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[dk117]

that looks really amazing, glad you skipped the burnt ends!

Did you slice the bacon by hand?  That's some skill I do not possess. 

DK

[DMAXNAZ]

I need to try this.

[Michael_NW]

that looks really amazing, glad you skipped the burnt ends!

Did you slice the bacon by hand?  That's some skill I do not possess. 

DK

I'm glad you brought out the idea for burnt ends from pork belly! I wouldn't have thought of doing it on my own. That one's going into the Future Cook file.

Yes, I did slice them by hand. In fact, I just finished slicing and vacsealing the rest of it tonight. But I kind of cheated.      I'm not that skilled either, but I'm pretty good at painting inside the lines. So when I smoked the bacon I placed each piece as squarely as I could on the BBQ mats. The effect it had was to create a grid pattern on the meat, so when I sliced it I had some good lines to follow. I used my slicing knife and cut each 3 lb piece in half to create 6" wide slices. It just took some time, but then I like knife work so it was fun.

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Great Job...     I put off making bacon for several years, I was really freaked out thinking it all seemed so complex...   that was back before I had discovered what many now call the EQ style of curing, which effectively means you use just enough salt and nitrite that it's virtually impossible to get it too salty even if you let it go for 5 days or more longer then you might have planned... the salt 'equalizes' with the meat and liquids that get pulled off, no more salt transfer takes place...  With this EQ method, it's really quite easy to make bacon...   I would strongly encourage anyone who might have been in fear of doing bacon, to give it a try, it's actually quite fun and very tasty.

Thank you so much for helping me with this! I couldn't have done it without your input and knowledge; you helped remove a lot of the fear from the process. You and I are at opposite ends, I think: I tend to really lay the spice on and you may put it on a little light. I'm going to keep trying different things and see what happens.

[LowSlowJoe]

When I do pork belly 'burnt ends'... I do it with cured pork belly... actually I do it with bacon.   Cut your bacon up into cubes... cook in the pellet grill at 250F or so... baste with your favorite sauce at least once...  I like to call them bacon bits... not to be confused with store bought bacon bits of course...

[Michael_NW]

When I do pork belly 'burnt ends'... I do it with cured pork belly... actually I do it with bacon.   Cut your bacon up into cubes... cook in the pellet grill at 250F or so... baste with your favorite sauce at least once...  I like to call them bacon bits... not to be confused with store bought bacon bits of course...

Do you dust them with any rub at all?

[Ssteppe]

Looks like a nice piece of meat. What proportions/measurements did you use?

[bregent]

I did some belly burnt ends a few months ago. They turned out great, but next time will try to get a bit more bark on them:

https://pelletfan.com/index.php?topic=587.msg5825#msg5825

[Michael_NW]

Looks like a nice piece of meat. What proportions/measurements did you use?

Hi Ssteppe, sorry for the delay in answering your question; I just got back into town from a long weekend getaway with the wife.

The pork belly was just over 9#. I sliced it into thirds to make each piece fit nicely in a gallon zip lock bag. I weighed each piece separately and measured out the appropriate amount of cure #1, Kosher salt, and white sugar according to the cure calculator found here:  http://www.diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html    For cure #1 the desired level of cure for me was 150 pmm, for salt I went with 2%, and for sugar I also went with 2%.

The percentages for salt and sugar worked out well for me. I may use more or less sugar in upcoming cures to see what I like, but the saltiness was just right.

[rughead]

What was your smoke temp & times?
I am smoking some today after 7 days in cure. I like 230* till 145* IT.
I use Cherry & Hick mix pellets. (80% Cherry to 20% Hick).
Thanks..   

[LowSlowJoe]

What was your smoke temp & times?
I am smoking some today after 7 days in cure. I like 230* till 145* IT.
I use Cherry & Hick mix pellets. (80% Cherry to 20% Hick).
Thanks..   

Not sure what his were... but I personally smoke at about 165F for 6 hours...  I feel the lower temperatures keep the fat from rendering too much during the process.  I personally feel when I get up even towards 180F, the fat begins to melt much more then I'd like... also the higher the temperature you smoke at, the faster the internal temperature will get up toward 145F, meaning less time to get smoke soaked in...      When I do at 165F, sometimes I have to turn up the heat a little near the end to get the internal meat temperature up to 145F... but I usually only do that if I'm already at least 5 hours into smoking it.

[Michael_NW]

Hey rughead . . . sorry for not being here to answer, and of course, it looks like I'm too late to help. I smoked it on the smoke setting on my MAK which gives me anywhere from 170 to 180. Like LSJ, I want as much smoke on that bacon as possible, so the longer it takes to get to 145 the better. I used 100% pecan for the cook.

Hey LSJ, I'm assuming that the bacon, once smoked and vacsealed, will benefit from sitting for a few weeks to allow the smoke to penetrate and homogenize in the same way that cheese would? I've got a piece I'm going to pull out and fry in about a week to see for myself.

Also, I've got 12# in the fridge curing with maple sugar. I actually set the sugar for this cure at 4% to see how much maple flavor I can get. I've read it can be somewhat subtle.

[LowSlowJoe]

Hey rughead . . . sorry for not being here to answer, and of course, it looks like I'm too late to help. I smoked it on the smoke setting on my MAK which gives me anywhere from 170 to 180. Like LSJ, I want as much smoke on that bacon as possible, so the longer it takes to get to 145 the better. I used 100% pecan for the cook.

Hey LSJ, I'm assuming that the bacon, once smoked and vacsealed, will benefit from sitting for a few weeks to allow the smoke to penetrate and homogenize in the same way that cheese would? I've got a piece I'm going to pull out and fry in about a week to see for myself.

Also, I've got 12# in the fridge curing with maple sugar. I actually set the sugar for this cure at 4% to see how much maple flavor I can get. I've read it can be somewhat subtle.

 yeah, I suspect that letting it sit for a week or so sealed up lets the smoke sort of mingle in with the meat a little more ,  very likely making it taste a little better with some 'age' to it....  Never actually tried to confirm that, but it seems very likely it would be true.   

 I cured a 9 pound belly last week, should be ready to smoke this weekend... I have another belly that's still cryovac sealed and needs to be cured soon...   I figure I've got a month or so of good cool smoking weather left this winter, and hopefully will have enough stock piled to get me through the summer...    I could smoke in the summer too, but it's just a little easier to do in cooler months

[Michael_NW]

LSJ, thank you for the idea of curing in cellophane rather than zip lock. Have you ever vacsealed a cure? I suppose to do that one would have to be very careful to get an even distribution over the entire belly.

I'm almost out of time for curing belly. I'm starting to get into the busy time for work and I won't see much of a break until July or so. Having tasted homemade bacon, I'd love to be able to put away a bunch of it to have over the course of the year. I'm not afraid to smoke bacon in the summer, but it's just harder to keep the temps in the pit low.

[LowSlowJoe]

LSJ, thank you for the idea of curing in cellophane rather than zip lock. Have you ever vacsealed a cure? I suppose to do that one would have to be very careful to get an even distribution over the entire belly.

I'm almost out of time for curing belly. I'm starting to get into the busy time for work and I won't see much of a break until July or so. Having tasted homemade bacon, I'd love to be able to put away a bunch of it to have over the course of the year. I'm not afraid to smoke bacon in the summer, but it's just harder to keep the temps in the pit low.

I have vacuum sealed it before. .. however I find it really tricky to get the belly covered with cure in the pouch without making a mess of the inside of the pouch... whẹn the opening of the pouch gets messy,  getting a good seal becomes hard to do.  So, I find wrapping in cellophane to be less difficult

[LowSlowJoe]

I cut my belly up into manageable size pieces the are relatively uniform in thickness  ( for that particular piece )

Getting cure evenly distributed on a piece isn't too hard...

I just did 12.75 pounds this morning...