Makin' Bacon (EQ Method)
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Also a fan of this method. It is almost fool proof since you are weighing out the precise amount of salt, sugar and cure based on the green weight of the pork belly. This greatly reduces a finished bacon that is too salty or not salty enough. When done correctly, it also ensures that the nitrite levels are within guidelines for safe curing.
I use a Excel spreadsheet that calculates the correct salt, sugar and cure amounts to use after I enter the green weight of the belly.
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Today was slicing day. Whole kitchen smells like smoke and I can’t wait to cook some up.
Jamieson22 great looking bacon. I am becoming a fan of the EQ method. Looks like you did an awesome job start to finish.
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Looks like what we get from a butcher shop in MN, they call it cottage bacon. One slices makes a BLT, yours looks awesome. Someday I am going to try my own.
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Jamieson22
Getting mine in the smoker now. Usually do mine flat on the racks but decided to try to hang them. So after a few modifications was able to make it work. Hoping to get some results like yours. Did one with some jalapeño powder. Hopefully some of the flavor will have picked up at this point.
“A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.”
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Just a word of advice, if you haven’t started smoking your belly yet I would take the wood you have rigged in your smoker and put your top metal rack back in and hang your belly from it. The wood you have put in your smoker to hang your belly from can get warm enough that the pores in the wood open up and leave your belly with a rancid taste & ruin the batch, not to mention hanging from your top metal rack will moved the belly higher above your heat element.
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Just a word of advice, if you haven’t started smoking your belly yet I would take the wood you have rigged in your smoker and put your top metal rack back in and hang your belly from it. The wood you have put in your smoker to hang your belly from can get warm enough that the pores in the wood open up and leave your belly with a rancid taste & ruin the batch, not to mention hanging from your top metal rack will moved the belly higher above your heat element.
mhighland69
Oh man. Thanks. That Unfortunately is the top rack and I didn’t have the clearance otherwise. Maybe I will go back to the old way for now until I can figure out something better, or buy a bigger smoker.Switched it up. Thanks again.
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I understand that where you had the wood is the top shelf, what I’m trying to explain is if you leave your top metal rack in the smoker and take the metal racks out below you can hang you belly like you had it, you just hang it vertically from the metal rack that you have your top piece of belly on now. Put you metal hangers into your belly like you had it, and use the grate’s on your top wire rack to hang your belly from.
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If you hang your belly vertically like you had it before you will end up with a much better, evenly smoked product, that you will not have to turn over or rotate. If you have any questions reach out I smoke my belly like this every time I make a batch.
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mhighland69
Oh man. Thanks. That Unfortunately is the top rack and I didn’t have the clearance otherwise. Maybe I will go back to the old way for now until I can figure out something better, or buy a bigger smoker.Switched it up. Thanks again.
Surg You are welcome! I know the work that goes into this and I would hate to see a whole batch of belly ruined for the amount of time I know that you have put into this.
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mhighland69
Oh man. Thanks. That Unfortunately is the top rack and I didn’t have the clearance otherwise. Maybe I will go back to the old way for now until I can figure out something better, or buy a bigger smoker.Switched it up. Thanks again.
Surg Another thing you can do is make you a few more hangers that you are sticking through your belly for hangers, and if your belly pieces are to long you can cut them in half and then hang em in the smoker vertically. Cutting your belly in half will not affect your final product.
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Jamieson22
Getting mine in the smoker now. Usually do mine flat on the racks but decided to try to hang them. So after a few modifications was able to make it work. Hoping to get some results like yours. Did one with some jalapeño powder. Hopefully some of the flavor will have picked up at this point. Surg looking good
so far. Good luck with the smoke. I bet it turns out great. Can’t wait to do it myself. -
Came out great! mhighland69 thanks for the input. It’s hard to tell in the picture but I actually had the S hooks through the metal rack which was sitting on top of the wood. The wood was used as spacers on the highest slides for the rack to get the metal rack closer to the top of the smoker. Not sure why I didn’t think of it but I probably also could have hung them horizontally from the rack and eliminated the need for the wood. It was kind of a pain to rotate and flip them. I think I may try to figure out a way to add brackets higher in the smoker to set the rack on. Or maybe metal spacers.
“A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.”
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Came out great! mhighland69 thanks for the input. It’s hard to tell in the picture but I actually had the S hooks through the metal rack which was sitting on top of the wood. The wood was used as spacers on the highest slides for the rack to get the metal rack closer to the top of the smoker. Not sure why I didn’t think of it but I probably also could have hung them horizontally from the rack and eliminated the need for the wood. It was kind of a pain to rotate and flip them. I think I may try to figure out a way to add brackets higher in the smoker to set the rack on. Or maybe metal spacers.
Surg looks good
. Great job man. 
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Jamieson22
Getting mine in the smoker now. Usually do mine flat on the racks but decided to try to hang them. So after a few modifications was able to make it work. Hoping to get some results like yours. Did one with some jalapeño powder. Hopefully some of the flavor will have picked up at this point. Surg Your bacon looks killer, nice work!
Maybe grab a few bacon hangers? When I smoked I just ran my dowels through the shoulders of them vs using the hanging hook to raise the slabs up on my PK100 rack setup. Worked out really well.
I have 3 half-slabs of Duroc hog in fridge now using EQ. One plain, another maple syrup/garlic, and last maple syrup/chipotle.
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Came out great! mhighland69 thanks for the input. It’s hard to tell in the picture but I actually had the S hooks through the metal rack which was sitting on top of the wood. The wood was used as spacers on the highest slides for the rack to get the metal rack closer to the top of the smoker. Not sure why I didn’t think of it but I probably also could have hung them horizontally from the rack and eliminated the need for the wood. It was kind of a pain to rotate and flip them. I think I may try to figure out a way to add brackets higher in the smoker to set the rack on. Or maybe metal spacers.
Surg that looks amazing!
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I have been curing and cold smoking bacon for the last few years…bellies and loins…so much better than what you can purchase. I have a small MES30 that I cold smoke in
…Yours look gorgeous!
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