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  • #16 by hughver on 21 Oct 2020
  • Picked up a couple of packages of pork tenderloins and bacon at Costco a couple of days ago so I thought it was time to give this a try. After a lot of research and contemplating, I decided to use thin bacon, season, sous vide at 140°, cool for 24 hours and smoke at 325-350° until bacon is crisp and/or IT is 136-138°. My thinking was that if the bacon crisp before the IT reached the desired temperature that I could always lower the pit temperature to prevent the bacon from burning.

    Yesterday afternoon around 2:00 my wife asked what’s for dinner and since I’m the chief cook and bottle washer, and hadn’t given supper much thought, I decided to do the pork tenderloin thing with bacon. I hurried up and prepared the loin/bacon and got it into the sous vide. Since I didn’t have 24 hours for cool, I put it into the freezer for an hour. The loin IT had only gotten down to 93° but I thought that I’d give it a try anyway. All went well except that the bacon did not get crisp enough for my wife. I think starting with an IT of 34 would have solved that problem.
     
    Prior to smoking, I basted it with maple syrup and the resulting flavor was delicious. Pictures next time.
  • #17 by just4fn on 22 Oct 2020
  • With all the moisture, I don't know if the bacon will ever crisp up.  Experiment and see if you can get it to crisp up.  That fat of the bacon is what helps keep the loin moist so I don't know it you want to start with 3/4 cooked bacon.
  • #18 by hughver on 23 Oct 2020
  • You are probably right, the meat will continue to draw heat from the bacon until they are the same temperature.
  • #19 by hughver on 24 Oct 2020
  • Second attempt, not perfect but better.
  • #20 by 02ebz06 on 24 Oct 2020
  • Looks like a winner to me...   :clap:
  • #21 by urnmor on 24 Oct 2020
  • Looks great
  • #22 by just4fn on 24 Oct 2020
  • Second attempt, not perfect but better.

    What did you do different?  Looks really good.  Meat tender?
  • #23 by Bar-B-Lew on 25 Oct 2020
  • Looks like a winner
  • #24 by hughver on 25 Oct 2020
  • Meat tender?

    Very tender, and moist. The major thing that I did different was to start smoking it at an IT of 32° instead of the 92° last time. It took a little longer but the bacon was more to my wife's liking, not fully crisp but mostly rendered. I also lowered the pit temp. to 325° to extend the exposure time, however, I still have two more and the next one I'll go back to 350° to see if the bacon improves further.
  • #25 by just4fn on 25 Oct 2020
  • This might be sacrilege but....... what if....... you put it in.......the Microwave after cooking just long enough to crisp the bacon up??  Don't know if that would work but just a thought. I know bacon cooks fast in the microwave and shouldn't affect the pork because it would be a short time.  :cool: :cool:
  • #26 by hughver on 25 Oct 2020
  • Microwaves cause water molecules in food to vibrate, producing heat that cooks the food. That's why foods that are high in water content, like fresh vegetables, can be cooked more quickly than other foods.  I believe that unless bacon has substantially more water molecules than pork, they will both heat up and could cause the pork to overcook before the bacon gets crisp.  :2cents:
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