My first try at belly bacon.

[pensrock]

This is my first try making belly bacon. I have done loin bacon and hillbilly bacon many times so this should be really good.
I did not take pictures of the curing and rinsing, we have all seen that many times before.
Also my Bradley digital smoke generator screen died so I had to us my Smoke Daddy Clone to make the smoke. I used hickory/maple.
Since this was my first try at this I followed Tenpoint5's maple bacon recipe and smoking.
Here it is going into the preheated smoker set at 130 F.


Here it is about to come out after three hours of smoke and IT was 135 F. I only went to 135 because I always cook my bacon before using it so there is no worry about it being under done.


Here it is completed and after an overnight rest in the fridge.


Here it is all sliced, 3/16" thick.


And here is the taste test getting fried. Plan to make BLT's with fresh tomatoes from the garden.  :)


It is really good, a little on the sweet side for me so next time I may omit the maple syrup. But I am really happy with the outcome and am looking forward to making my next batch. If I can find some belly around here, all the local shops make their own bacon so they do not sell a belly unless you pay bacon prices for it.  :(

[ragweed]

Looks great! Can almost taste it. 

[beefmann]

great  looking bacon,,,, can taste it from here

[Saber 4]

Looks great, you will definitely be walking past the bacon aisle at the store. As for the sweetness, I find that in some of my Canadian Bacon using the same recipe. on my next batch I am going to use the rub that Beefmann came up with for his beef bacon as we really liked the flavor on our beef bacon. You can adjust the quantities to suit your taste if you want to try it.

2.5 tbsp of black pepper
2.5 tbsp ground mustard
1 tsp of all spice
1 tsp of  ground cloves

[NePaSmoKer]

Greg

Looks great

Where did you find the belly. Down here they want me to buy belly by the case. No way.

[Tenpoint5]

Greg

Looks great

Where did you find the belly. Down here they want me to buy belly by the case. No way.

Same place you found your last one. My freezer!

[pensrock]

Same place you found your last one. My freezer!

Yep :)