Makin Bacon

Will the Grill

New member
Here's my 3rd attempt to make homemade bacon. The 1st two attempts came out a little too salty. I made a cure with equal parts salt, white sugar and a cajun rub from Dinosaur BBQ. I cured it for 7 days, rinsed and soaked it for about 3 hours to pull the excess salt out then left uncovered in my fridge overnight to form a pellicle. Yesterday I smoked it at 225 for about 2hrs with hickory wood to an IT of 150. I put it in fridge over night and sliced and cooked it for breakfast today. It was the best I've made to date. Here are some pics.


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Jackb

New member
That's very interesting. I don't eat pork, but I'd like to try and experiment with something like that for when I have guests over.
What part of the pig is the bacon from? You just rubbed the salt/sugar/rub on it and let it sit where? In the refrigerator? Or room temperature? You rinsed and soaked it in... water? Once you smoked it to 150*, that just made it smokey meat, that was still raw and required regular cooking, right? How long would it last in the refrigerator before final cooking?
 

Will the Grill

New member
What part of the pig is the bacon from? You just rubbed the salt/sugar/rub on it and let it sit where? In the refrigerator? Or room temperature? You rinsed and soaked it in... water? Once you smoked it to 150*, that just made it smokey meat, that was still raw and required regular cooking, right? How long would it last in the refrigerator before final cooking?
Bacon comes from pork belly, it's not usually stocked at grocery stores, your butcher can get it for you. Once you put the rub or cure on it you place it in a non reactive container (zip lock bag or Tupperware container, no metal) and place in the refrigerator. After a few days drain the liquid the cure pulled from the meat and reapply the cure. I rinsed and soaked in water, changing the water once an hour for 3hrs. Technically at 150* pork is cooked and edible, but to make it crisp like bacon you have to pan fry or bake in the oven. I'm not sure how long it will last in the refrigerator, probably the same as regular bacon once it's open. I cooked half and froze the other half. This was the 3rd or 4th time I've made bacon and my wife agreed it was the best to date. I think the key was I soaked it much longer than before to get the excess salt out of it. Good luck
 

cowgirl

New member
Good lookin' bacon! Mine's still "on the hoof" but hope to get some made before snow flies here. :)
 
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