How I make my bacon.
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samspade they made a bacon in a class and they made the coffee super strong and then used it in the brine in place of the water. it had a very strong coffee flavor
Departing Contestant I am doing a dry brine and not a wet brine. Just think about this. When you make a wet brine you are weighing both the meat and the water and then adding enough salt, sugar, and cure 1 to make up for the addition of the weight of the water. With a dry brine you use a lot less salt, sugar, and cure 1. With a wet brine you have to have to do it in a bucket or something else that is big enough to hold the meat and the water and then find space for it in the refrigerator. With a dry brine you can do the curing in a zip lock or vacuum sealed bag.
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Idaho Smokey Good lord that is some nice meat!!!
Dr_Pain This bacon was cold smoked for 24 hours over 3 days. I use a large smoke tube in my smoker and it will run just under 8 hours. I start it in the morning and let the bacon hang out in the smoker all day. I put it in a zip lock and refrigerate it over night and then start again in the morning. Just a hint, Do not put smoked bacon in the refrigerator without it being sealed in something. Don’t ask me how I know that everything in the whole refrigerator will taste and smell like it has been smoked. That includes the ice cream in the freezer.
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Dr_Pain This bacon was cold smoked for 24 hours over 3 days. I use a large smoke tube in my smoker and it will run just under 8 hours. I start it in the morning and let the bacon hang out in the smoker all day. I put it in a zip lock and refrigerate it over night and then start again in the morning. Just a hint, Do not put smoked bacon in the refrigerator without it being sealed in something. Don’t ask me how I know that everything in the whole refrigerator will taste and smell like it has been smoked. That includes the ice cream in the freezer.
Idaho Smokey said in How I make my bacon.:
Dr_Pain Just a hint, Do not put smoked bacon in the refrigerator without it being sealed in something. Don’t ask me how I know that everything in the whole refrigerator will taste and smell like it has been smoked. That includes the ice cream in the freezer.
Definitely a pro-tip right there. I can’t wait to try my hands at it
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Dr_Pain This bacon was cold smoked for 24 hours over 3 days. I use a large smoke tube in my smoker and it will run just under 8 hours. I start it in the morning and let the bacon hang out in the smoker all day. I put it in a zip lock and refrigerate it over night and then start again in the morning. Just a hint, Do not put smoked bacon in the refrigerator without it being sealed in something. Don’t ask me how I know that everything in the whole refrigerator will taste and smell like it has been smoked. That includes the ice cream in the freezer.
Idaho Smokey smoked ice cream in the right flavor might be good ?
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Dr_Pain This bacon was cold smoked for 24 hours over 3 days. I use a large smoke tube in my smoker and it will run just under 8 hours. I start it in the morning and let the bacon hang out in the smoker all day. I put it in a zip lock and refrigerate it over night and then start again in the morning. Just a hint, Do not put smoked bacon in the refrigerator without it being sealed in something. Don’t ask me how I know that everything in the whole refrigerator will taste and smell like it has been smoked. That includes the ice cream in the freezer.
Idaho Smokey I made that mistake once. Always vacuum pack anything I cold smoke before actually using it for that same reason. I just laugh at my mistakes.
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Idaho Smokey smoked ice cream in the right flavor might be good ?
craigrice said in How I make my bacon.:
Idaho Smokey smoked ice cream in the right flavor might be good ?
I’m intrigued also
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I can’t post the Excel program here. The forum does not allow the extension used in Excel. Send me an email at rmbrad@sitestar.net if you are interested.
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I can’t post the Excel program here. The forum does not allow the extension used in Excel. Send me an email at rmbrad@sitestar.net if you are interested.
Idaho Smokey Hey bud, you can take a screenshot and post it as a picture. If you are on a PC you can hit (Windows Icon/Shit/S) and that will give you the ability to save a picture of whatever is on your screen
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Idaho Smokey Hey bud, you can take a screenshot and post it as a picture. If you are on a PC you can hit (Windows Icon/Shit/S) and that will give you the ability to save a picture of whatever is on your screen
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Dr_Pain I don’t know how that would work with this program. There are hidden cells that do the calculations that wouldn’t show up. I am not real savvy when it comes to running these computers.
Idaho Smokey I see… I wonder if you could convert the Excel into a Google Spreadsheet and make the sheet available (locking the formula cells so nobody could modify)
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Idaho Smokey I see… I wonder if you could convert the Excel into a Google Spreadsheet and make the sheet available (locking the formula cells so nobody could modify)
Dr_Pain Thinking that would would for sure. A person can also download it from there also because it’s only a link to a file.
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To figure out the amount of cure, salt and sugar I use this cure calculator
http://www.diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html
You just enter the weight of the meat and the calculator gives you the correct amount of cure needed. I usually buy a whole pork belly (around 11-12 lbs. and I cut it in 1/2. I weigh each piece and then use the calculator. I change the amount of salt on the calculator from 2% to 3% (personal preference) . I also change the amount of sugar from 1% to 3% (again personal preference). When I get the amount of sugar needed I weigh 1/2 of the amount needed and use regular sugar and the remaining 1/2 of the sugar weight I use maple sugar (not maple syrup). Once I have all the ingredients weighed I mix them throughly. I then lightly coat the pork belly with maple syrup and I then evenly apply the cure mixture to both side of the pork belly including the sides. It should be noted that the pork belly I use does not have the skin on. If the pork belly you use has the skin on then I would put the majority of the mixture on the skin side and just lightly coat the skin side as the cure has a hard time penetrating the skin. Once I have coated the pork belly with the cure mixture I apply a heavy dose of coarse black pepper and then another coating of maple syrup to the pork belly. Once the pork belly is fully coated in place it into a large zip lock bag and I then place that bag into another zip lock bag to prevent any leakage if the first bag should leak.
The bags are then placed into the fridge in a tray for 14 days. Most web sites state 7-10 days but I do it for 14. I flip the bags every 3 days making sure that whatever liquid is in the bag stays around the meat.
After 14 days I remove the pork belly from the bag and thoroughly rinse off the cure mixture. Once the cure is rinsed off I pat it dry and apply a coat of black pepper. I then place the pork belly on a wire rack in a tray and then I put it back into the fridge over night to dry.
The next day I start my smoker at 100 degrees and hang my pork belly in the smoker to dry for an hour. After the hour has passed I bump up the temperature to 130 with what ever wood I want to use. I use a mix of apple and hickory. After 2 hours I bump up the temperature to 160 and let the pork belly cook until the internal temperature of the pork belly is 145.
When the pork belly reaches 145 degrees I remove it from the smoker and place it on a wire rack to cool down at room temperature. Once the pork belly is cool I wrap it in plastic wrap and place it back in the fridge for a day or two to let the smoke do it’s thing. Something of note if the pork belly you used has the skin on it now is the time to remove it. It’s much easier to cut the skin off when the pork belly is warm then it is when cold.
After it’s been in the fridge for the day or two I slice it up and package it into 1lb. batches.John Belvedere , You and I are very similar , you dry brine and I wet brine. Very nicely done my friend!
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Very nice write up on your process, thx!
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