Bacon.

[Cheech]

The curing is done and the belly's are air drying in the fridge.  Now I have a question.  The recipe calls for a hot smoke to an internal temp of 150 degrees.  Why?

If I'm going to fry it anyway...why not just cold smoke it for a few hours?  Also, I keep seeing people talking about smoking these for 6 to 8 or even 12 hours.  In the short time that I've owned my Bradley I've found that 2 to 3 hours of smoke gets most things about right in terms of flavor.  Am I missing something here?  Should I be feeding 6 hours of pucks into the machine for this bacon?

thx

Cheech

[Tenpoint5]

I generally just give Bacon 2 hours of smoke

[Habanero Smoker]

You don't have to bring it up to 150°F, but what I've found it is better to bring bacons with a lot of sugar to that temperature during the smoking/cooking stage, because it requires less time for it too crisp up, and less chance for the sugars to burn. To prevent burning you may want to use a lower flame. Also bringing the bacon to that temperature seems to firm up the meat and seems to give it a better texture.

When I make more savory types of bacons, I will use an internal temperature from 132 - 135°F. If you are going to cold smoke, the meat doesn't pick up the smoke as well as it would if you hot smoked, but cold smoking gives the bacon a sweeter type of smoke flavor. The reason I hot smoke my beacon to 132 - 135°F, it gives the meat a more firm texture, and the smoke flavor I like.

[Cheech]

Thanks.  It's on now...I'll take it to 150 this time and cold smoke it next time so I can compare.  17 more degrees and I'm there!