windows 8.1 and lost all my files. Sucks to be me. Most of the apps I can re-load as for the files some I can re-create. Am going to start saving files once a month to a cd.

[DivotMaker]

Oh no!  Had to revert to 8??  That DOES suck!  Worst version of Windows EVER!  I'd reinstall 10, and find out what your problem was.  I have had really good luck with it, and I've used every version of Windows since the beginning.

[gregbooras]

Nice job, Bill!

Thanks Tony, just got my computer back working. Windows ten froze it with a blue screen error. Long story short had to reload windows 8.1 and lost all my files. Sucks to be me. Most of the apps I can re-load as for the files some I can re-create. Am going to start saving files once a month to a cd.

I would also put 10 back on, its the most stable build Windows has come out with other than Dos 2.0

Also do yourself a favor and buy a second drive and install it in your computer as a backup or buy an external drive that plugs into the usb drive and do backups once in a while. I do both, but also copy all my recipes and important stuff into my dropbox account.

Greg

[elkins20]

Thanks Greg & Tony, I do plan on putting 10 back on the system. Just going to get some ducks in a row first. Lucky I did not use recipes other than on the pc. I have gotten into a habit of printing them so I do have a drawer full of recipes. Just government doc. to help get the wife over and some other stuff. The government doc. don't really need but was nice to have in case someone would need help. I just plan on once a month to copy my documents and music over to a cd. Not sure about getting another drive but that is a good idea. And guys I am on 8.1, but plan on going back to 10 after the first of the year. Just a recommendation from  Dell techs.

[DivotMaker]

Bill, you can also use an online backup source, like Carbonite.  I used it for years, before setting up a WD MyCloud backup server.  Saved my bacon on several crashes!

[elkins20]

Hey Tony, not sure if you are a base ball fan, the K.C. Royals stamped their ticket to the World Series last night. If you did not see game six it was a nail bitter to say the least. Twice the game was tied up and then a rain delay. I might check into the wd my cloud backup as like that idea better than an off source backup site. But, may also see about the one you suggested Carbonite. I just would like something in house if you know what I mean. I recently purchased an 11.5 pound pork belly from Costco that was very reasonable and far better looking than what I had purchased from the specialty grocer, need to get the pictures uploaded. Have a great weekend what is left of it.

[DivotMaker]

Thanks Bill!  Good luck to the Royals!!