First Bacon; Not Firming Up

[Limey]

I have not yet done bacon but I cold smoke a lot of cheese. Frozen bottles are the only way to go.

[Tom]

Smoke's rising!

I must a admit a bit of a cop-out. I have 2 two liter bottles, but they're still completely full of seltzer water and I don't want to waste them by dumping them out, and I'm too antsy to get this cook going, since I've drug it out too long as it is. I finally yesterday took the belly out of the cure, rinsed well, dried and put them on cooling trays over pans in the fridge. They dried out pretty well even though it wasn't a full 24 hours.

I put them on, with a heavy dose of white pepper on the regular maple/brown sugar one. Set it for 180ºF with the probe in, and 3 oz of sugar maple. I also slid in the cold smoke plate, but I doubt that will help if I don't go back out there and drop the heat to 100ºF and let it idle for a few hours.

Having learned my lesson about the cure method, I think I'll do things a bit different the next time, including using the cold smoke process for the whole thing.

I can't remember the last time I had this fragrant of a smell coming off of maple. This stuff in incredibly sweet and almost like a frankincense spice note.

[Tom]

Tony explained the need for me to auto-tune the Auber, I really need to do that ASAP, because I'm getting a bit irritated watching the temp on the second cook now sit at the same temp for hour after hour after hour. It goes up 2-3 degrees then falls back 2 degrees over the course of an hour. I'm obviously new to this smoker but I never imagined it would take 9 hours and to be still waiting on an incomplete smoke to get some meat to 150º.

[Tom]

I'm learning by trial and error, but mostly error on my part. I assumed that since the temp was fluctuating sometimes 30 degrees above my set temp (210 instead of 180) that it would be too risky to increase the heat to 200 like others have, in fear of rendering too much fat. So I sat and watched TV for the evening, eyeing the 3D thru the balcony window. It's been 11 hours now and it just hit 140 internal temp. At this rate, the meat probably wouldn't be done till the middle of the night, so I pulled out the cold smoking plate (that I probably should have removed a LONG time ago) and dialed the temp up to 200.

[Tom]

Certainly worth the effort though. I let it cool for about 15 minutes, peeled and saved the skin, and sliced off enough to square up the edges of each and baked them for about 13 minutes (I'm an oven convert vs pan frying). They're both a bit too salty so when I end up using the slices, I'll dip them in some simmering water for a bit before cooking up.

They both got the same base cure components of maple sugar and brown sugar, but the bacon on the left also got a bit more maple sugar, some bourbon (reduction) and like 1 drop of vanilla extract, all mixed up and tossed in with the cure. The bacon on the right just got the base cure ingredients and a healthy dose of Muntok white pepper.

I'm happy they're not smokey, I prefer it on the light side. But maybe next time around, I'll do the proper cold smoke and extend it more, because it's rather light on the smoke.

The bourbon vanilla tastes even better than it sounds. I'm not sure I can even detect a note of vanilla, it's just got a pleasant sweet note to it. This one I'll use in low carb salads to add protein and fats where I think the slightly sweet component will add something special to the greens.

The peppered bacon will get used with the regular fare, breakfast and maybe some kind of BLT.

So much to learn, I thank everyone who's chimed in. I can't wait to slice it up and get it packaged.

[NDKoze]

The salt may equalize a bit after it sits in the fridge.

Did you do a test fry prior to smoking? If not, the next time you make bacon, do a test fry of the non-smoked bacon to test for salinity. If it is too salty you can soak it in water and retest every hour and replace water until the salt levels are correct.

[DivotMaker]

I'm learning by trial and error, but mostly error on my part. I assumed that since the temp was fluctuating sometimes 30 degrees above my set temp (210 instead of 180) that it would be too risky to increase the heat to 200 like others have, in fear of rendering too much fat. So I sat and watched TV for the evening, eyeing the 3D thru the balcony window. It's been 11 hours now and it just hit 140 internal temp. At this rate, the meat probably wouldn't be done till the middle of the night, so I pulled out the cold smoking plate (that I probably should have removed a LONG time ago) and dialed the temp up to 200.

Holy cow!  Did I just catch it that you were trying to get the temp up to 150, with the cold smoke plate in place??  If so, this explains a LOT about your temperature problems!  You can NOT attempt to smoke meat, by internal temp (probe) with the plate in place.  The controller can't figure out what's happening in the box because you are blocking the heat to the temp probe!

The plate is for cold smoking only.  This means short bursts of heat, to get the chips smoking, and then heat OFF!  The idea is to keep box temp as low as possible, and add smoke, not heat. 

You don't need to autotune, for this issue, you just need to not try and hot smoke with the cold smoke plate in place.  Also, it you had your temp set to 180, looking for a meat temp of 150, I am amazed you didn't damage your element.  As I said, you fooled the probe, and I bet that sucker was working overtime, trying to get the box up to 180!

Lesson learned, my friend!

[DivotMaker]

Tony explained the need for me to auto-tune the Auber, I really need to do that ASAP, because I'm getting a bit irritated watching the temp on the second cook now sit at the same temp for hour after hour after hour. It goes up 2-3 degrees then falls back 2 degrees over the course of an hour. I'm obviously new to this smoker but I never imagined it would take 9 hours and to be still waiting on an incomplete smoke to get some meat to 150º.

It would not have taken that long, had the cold smoke plate not been in place.

[Tom]

I'm learning by trial and error, but mostly error on my part. I assumed that since the temp was fluctuating sometimes 30 degrees above my set temp (210 instead of 180) that it would be too risky to increase the heat to 200 like others have, in fear of rendering too much fat. So I sat and watched TV for the evening, eyeing the 3D thru the balcony window. It's been 11 hours now and it just hit 140 internal temp. At this rate, the meat probably wouldn't be done till the middle of the night, so I pulled out the cold smoking plate (that I probably should have removed a LONG time ago) and dialed the temp up to 200.

Holy cow!  Did I just catch it that you were trying to get the temp up to 150, with the cold smoke plate in place??  If so, this explains a LOT about your temperature problems!  You can NOT attempt to smoke meat, by internal temp (probe) with the plate in place.  The controller can't figure out what's happening in the box because you are blocking the heat to the temp probe!

The plate is for cold smoking only.  This means short bursts of heat, to get the chips smoking, and then heat OFF!  The idea is to keep box temp as low as possible, and add smoke, not heat. 

You don't need to autotune, for this issue, you just need to not try and hot smoke with the cold smoke plate in place.  Also, it you had your temp set to 180, looking for a meat temp of 150, I am amazed you didn't damage your element.  As I said, you fooled the probe, and I bet that sucker was working overtime, trying to get the box up to 180!

Lesson learned, my friend!

Yikes indeed! My bad.    Originally I was thinking the cold smoke plate also served double duty as a bit of a heat shield to help avoid melting fat.

Ok, brisket's up next!

[DivotMaker]

Whew!  Glad we caught that, Tom!  I'll post instructions on using the cold smoke plate with the D models.  We didn't think of that, and it's different than you would do manually, with the stock analog controller.  Thank you for making that "mistake!"  You brought to light something we didn't think about, and this will help others!

[Tom]

Glad to help. LOL!

I'm going to make a trip down to the store for some simple aluminum pans. I can just fill them with sand, wrap them in HD foil and make some heat soaks for the future cooks. I need some good tomatoes for some BLT's too.

[Tom]

I  made this beauty while I'm getting ready to start a brisket at 4AM. The smoke flavor has certainly penetrated better but it's still showing a tad too much saltiness. No worries in this application though, I just skipped salting the heirloom tomatoes.

[Tom]

And just to follow back on the temp thing, it's been rock steady all morning and afternoon on the brisket cook. I've read that it's insulation helps it shrug off wild ambient temperatures, but I'm blessed here near the coast having temps of 55-65ºF nearly year round.

[DivotMaker]

And just to follow back on the temp thing, it's been rock steady all morning and afternoon on the brisket cook. I've read that it's insulation helps it shrug off wild ambient temperatures, but I'm blessed here near the coast having temps of 55-65ºF nearly year round.

Good deal, Tom!  Not having that cold smoke plate in makes all the difference!  It will hold those same temps in cold temps, too.  I've smoked down to 9° with the Auber, with no problems!