Makin Bacon

So I decided to take a shot at some homemade bacon. I have had a 10lb pork belly sitting in a wet brine since sat the 8th, I plan on smoking sat the 22nd.

Now my plan is to take it out fri night rinse and toss in the fridge to dry overnight. Then toss in the MES to smoke at about 130-140f for 4-6 hours.

My big question is have any of you noticed a difference between cold smoking and hot smoking? It will all be fried regardless. I have an Amazn pellet smoker as well so i can smoke at a lower temp if it results in better bacon.

I will also be smoking 10lbs of venison bacon this weekend

130 is pretty dqrn close to cold smoking. The guys that I know that do bacon seem to do it at different temps over the course of the smoke. Maybe try a combination of both your smoke devices?

SuperDave1959 wrote:

130 is pretty dq2rn close to cold smoking

Agree with this and have seen pretty good recipes for both ways; the only time I’ve done it was hot smoked around 200 to bring internal temp of the belly to 150.

If I had the proper equipment, I’d probably prefer to cold smoke at 90-100 for around 6 hours. Hope this helps, good luck.

How do you do your veni bacon? Sounds very interesting.

After you have rinsed the brine, cut the belly in half and take a slice from the middle and fry it up to check if too salty… If too salty soak belly in water 30 min, and then do another fry test. This ensures the end result should have just the right amount of salt flavor. I follow this guys recommendation on the temps of your smoker. I use a MES 40 heat at the lowest setting, toss in my amaze pellet tube and set it for 4 hrs, never come close to hitting 150f IT. Bacon turns out great, everyone I have let sample say it is way better than any of the stuff you can buy in the store, big thing after done smoking is to let it rest in fridge for another day or 2 before slicing up..

https://ilovemeat.com/homemade-bacon-part-2-smoke/

rubberduck wrote:

How do you do your veni bacon? Sounds very interesting.

x2 don’t hold out on us. I’ve seen people do it whole and also ground and cut with pork. Been thinking about trying it with surplus meat I have.

Thanks for the tips guys! I’ll let you know how it turns out in a week or so!

The venny bacon is amazing and about half of my deer goes to bacon. If you haven’t tried it I highly suggest it. My venison bacon is ground with pork. I got the recipe from an old friend see below. If you haven’t done or seen it before there are YouTube videos where you can see how it’s made to get an idea

Bacon.
12.5 pounds venison
12.5 pounds pork trimmings
1 cup canning salt
1 bottle McCormick smokehouse maple
2.5 cups brown sugar
3 tblsp black pepper
3 tblsp maple extract
2 boxes gelatin (optional but helps)
Water for mixing
Cure
Mix everything and put in 9 x 20 pans. About 5 pounds each.
Let pans sit in fridge to form.
Put loaves in smoker and smoke at 160 for 3 to 4 hours flip loaves and smoke for a couple more hours until it is smoked to your preference
Take out and let the meat cool and slice it up

The last batch I made I put a little more brown sugar and maple in and it turned out really good. The pork trimmings should be at leads 60 % fat

so just cut up and fry like regular bacon?
sounds good! thanks for posting the recipe!

No need to hot smoke it. I’ll bring mine up a little higher temp than what you mentioned for the last hour or so. Adds good color and firms up the belly better for slicing. Although I freeze my bellies individually then slice and package.

Temps you mentioned are good.

If you have never done bacon before, you should fry a small piece after you soak it out. I dry cure mine for 7 days and my bellies need to be soaked out with 2 water changes, for 16 hours. Mines completely different than yours though.

Attachments:

1. 

   20180302_071542.jpg
   

2. 

   20171111_072138.jpg
   

Rubber duck, you Got it!

Thanks for chiming in riverruns, I’m def going to taste and soak if needed. Looks like you have quite the operation!

Also I edited the recipe I add cure #1 to mine he did not