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Makin bacon
First time to cure bacon, I've made Canadian bacon, corned beef, pastrami and ham, but this was my first go around with a fresh pork belly
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It takes about a week or so of curing time, then about 5 hours of low heat smoke, but it is sure worth the time once you fry some up
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Man, making me hungry. I've never really looked at the process, but I would have thought it would take longer than a week to cure. Is that just a week in the fridge?
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This is on my list to do. I've got a vacuum sealer so it should cut down the time for curing or make it super intense- not sure which. The other thing is the low smoke. I have wood and a small charcoal grill but I've seen where you can make it work if you do some crazy charcoal patterns and use wood chips.
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Karl, what size grill do you have? My primary smoker is a Cookshack Smokette.....a little electric smoker that I've had for well over a decade now and is great. It's so easy that the spousal unit can use it. It replaced a Weber Bullet that was just too much work. The one thing I miss with the Smokette is you don't get the same combustion, so no smoke rings, but the flavor is great and the easy is set-it-and-forget-it for the most part, a la good ole Ron Popeil. Anyhow, I digress. I ask because I use a Weber kettle for most normal grilling. I finally decided to buy a Slow N Sear for that, which allows a lot of versatility for smoking things, more like a traditional smoker. I've figured it would be great for some jobs that are in the 4-5 hr range, and also for jobs that my electric smoker can't get hot enough to get a bark on something in a short amount of time. I do a lot of sous vide cooking as well and just need to get a nice bark in 2-3 hours sometimes.
I have seen the old "snake" method of charcoal as well which does keep things going at a low temp over time, but does need a little maintenance along the way. |
Cure time is 7 days per inch thick, I cured it 8 days, I didn't measure, but it was a little over an inch thick,
Morton tender quick or Morton sugar cure, which is still a salt cure even though it says sugar, brown sugar Black pepper Molasses or maple syrup One tablespoon per pound of each, in a ziplock bag in the fridge, turn once a day for the 7 days per inch, for how ever thick. I smoked on a pit boss pellet smoker on 150, I call that a low heat even though it isn't a "cold smoke" as much . Not sure how a vacuum sealer would work on curing, probably would be ok, but I like to swish it around every time I turn it |
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