Rafter W Bacon
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Picked up the bellies bright and early this morning before work. Total weight was closer to 35 lbs. They were all right around 11.5 lbs. Good looking slabs though. I think I’m going to cure two of the three this week and hold one until spring or if I run out, whichever is first…Likely the latter!
Matt W.
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Picked up the bellies bright and early this morning before work. Total weight was closer to 35 lbs. They were all right around 11.5 lbs. Good looking slabs though. I think I’m going to cure two of the three this week and hold one until spring or if I run out, whichever is first…Likely the latter!
RafterW sounds like a good plan. Good luck
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Lay out what you are going to need, not pictured is my knife. Get a sharp knife. I like the Waltons boning knife. It’s great for trimming silver skin and can cut the slabs down, no problem.
Next up, you need to mix up your cure. I like the cure in this charcuterie book. It’s very informative. Note there are two cure recipes. One for granulated sugar, one for dextrose. It’s best to use the weight rather than the volumetric measurements, for accuracy. I mix up a pound and store it in a container for later use. Makes things quicker next time around.
Portion up your subprimals next, based on how many different version you want to make and what bags you have. 2 gallon freezer bags will fit 1/2 a belly. 1/4 bellies will fit in 1 gallon bags.
Put your portioned subprimals in each bag and weigh them individually. I use grams.
Add 2.5% cure mixture to the bag, based off of meatblock weight of each bag.
At this point you can add whatever. I added about 1/4 cup maple syrup to a few. For a more savory flavor I added fresh cracked black pepper, crushed garlic and bay leaf.
I’ll freshly grind black pepper to rub on some of these before they hit the smoker.
Place in fridge for 5-7 days. Could even be longer if you’ve got thick slabs. Flip and give each bag a good shake daily. Press a finger in the meat each day to see how the firmness changes. You’ll end up with a firm piece of meat by the end. If it’s still pretty squishy at the end of 7 days, keep going for upto two more days. I find most of my commercially raised bellies take 6 to 7 days.
Matt W.
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You may find that some
Recipes say to trim the bellies square, I prefer to leave mine how they come. I trim off the ends after they cure and smoke. The ends make great lardons when cubed, excellent in salads, soups/stews and side dishes. -
Lay out what you are going to need, not pictured is my knife. Get a sharp knife. I like the Waltons boning knife. It’s great for trimming silver skin and can cut the slabs down, no problem.
Next up, you need to mix up your cure. I like the cure in this charcuterie book. It’s very informative. Note there are two cure recipes. One for granulated sugar, one for dextrose. It’s best to use the weight rather than the volumetric measurements, for accuracy. I mix up a pound and store it in a container for later use. Makes things quicker next time around.
Portion up your subprimals next, based on how many different version you want to make and what bags you have. 2 gallon freezer bags will fit 1/2 a belly. 1/4 bellies will fit in 1 gallon bags.
Put your portioned subprimals in each bag and weigh them individually. I use grams.
Add 2.5% cure mixture to the bag, based off of meatblock weight of each bag.
At this point you can add whatever. I added about 1/4 cup maple syrup to a few. For a more savory flavor I added fresh cracked black pepper, crushed garlic and bay leaf.
I’ll freshly grind black pepper to rub on some of these before they hit the smoker.
Place in fridge for 5-7 days. Could even be longer if you’ve got thick slabs. Flip and give each bag a good shake daily. Press a finger in the meat each day to see how the firmness changes. You’ll end up with a firm piece of meat by the end. If it’s still pretty squishy at the end of 7 days, keep going for upto two more days. I find most of my commercially raised bellies take 6 to 7 days.
RafterW great post thank you very much.
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cdavis thank you. I will post up the next steps in the process after the bellies have cured. I’ve been seeing some posts about how much cure to use and salty bacon. The amount of cure used per belly is quite small with this recipe. The half bellies (about 2.7kg each) only took about 60 grams each of cure, which is only about 4 tablespoons as I was weighing it out.
Matt W.
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cdavis thank you. I will post up the next steps in the process after the bellies have cured. I’ve been seeing some posts about how much cure to use and salty bacon. The amount of cure used per belly is quite small with this recipe. The half bellies (about 2.7kg each) only took about 60 grams each of cure, which is only about 4 tablespoons as I was weighing it out.
RafterW thanks I can’t wait to see the rest of it.
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Lay out what you are going to need, not pictured is my knife. Get a sharp knife. I like the Waltons boning knife. It’s great for trimming silver skin and can cut the slabs down, no problem.
Next up, you need to mix up your cure. I like the cure in this charcuterie book. It’s very informative. Note there are two cure recipes. One for granulated sugar, one for dextrose. It’s best to use the weight rather than the volumetric measurements, for accuracy. I mix up a pound and store it in a container for later use. Makes things quicker next time around.
Portion up your subprimals next, based on how many different version you want to make and what bags you have. 2 gallon freezer bags will fit 1/2 a belly. 1/4 bellies will fit in 1 gallon bags.
Put your portioned subprimals in each bag and weigh them individually. I use grams.
Add 2.5% cure mixture to the bag, based off of meatblock weight of each bag.
At this point you can add whatever. I added about 1/4 cup maple syrup to a few. For a more savory flavor I added fresh cracked black pepper, crushed garlic and bay leaf.
I’ll freshly grind black pepper to rub on some of these before they hit the smoker.
Place in fridge for 5-7 days. Could even be longer if you’ve got thick slabs. Flip and give each bag a good shake daily. Press a finger in the meat each day to see how the firmness changes. You’ll end up with a firm piece of meat by the end. If it’s still pretty squishy at the end of 7 days, keep going for upto two more days. I find most of my commercially raised bellies take 6 to 7 days.
RafterW great post thanks for the work on this.
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I really wanted to make my sweet heat version but didn’t have sriracha. I might pick up some today and add it to one of the maple cures. Its pretty tasty! Crushed chili peppers and paprika go on top of that one before hitting the smoker.
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RafterW That is a good price, while at Costco last week, I saw it was $4.49/lb.
HerbcoFood I just picked some up last week at my “nearest” Costco. It is over 1 hour away. But it is the cheapest I have ever seen it at $3.69/lb. Too bad they didn’t have much to choose from. I grabbed 2 anyway because I could pass up that price and I need to do some testing in the pk100
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I really wanted to make my sweet heat version but didn’t have sriracha. I might pick up some today and add it to one of the maple cures. Its pretty tasty! Crushed chili peppers and paprika go on top of that one before hitting the smoker.
RafterW great post. Love the idea of sriracha Thanks
“A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.”
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Surg I’ll be firing up the smoker tonight and slicing/packaging tomorrow so there will be more images and descriptions to come. Thanks!
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The bellies went in the smoker last night and are now bacon. Refrigerated overnight night. I will slice and package today. Smoked to IT of 140F. Sampled a piece off an end, salt and flavor was spot on. Should total to about 20lb of sliced bacon and a lb or two of lardons from the rough ends, considerably better tasting than store bought and less expensive than even the cheapest packages at the store.
Matt W.
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The bellies went in the smoker last night and are now bacon. Refrigerated overnight night. I will slice and package today. Smoked to IT of 140F. Sampled a piece off an end, salt and flavor was spot on. Should total to about 20lb of sliced bacon and a lb or two of lardons from the rough ends, considerably better tasting than store bought and less expensive than even the cheapest packages at the store.
RafterW man that is alot of great looking
. Congrats 
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RafterW I mean lucky. I wish I had neighbors like you. What a friend.
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RafterW I also want to thank you for all the great information on bacon making. I’m going to give it a try before long.
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The bellies went in the smoker last night and are now bacon. Refrigerated overnight night. I will slice and package today. Smoked to IT of 140F. Sampled a piece off an end, salt and flavor was spot on. Should total to about 20lb of sliced bacon and a lb or two of lardons from the rough ends, considerably better tasting than store bought and less expensive than even the cheapest packages at the store.
RafterW that is awesome looking. Great work on those slabs
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This bad boy made short work of the 20 lbs of bacon slicing. Beautifully uniform. It took longer to clean than it did to slice it all.Matt W.
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This bad boy made short work of the 20 lbs of bacon slicing. Beautifully uniform. It took longer to clean than it did to slice it all.RafterW Santa Brown brought mine from Walton’s for under the tree today. Was very surprised UPS actually got it here when promised.
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