Welcome back to the Chilebrown smokehouse. We are continuing to Makin Bacon.
The bellies have been curing for 8 days in the refrigerator. I have turned the packages over three times. The next step is to rinse some of the salt off. I took a large pan and added fresh water to rinse the bellies. I emptied and replaced the water 4 times over a 4 hour span. Take your bellies and dry off as well as you can. This is a crucial step. Place the bellies on a cookie sheet with a pan underneath. Place in the refrigerator and let sit overnight. Do not worry about contamination. They are already salted and cured. The reason for the overnight stay in the refrigerator is to remove all moisture. This way your future slabs will accept smoke.
I am using Apple wood chunks in a Weber Rocky Mountain Smoker. I am using 2 inch blocks of Apple wood that I bought from E-Bay. I have thermometer in the belly and the smoke chamber. I am not messing around. I let it smoke for aprox. 4 hours at 200 degrees. The internal temperature of the bacon was 150. I let these beautiful pieces of pork love rest on a Cookiecrumb rack for two hours. I then wrapped them in foil and put them in the Chilebrown Ice Cave.
Ms. Goofy and I had the initial slice. It was salty. I am a bacon FREAK! Ms. Goofy said it was perfect. I will take her opinion over mine. Bacon Revue will be following.
4 comments:
Zoomie, You can do it in a Weber. I will do a post in aprox. a month. Ms. Goofy gave me a killer present to make my Weber into a smoker. They are backordered.
P.S. You can do it in a Weber?
Chile-i know this may be borderline sacriligious, but I actually prefer Ruhlman's pancetta receipe to bacon-both are good, but in tomato sauaces and on pizza, I love pancetta (more porky)
OMG, that looks so good! Can't wait to hear about how to do it in a Weber!
Chile, glad to know there's yet another sounding board for the bacon maker community. Found your place from Meathenge's. Looks like a freakin good sandwich.
I too made a homemade BLT w my own bacon, although I wimped out and used store bought buttermilk bread.
However, I did partially redeem myself by replacing the mayo w some awesome homemade guacamole... holy cow, was it awesome. Lotsa thinly sliced tomatos stacked on top of the bacony goodness.... MMmmm..
To andrew... I agree that pancetta is an awesome add to Italian dishes, but each has it's place, and bacon without smoke is just..... well.... pancetta... and that ain't all bad, now is it? Next batch of bacon I do I'm gonna roll some for pancetta, cuz I loves me a good carbonara, even if my arteries do bear the brunt of it.
Also, now that summer is in full swing, try this awesome side:
fresh green beans cooked in w some finely diced potatos, and a couple slices of bacon chopped up and tossed in. MMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
J
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