Pork Belly Bacon

I have been thinking about making some bacon for Christmas presents. How much do pork bellies sell for a pound?

Into the smoker with maple syrup? Where can I read about the method you are using?

Thanks,

SmokinMAINEiac

If these are as good as the last batch, I am going to do quite a few for Christmas!!

I read almost every post on this forum under "pork belly bacon" and just "bacon". Also read other posts in various recipie forums.

Always looking for good bacon tutorials.

So what do they go for per pound?

quote:

Originally posted by tigerfan:
If these are as good as the last batch, I am going to do quite a few for Christmas!!

I read almost every post on this forum under "pork belly bacon" and just "bacon". Also read other posts in various recipie forums.

tiger,

you did all THAT reading? Hey, maybe some photos and a method. Hint hint

Salt, sugar, AND tenderquick? You need to check your recipe again. TQ is 99% salt. All you need to do is cut it with sugar, spices, etc. You sure don't need to add more salt.

And 3-4 weeks is too long for bellies, or for most anything for that matter. 7 days is more likely a better time for a dry cure as you describe, and maybe 10-12 days for a brine.

The recipie I found and used was as follows:
for 50# of pork belly (adjust according)



1 1/4 lb. of kosher salt
1 lb. of brown sugar
4 oz. od Tenderquick

Coated very liberally on both sides, put in individual food saver bags, into the fridge and turn them every day.

Re-read my post, meant to say in the fridge for 1-2 weeks, NOT 3-4 weeks. I generally like about 2 full weeks!

I then wash them off, pat them dry and let them sit for several hours. Then rub with a light coat of pure maple syrup and into the smoker.

I set the smoker to 180*, probe a couple of the bellies and pull them at 145*.
I will use 2 oz. of hickory and 2 oz. of sugar maple.

After pulling I will wrap individually and let them set up overnight before slicing or giving them away.


Hope this is clearer

Smokin':
When I pull them and get them in the smoker will try and take pictures!!!

Tat makes sense now. I was just seeing salt licks before.

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinMAINEiac:
So what do they go for per pound?

I got them from an asian specialty market, trimmed and packaged for $1.89/lb.

They came out great. Sent Smokin' pics and he will post same!!

I'd like to make some for Christmas presents but my local meat shop will only sell a case of four. I hadn't asked them about the price so thanks for the info Lookin' forward to those photos!

Yup, I sent you a couple of emails. I can't cut/paste them from the email so just resend them as attachments and I can work from that.

Belly Bacon came out great with fantastic reviews from several people.

1 1/4 lb. of kosher salt
1 lb. of brown sugar
4 oz. do Tender-quick

After being in fridge with cure for 2 weeks


Coated very liberally on both sides, put in individual food saver bags, into the fridge and turn them every day.

I put them in the fridge for 2 weeks.

I then washed them off, pat them dry and let them sit for several hours. Then rub with a light coat of pure maple syrup and into the smoker.
After brushing with pure Maple syurp

I set the smoker to 180*, probed a couple of the bellies and pulled them at 147*.
Into the AmeriQue, starting temp 52* probe set to 147*

I used 2 oz. of hickory and 2 oz. of sugar maple.

After taking out of the smoker, I wrapped them individually and placed them in the fridge overnight.

Then I cut them in half, approx. 1.4-1.7 lb. each, vacuum packed and doubled sealed them and gave to some friends.

All comments were fantastic!
After smoked and put in the fridge overnight

Cut in half, about 1.4-1.7 lbs. each

Vacuum-sealed

I am going to do 12 more full bellies for some Christmas gifts for friends in a few weeks.
Have already talked with the Asian Market and have them coming in!

Very nice. May try that. Looks like you got some meaty looking bacon.

Thanks for the photos and the "how-to"!

After hearing from everyone I gave some of the last batch of bacon to, the reviews were so favorable that I went to the Asian Market this past Saturday and instead of ordering 12 pork bellies, I ordered 18!!
That will give me 36 pcs. about 1-1/2# each to give for Xmas gifts for my coffee group and some friends.
Picking them up this Saturday to start the process.

My address is .....

SmokinOkie:

9 pork bellies finished, 9 more just went into the smoker.

1 on the way to you tomorrow!

Merry Christmas and wishing you and everyone on the forum a Healthy and Happy New Year

quote:

Originally posted by tigerfan:
...1 on the way to you tomorrow!

Merry Christmas and wishing you and everyone on the forum a Healthy and Happy New Year

Hey we're excited. Love watching your Bacon adventures, now I get to taste it. Will report back.

Russ

I have had 10# of bellies curing in the fridge for 1 week, and there is no purge in any of the bags. I used tenderquick and brown sugar, and followed the proportions stated on the TQ package. Should I open them up and add more, or is this normal? First round with bacon, and I don't want to mess it up. thanks for the help.

I use the salt, brown sugar and tenderquick as stated in my earlier post, and after that length of time usually have several oz. of fluid in the bags.

Did you individually wrap each belly or have them all together?

Also, turn them every day or so.

I let mine stay for 2 weeks, take them out and rinse off and pat dry, then coat with pure maple syurp, then into the smoker.

I individually wrapper each piece in a loosely sealed foodsaver bag, and turned every day. I was thinking of opening the bags and adding a little more of the rub, and resealing for another week-any thoughts? Or should I just let it ride?

I have to say THANKS.

Carl sent me some bacon and it was Perfect. If you want to start with your own bacon, give Carl's method a shout and learn from him.

Carl, I think I'll work with you to do a Bacon 101, it was that good.

Russ

That sounds awesome.

Thanks for the detailed instructions, I think I am going to try this soon! A couple of questions...

1. I assume at 147* the bacon is not fully cooked, so when you want to use it you will pan fry like normal bacon, is that correct?

2. How well does this freeze? I think it would be nice to make a large batch, slice and vacuum pack for the freezer.

Thanks again for the instuctions on how to do this!

Tim

That looks like some real lean bacon. I've made buckboard bacon out of porkbutt and it looked about that lean. if those were bellies, they must have come from very lean hogs. I'll try your recipe. I am starting a 30# run tommorow. I've been using High Mountain BuckBoard Bacon cure and it's been great, but yours will be a lot cheaper! How salty is it?

I just picked up a 3.5 lb pork belly from the store, made the curing rub last night and will apply this evening when I get home.

Thanks again tigerfan for the info, I'll post back on how it turned out in a couple of weeks.

Tim

What would be the best way to slice the bacon? It's not fully cooked so it might be a little hard to slice fairly thin.

Like any meat that's soft (say jerky) freeze it a LITTLE so it firms up and makes slicing easier. Not solid, just firm enough to cut how you want.

do you have access to a meat slicer ?

quote:

Originally posted by JT Smokin:
What would be the best way to slice the bacon? It's not fully cooked so it might be a little hard to slice fairly thin.

Tigerfan mentioned mailing the bacon. Does it have to be packed in ice or similar and overnight shipped?

I just have no sense how long it can stay at room temps without issue.

Thanks

I put the belly in a vacum packed food saver bag, refridgerated over night, then put them in a FedEx carton and shipped them next morning delivery.

Sent a package to my son in Edmond, OK, my daughter in Duluth, GA, and to Smokin' in Oklahoma City. All arrived in good condition and no one had a problem with it!

When the bacon is cold, it cuts pretty easy with a very sharp knife. If I am going to cut the whole belly I use a meat slicer!!

How long do they generally take to reach an internal temp of 145 if smoked at 180? I am thinking of doing my pork belly after work tomorrow, but if it will take more than about 4 hours I will have to wait until the weekend.

tigerfan and bacon veterans.....I recently became interested in bacon and found your information. I rubbed a golden sugar cure that i purchased locally onto the bellies and cured for approximately 1 week. Impatient i know. Anyway, i then rinsed off really good, patted dry and coated with the syrup (great idea). Into the smoker with about 4 oz cherry. I set at around 180 in interest of time until i saw temp rising rather quickly then backed off to 165 for remainder. Cooked to internal 145 and pulled bellies as they reached temp monitoring with remote probes. I rinsed off and cooled slightly with a cold water rinse immediately out of smoker and then cut into 1 lb pieces and put into food saver. I had to try some, so I cut a few thick slices and fried it up asap. I was soooooo dissappointed to taste horrribly salty and over powering smoke. almost inedible I am ashamed to say. (especially with the price of bellies these days). I have frozen about 2/3 of first batch and saved a couple of pounds out in the fridge to slice and try again this weekend. Hoping something miraculous happens.

What did I do wrong????? I have another belly fresh that I was going to start, but not until I get a handle on my errors. Any feedback you can provide is MUCH appreciated.

thanks

jergie- I have a batch I'm smoking this weekend. I rinse the bacon, then soak the bacon in a cold water bath for two hours, replace water and repeat. This leaches out excess salt. I'll then pat dry and put in the fridge uncovered on a cooling rack overnight to form a dry tacky surface on the meat that the smoke can stick to. I *wouldn't* rinse the bacon after smoking it. I use about the same amount of wood and temps as you and think that the rinsing after smoking is where you got your oversmoked taste. Hope this helps-

Brian

Hey tigerfan. I make alot of bacon and love trying new things so my question is you say you rinse the bacon? Is that all or do you leave it in water for a few hrs. to get rid of the strong salt? I don't like my bacon too salty so the recipe I use I actually soak it for a couple hrs. after rinsing. The maple sounds awesome so will wait for a reply and try some. Cheers, Don

quote:

Originally posted by tigerfan:
The recipie I found and used was as follows:
for 50# of pork belly (adjust according)



1 1/4 lb. of kosher salt
1 lb. of brown sugar
4 oz. od Tenderquick

Coated very liberally on both sides, put in individual food saver bags, into the fridge and turn them every day.

Re-read my post, meant to say in the fridge for 1-2 weeks, NOT 3-4 weeks. I generally like about 2 full weeks!

I then wash them off, pat them dry and let them sit for several hours. Then rub with a light coat of pure maple syrup and into the smoker.

I set the smoker to 180*, probe a couple of the bellies and pull them at 145*.
I will use 2 oz. of hickory and 2 oz. of sugar maple.

After pulling I will wrap individually and let them set up overnight before slicing or giving them away.


Hope this is clearer

Smokin':
When I pull them and get them in the smoker will try and take pictures!!!

logger10:

First of all let me explain for taking so long getting back to you. All of April I was in the hospital, had surgery. Got home the very end of April and still in a hospital bed, using a wheel chair mostly but can go about 40-50' on a walker.

When I wash off the belly, I wash it real good under running water, then soak it for about 30 min. to an hour, take out and pat dry.

Hope that helps! The bellies I get from an Asian Market are all from very small pigs, most likely babies as they do not have a huge amount of fat. All my friends, and SmokinOkie like it like that.

With all the framland around here, pigs are taking over!! This market I use has people that trap the babies and small pigs for them.

Tigerfan. Hope you have a speedy and easy recovery.

Thanks Pags,

The Dr. told me it could take a year to get back to like I was! In 1999 had open heart surgery, 6 bypasses, a year and a half ago had a total hip replacement and this is the hardest thing I have ever done. My new hip got a very bad infection and they had to put in an antibotic spacer instead of a new hip because of the infection. This has been really tough.
I can tell you the golden years aint so golden!!

I hope you are on the mend!!! Sounds like you have turned the corner!!!