Author Topic: Standard Bacon  (Read 1138 times)

lanailife

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Standard Bacon
« on: June 27, 2023, 07:08:33 PM »
Since I first got my Smokin-It smoker, probably my most popular smoke has been bacon. It's tasty and true, and there's so many variations. I've done double smoked, Cajun, maple, honey, sweet and candied, Christmas, hot and spicy and many more. So what I wanted to do is come up with some kind of baseline recipe that I would call "Standard Bacon," in other words just a plain simple smokejob that gives a good tasting and "plain" bacon -- well, not really plain because I'll put some season into it, but one that isn't particularly sweet, or spicy, or with any one strong flavor besides the smoke and the bacon.

To do this, I start -- as I always do -- with Pork Belly's "Dry Cured Bacon" instructions on the sticky at the top of this forum.

For the basic cure, I use this (based on 1600g pork, which is a 3.7 pounds slab of belly):

8g sodium nitrate (1/2 TB)
36g coconut sugar   (2 TB)
72g himalayan pink salt   (4TB)

I let that belly cure good and nice for at least a week in the meat fridge, with daily turnings and pattings.

This time, when it was done and ready to smoke, I unwrapped it and just dusted the top with the simplest of rubs: a tablespoon or so of Hungarian paprika, and a tablespoon of Mesquite powder, and a hint of Cayenne pepper, like an eighth of a teaspoon or so. Now this was all just a soft dusting on the belly, not really a thick cake of it at all. I just patted and pressed all this on there.

Then we cold smoked for a couple hours at 100, and finally raised it to 225 for three more hours or until we could stand it no more.

Now, this time, I was able to rectify a problem with most of my earlier bacon smokes. Most of the time I removed the hide, maybe picked at it briefly, but ultimately disposed of it. Not this time! I carefully took the whole hide off and used poultry shears to cut it into nacho chip sized pieces. Pork skin is loaded with collagen and is kind of a superfood, and great for all sorts of things. Coming out of the Smokin-It, they're delectable. So I saved that, let the bacon cool and sit overnight, and then, the next day ... wow! Cold, right from the fridge, it's awesome. It's also great baked, broiled, or fried. It's my "Standard Bacon" and I recommend it to all.


old sarge

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Re: Standard Bacon
« Reply #1 on: June 27, 2023, 07:40:45 PM »
Looks real good.
David from Arizona
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Lonzinomaker

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Re: Standard Bacon
« Reply #2 on: June 27, 2023, 11:38:38 PM »
Sounds good.
Dave
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