Bacon pictorial

I started with 2 slabs... each at 12 lbs. You can see from the pics that they are irregular sized and of varying thickness. I usually cut each side in half, making sure they will fit in the smoker. Take the 1st side and cut in half.

The curing rub is 1 part TQ and 2 parts brown sugar, 1 TBS of peppercorns. I prefer the dark brown sugar myself. So for a 12 lb side, I mixed 12 TBS (tablespoons) of TQ and 24 TBS of brown sugar. Also take 1 TBS of peppercorns and grind them up fine.

Add this to the container and mix well.

I rub on the fat side then roll over to rub on the meat side. Usually I place both halves in a 2.5 gallon baggie but I didnt have those so used 2 gallon ones. I will mix enough rub for 1 full side and add any remaining rub mix to the meat in the bag. After the 1st side is rubbed and bagged, prep the remaining sides in the same manner.

I put these in my fridge for 14 days, turning at least every other day. My fridge is mainly used to cure meats so the temp is always 34-38 degrees. During the 14 day cure cycle you can see the meat turn a darker color as the salts and brown sugar are infused throughout the meat. On day 14, I remove each side from the bag and rinse under cool water to remove the excess cure from the outside of the meat. Some of the pepper sticks in the meat which we like.

I use the CS rib hooks to hang the slabs from a rack in the topmost position in the smoker. I have smoked these laying down too but the low spots in the meat tend to puddle and you get off colors in the finish. I use a temp probe in 1 of the slabs just to monitor the internal temp of the meat. I use 2 oz of maple in small chunk form.

Set temp to 180 and let it run for about 3-4 hours.

As soon as the temp probe hits 150, I turn back the temp setting to about 160. The meat may rise to about 154 but not much higher. Typical smoke times run 6-7 hours.

This is just an experience and personal taste time.. I dont know how else to tell you exactly when to remove them. When I remove them I wrap in high temp plastic wrap and cool in the fridge. Usually the next day is when I slice. Remove 1 side from fridge and slice in half. Then trim 1 edge so it sits squarley on my slicer. We like ours on the thick side. After slicing, I vac seal and freeze.

This time I had 24.6 lbs of raw meat and it finished out to 21.75 lbs of bacon.

I dont know how set in stone my 14 day cure was.. I used to use 30 days. I tried 7 days and didnt get near the cure penetration I should have, thus the 14 day cure.