Bacon 2.0

[Drac]

Hi all,

After a big break from serious smoking I finally got the time to get another round of bacon in.  Bought the belly awhile back and had it in the freezer.  Got it out and defrosting -



I know that I will do at least one as regular bacon.  Not sure what I will do the other yet, maybe maple or the honey-mustard.  I will also pick up some butt to do some hillbilly bacon and maybe some tasso.  Wish my mixer was up.  Would love to do some andouille sausage.  Got a hankering for some gumbo or etouffee.

Jim

[beefmann]

good start

[Drac]

Got it started yesterday and today.  Picked up a couple Boston butts from the butcher.  16+ pounds of porcine goodness.

Sliced up one for tasso and the other for Hillbilly bacon -



The rest will go into the freezer for future use.  Once I get the mixer going (or order one from Kirby) I plan to do up some andouille.  Like I said I really have a hankering for some gumbo.  Maybe put together a King Cake.

Got the HB and the belly all ready.  Decided to go with the straight recipe -



Though I am a little confused on the HB recipe.  It has you pour out the liquids after 3 days but the butt is way thinker than a belly but you keep the liquids there for the full 7 days.  Am I misunderstanding?

Getting the tasso ready.  Using the recipe from http://www.nolacuisine.com/#null -



All sliced up to 1" thick -



You don't skimp on the rub here -



The tasso is suppose to take 3 days to cure and the bacons about 7 so should be smoking the tasso Tuesday.  The bacon should be ready next Friday.  Have a huge new box of hickory waiting for them and the new hooks.

Hopefully more porcine goodness to come,
Jim

[seemore]

looking good love tasso i put my in my bean soup
seemore

[Habanero Smoker]

Your tasso is pretty thin, and should be cured within 24 hours. In Ruhlman's book, he only cures his for 4 hours and the illustration looks thicker then 1-inch. If you measured the cure properly, three days is alright, it may be a little salty.

[Drac]

On this recipe it uses just salt and sugar as the cure, no pink salts.  I guess the extra time is since the salt will take a longer time without the nitrates?

Jim

[Habanero Smoker]

Yes! That will need exta time.

[Drac]

On to the next steps for the tasso.  Drying it out for a couple hours under a fan -





Poured out the extra liquid from the HB as per the instructions.  It is kind of firm now.  The belly didn't release much liquid and both are already quite firm.  Could they have cured in 4 days?

Jim

[Drac]

After 4 hours of smoke and an hour under the fan cooling this is the results -



For some odd reason some of them plumped while some of them got thinner.  Probably the amount of fat? Here is one of the thicker pieces -



One of the thinner pieces diced up to take to work to have one of the local Cajuns rate -



Has some good heat for me.  Can pop a chunk without it blowing off my head.  I'll dice it up tomorrow and pack it in pound bags for use.

Jim

[Drac]

Looks like everything went well.  3 hours of hickory made for some tasty results -

HB -



One of the belly havles -



The other one -



A sample slice of the HB and belly -







Not sure what I will do with the weird shaped one.  Probably be turned into the "brown some bacon" pieces for things like stews and gravies.

They are all in the fridge overnight so I can slice and pack up tomorrow.

Jim

[squirtthecat]

Looks good!

[Drac]

All packed up and ready fir the freezer -



Managed to get 3.5 lbs of hillbilly bacon, 5 lbs of belly (country?) bacon, 4 lbs of bacon scraps and 4 lbs of tasso.

Jim

[bears fan]

Well done!  Looks great.

[MidKnightRider]

Great Job.
Nice looking smoke / cure