Cold smoked bacon - Smoke times?

[Ginslee]

You guessed wrong Manxman 8) I'm actually not to far away from you. Over the smaller pond in Holland. Global warming is making it harder for me to cold smoke :P

So just contact them and they ship to holland with a great rate of only 7 pounds for 20kg :)

[manxman]

That's great news, never have guessed you are that close judging by the poor summer we are having!  :) The shipping charge is good, not much more than I pay.

Just as well you are ordering it now with, according to the press, the Armageddon of Brexit just around the corner!  ::) ;)

[Habanero Smoker]

Manxman;

You may already be aware of this,  sodium ascorbate is also used as a cure accelerator. It is more efficient in breaking down the nitrites; hence it reduces the amount of residual nitrites.

[manxman]

Habs;

Didn't appreciate it actually accelerated the curing process, although I seem to remember it promotes and stabilises the cured meat colouration which presumably go hand in hand?

[Habanero Smoker]

Habs;

Didn't appreciate it actually accelerated the curing process, although I seem to remember it promotes and stabilises the cured meat colouration which presumably go hand in hand?

Yes! It does all those things! It's one of those miracle ingredients. :)

[manxman]

Miracle is the word!  :) :)

I sliced and packed my fresh batch of bacon this morning both traditional British back (loin) and streaky (belly) saving a few rasher of each for a late breakfast. The aroma of cooking bacon is hard to beat and the end result was very well received by all which is the most important thing.  :)

[Habanero Smoker]

Your bacons sound good. I'm going to try to cure some belly bacon around mid-September.

[Ginslee]

After 2.5 days of resting I took it out of the fridge to have a quick taste test. First of all the smell is not the smokey goodness I thought it would of had but more of a ashtray smell. I believe this is due to the slight temp difference I had between the belly and the smoker. Also I found that some pucks stayed on the hotplate for to long, I found that this was due to the pucks in the hopper getting stuck. What also didn't help with the smoke is that I had to use ice to keep it cool, probably messed up the draft. So I will be doing things differently next time. I'll try and weigh down the pucks so they get pushed into the generator instead of using only gravity. I think I will also only cold smoke on days were it's less than 64F.

I did fry some up and there is no ashtray taste so that's good! Also I'm getting that real bacon smell :D So overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out taste and color wise!

Before the smoke after curing for 12 days. I cut the belly in half as I want to hot smoke the other half:


After smoking 6 hours with apply and maple pucks. The color turned out great:)


And a bonus shot of some Brined and hot smoked Mackerel I did after the belly:

[Habanero Smoker]

Great! The smell will mellow out after a while. Let us know how the hot smoked bacon turns out.

I'm not one that fully believes in Bradley's 20 minute rule. :) It may be a factor, but I believe the Bradley produces the best smoke due to the temperature it burns the bisquettes at. The lower the temperature the bisquettes burn at, the less "acrid" compounds that are produced. 

Check the hopper chute and make sure it is clean. I've had my Bradley for a while and have had to clean the chute twice. I've found that when you open and close the door, it creates a backdraft that forces smoke and other compound to flow back into the generator and up the chute. Keep and eye on the generator, they have been known to have problems advancing the bisquettes. If it is the generator, there is usually a fix.

[manxman]

Those smoked mackerel look good. Mackerel, herring and whitefish were the reason I got a BS in the first place before diversifying and I still smoke 100+ mackerel every summer.  :)

[Ginslee]

Thanks Manxman! They were delicious  :D

Does anyone have a go to warm smoking method for bacon that gets good results? I want to smoke the other half warm to a core temp of 65c. Not sure how long I should be smoking and at what temp I should be setting the Bradley to. Any suggestions or proven recipes?

thanks!

[Habanero Smoker]

After the pellicle is formed, by either air drying it overnight in the refrigerator, or using the Bradley at a temperature of 120°F or less; I smoke/cook mine in a 150°F -  170°F preheated cabinet (probably closer to 170°F; but I avoid going over 180), and apply two hours of smoke. I will either use apple, hickory or pecan. If you are air drying in the refrigerator set the bacon on the counter for 1 - 2 hours prior to smoking. A few have used temperatures as high as 225°F with satisfactory results. But there is some rendering of the fat, so I don't use those temperatures. 

[Edward176]

To what Internal Temperature do you cook your bacon to Hab? If you cook at 170-180°F for 2 hours won't your bacon be still raw inside? I'm asking since I make bacon and smoke to IT of 155°F and it takes closer to 4 hours at 180°F.

[Habanero Smoker]

That was a response to how much smoke I will apply to my bacon. Ginslee stated in his post he wanted to take his bacon to 150°F. When I fully cook my bacon I now take my bacon to 140°F - 145°. I will apply two hours of smoke, and continue to cook until I reach my target temperature.

[Edward176]

Ah, thank you Hab, appreciate the info.