Wanting to Make bacon for the first time

[cabledude7155]

Hello all been awhile since I posted. I found a place that sells pork bellies and I decided I wanted to try making my own bacon. I have read alot of the post on bacon but I am still corn fused. I usually use MTQ when I make pork loin(I use a wet cure) But I don't know If I should use this or not? I need a recipe using MTQ or Kosher salt. I am also torn to use a wet cure or dry cure. I would also like to know times and temps to use. Also I see alot of people use maple pucks which I have but in the supermarket you see Hickory smoked bacon, has anyone use hickory pucks.

P.S I have a 2ND issue. One time when I was smoking the loader got a little bit of moisture(mist) and the pucks broke up. I cleaned it out and got a lot of junk out, but for some reason everytime time I smoke it gums up and doesn't allow the pucks to feed automatically? any thoughts advice

OH YEAH I FORGOT GO HAWKEYES BEAT STATE

[Quarlow]

It sounds like(and i'm sure someone else will back me up on this) that you are not leaving your smoke damper open or not open enough. From what I have read it should be open at least half way and usually wide open. It actually helps to get the temp up too. My first smoke I had the damper closed and there was liquid pouring out all over. Luckily it didn't get into anything.

[Habanero Smoker]

Look at the recipe site there are thee belly bacon recipes 2 dry cure and one wet cure, 10.5 did a pictorial that is informative. When using TQ (one tablespoon per pound), if you use this recipe do not add the cure #1, salt or sweeteners. You can generally use this method to convert most bacon recipes to TQ. If you want a sweet bacon you could add up to 1/4 cup of either sugar, brown sugar, honey or maple syrup per slab.

Maple Cured Bacon

Here is one using a wet cure. I prefer dry cure; it seems to have a better texture, but wet curing is generally faster.

Makin Bacon

Recipe using salt (not kosher).

Bacon-Honey Mustard Cure

As to your second issue Quarlow has answered that.

[KyNola]

Cabledude, MTQ for bacon works just fine.  Most important, weight your slabs of pork belly.  You will use 1 tablespoon of MTQ and 1 tablespoon of brown sugar for every pound of belly.  Example: 5 pound pork belly, combine 5 tblsps of MTQ with 5 tblsps of brown sugar and thoroughly rub into the belly.  Add no additional salt to the curing rub as MTQ is over 90% salt.  Use all of your curing rub.  Now, you have options.  You can put it straight into a 2 gallon ziplock bag with all of the air burped out and into the frig for a week, turning it everyday.  Or you can put the rubbed belly in the bag and add 1/4 cup of pure maple syrup and massage and then into the frig for a week, turning everyday.  It will throw off liquid, that's normal.  Don't open the bag and drain!  One week later, out of the frig, rinse the cure off and pat dry.  Back into the frig uncovered overnight to dry.  Time to smoke!  Use the wood of your choice, like hickory!  Or apple!  Or maple!  Smoke for approximately 3 hours at 200 being careful to monitor the internal temp of the belly.  When the IT reaches 150, take the belly out as you don't want to start rendering the fat.  Back into the frig to firm up, slice and enjoy.

All credit here goes to Stickbowcrafter who taught me this recipe.  I miss him not posting.

KyNola

[smokeitall]

I have tried a few different woods on my bacon and have found that hickory suits my taste the best for bacon.  Good luck on your first run at it, and remember as long as you rinse the belly really good and then rinse one more time too make sure it won't come out too salty to eat.  I LOVE salt and it is possible to make it too salty to eat, trust me  ;D

[cabledude7155]

Thanks all for your help. I have a second question would you trim the fat off before you cure, or after you cure and smoke?

[KyNola]

Neither!  I wouldn't trim any fat at all.  If you're referring to the skin, some folks remove the skin prior to smoking and some remove afterwards.  I'm fortunate that where I buy my bellies they are already skinned so they are pretty much ready to rinse and cure.

KyNola