I am trying to make sure I don't kill myself with this, but...
I have purchased a whole pork belly, I believe. He cut it into two equal pieces, about 5-6 lbs each. It still has the skin on it. And I want to make bacon!
Yes, I have looked through the archives. I found two approaches that I like, but they differ.
One says use Tender Quick and brown sugar, rub and refrig. for 7 days, then smoke at 140-150 to an internal temp of only 128. During this cook, he removes the skin about 3/4 of the way through.
The other says use a brine of 1 C salt and 1 C sugar, 8 oz molasses, 2 qts water, 2 qts apple cider, and submerge one 5-lb belly in brine in fridge for 3 days, then dry to a pellicle, and cold smoke 4-6 hours.
Since I can't find TQ and don't want to wait for mail order (belly is waiting in the fridge, you know), can I combine approaches? That is, take the brine approach but then hot smoke to 128 internal, like the first recipe says? What will be the difference in hot (or warm) smoking versus cold smoking in this situation?
Any thoughts will help.
Original Post
