How to Make Homemade Dry Rub Bacon - Recipe

[GWG8541]

alanburkholder did you dry it on your Traeger?

[processhead]

“Made my first 6 lbs of dry rub bacon, I only rinsed the bellies after 6 day, rather than the soak, rinse, repeat - boy it was salty. I should have read the instructions more carefully…”

IMO you could be forgiven for making this mistake alanburkholder.

The web listing for Dry Rub Bacon Cure would have you believe you just need to rinse the pork belly after curing.

Jonathon IMO that could be a source of a lot of customer confusion and probably should be updated to include the soaking instructions. Or just removed from the web listing.

[alanburkholder]

GWG8541

GWG8541 said in How to Make Homemade Dry Rub Bacon - Recipe:

alanburkholder did you dry it on your Traeger?

patted dry with paper towels then onto the traeger. Apple wood until internal temp was 137…

[T Jake]

I have the Excalibur products and the pork bellies to make this recipe now but my concern is controlling the temp of my smoker to that degree of accuracy. As far as smoke or no smoke I think I’m ok but those are some pretty tight temperature instructions. Anyone have any advice concerning this?

[YooperDog]

T Jake Not sure what you are asking about, controlling the temperature of your smoker, smoke schedule, …

[T Jake]

Waltons bacon recipe calls for very specific cooking times. 120,135,150, 165 and 180 degrees in one hour increments. I don’t think I can control my temps to that accuracy. I was wondering if others have had this problem. Are the temps they call for that critical?

[YooperDog]

T Jake Yes and no. What is the lowest that your equipment can go? I have made bacon on a Weber grill offsetting the coals and doing the best I could with the temps. You aren’t going to be able to do a whole belly that way, but you can make a chunk of bacon. I controlled the temp with how much charcoal I used and draft. The better that you can control the process the better the product you can produce. Use what you have, know it’s limitations, how you can overcome some of those and enjoy the experience and learn. Keep good notes.

If you have a smoker that runs hot, crack open the door, put a tray of ice in it. Maybe do your smoking on a cold day. Watch the temp of your product, get a good thermometer for that. The temperature and smoke schedule is set up to help the meat get ready to accept smoke, get the smoke and bring the meat to temperature. There is a lot to learn, but it is like eating an elephant, one bite at a time. Folks here will pass on their knowledge and experience willingly, have fun with the journey.

[T Jake]

I have a Fast Eddy pellet smoker that’s capable of hanging at least three bellies. The smoke setting, it’s lowest setting, usually runs at about 120 degrees. I think you are correct suggesting that I use a good thermometer. In fact, I think I’ll need several to monitor pit temp and belly temps. And I can always open the door to dump heat if I need to as you suggest. I guess I was hoping for a simple answer but as you say, its all about time and temperature.

Thanks YooperDog for your suggestions, I really appreciate it.

[YooperDog]

T Jake you can try a smoke tube with the door cracked open or run an offset set-up to keep the initial temperature low enough. Dumping heat isn’t the best solution, but I have done it when I realized I was losing control of my temperature. I have since upgraded over time but learned a lot experimenting with what I had. I have seen folks on here come up with some creative and simple solutions. processhead is turning a fridge into a smoker, passing along pic’s and a step by step tutorial.

[T Jake]

Thank’s YooperDog,
I think I will use the time while that bacon is curing in the fridge to figure out that smoker of mine. Ive never really needed to control the heat to this extent but it’s time I figured it out.
I do have one of those smoke tubes, and I think that could be part of a solution.