bacon recipe needed

steff bugielski · #1 12/01/08, 11:43 AM

Dry rub or Brine cure?
I have bacon and hams to prepare for smoking. Any good recipes out there?

Delinda · #2 12/01/08, 12:31 PM

We just smoked alot of bacon, the way my DH does it is he salts it down using plain salt, no iodine. We don't use a recipe, just salt. He lets it set for about one week drawing the moisture out. Then he washs the salt off, if not washed it is to salty. Then we hang it in the smokehouse and smoke it for 2 or 3 days. We ate some this morning and it was really good. We have the hams smoking now. They are done the same way.

**highlands** · #3 12/01/08, 04:46 PM

We brine our bacon and hams like this:

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/blog/2006/04...brine-ham.html

It is fairly simple. Basically, salt, sugar, pepper, spice in a clean container. We haven't tried smoking yet. Some day...

Kmac15 · #4 12/01/08, 06:01 PM

for bacon we brine in a mix of 1 gallon water, 1 cup kosher salt and 1 cup honey.
soak for 3 days, dry for 1 hour in front of a fan, on a wire rack. Then smoked for 4-5 hours.

steff bugielski · #5 12/02/08, 05:21 AM

Kmac15,
That sounds easy enough. At what temp are you smoking?

steff bugielski · #6 12/02/08, 05:25 AM

Highlands,
I have read and re-read all of your website. I absolutely love it. The ham you brine can it be smoked after the brining? Does it taste like smoked ham without smoking?
PS did I mention this was an intact boar of 16 months. He thanks you for living his life with his jewels.

AnnieinBC · #7 12/02/08, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steff bugielski

Dry rub or Brine cure?
I have bacon and hams to prepare for smoking. Any good recipes out there?

You can check out how my husband does ours...the bacon is delicious!!

http://countrylivinginacariboovalley...20and%20bacons

Scroll down just a bit, the first post is about making pea soup with the ham we homesmoked....

Annie

steff bugielski · #8 12/03/08, 05:08 AM

Very nice Annie. I using yours.

AnnieinBC · #9 12/03/08, 09:29 AM

Great, let us know who it works out ok?

Annie

Kmac15 · #10 12/03/08, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steff bugielski

Kmac15,
That sounds easy enough. At what temp are you smoking?

we use a charcoal smoker, trying to keep it at least at 250 degrees.
we smoke until the bacon is 180 degrees.

We have also used molasses in place of the honey. This makes a darker brine and a pretty bacon as well

Gregg Alexander · #11 12/06/08, 07:41 AM

I use fine curing salt . Salt bacon, ham, shoulders for 4 weeks. Hang in smoke house , then smoke. Been doing this for yrs

wstevenl · #12 12/15/08, 09:49 AM

We just vacuum packed our 26lbs of bacon yesterday. We basically followed this http://www.bsbrewing.com/blog/?p=261 We did the different recipes like he did but we got it all mixed up during the smoking step. We also used sea salt, not sure if it was kosher ;-)

So, we did the dry rub and but the slabs in bags in the fridge. We started with 37.3 lbs of fresh belly from our 3/4 Red Wattle hogs and after just a couple of days the liquid was building up in the zip lock bags. It really draws the moisture out!! We left it curing for 8 days and then rinsed, soaked for a few hours, rinsed and scrubbed, tasted a piece, too salty, and we soaked for another hour and rinsed again!

By this time the grill/smoker was ready. We had a few small hickory logs burning for a while and we closed off the vents and the little vent on the top of the smoker. This is the type of smoker that is a grill/firebox on one side and a tall smoker on the other side. With very little air the logs just smoldered and kept the temperature in the smoker side between 95 and 120 the whole time. This is cold smoking so it really isn't cooking the bacon. When we took it out it was just a little darker and looked more dry.

When it was time to slice we realized that we had to put it in the freezer first because it was to squishy. The next morning it was all nice and firm, not frozen blocks that were really easy to cut in our cheap meat slicer.

We used a foodsaver and vacuum packaged in 1 lb packs.

OH MY GOSH! It is the best bacon we've ever eaten! I'm not even kidding. We just left the cast iron skillet on low and cooked the scraps as we went..... superb tasting!

When all was said and done, we lost about 30% from fresh slabs of belly to packaged, cut bacon. But, we kept all the trimmings that we didn't eat and we will be using it to flavor other dishes. We are toying with the idea of stuffing a chicken, or maybe a turkey with bacon trimmings and veggies. :-)