Skin on or Skin off?

[Phone Guy]

Ok... I have done some searching and I'm getting a little cunfused  ???. I have 40lb of bellies that I am going to make into a variety of bacon. I want to do some regular maple smoked bacon and maybe some pepper bacon. Should I skin the bellies before or after curing? If I skin prior should I leave as much fat on as possible?

Thanks,
Phone Guy

[Bavind]

You will find mixed opinions here. I like to skin mine I think the cure gets in faster and better. Plus them I can use the skin and make cracklings. :D

[MidKnightRider]

I do mine skin on, but that's because (for me) its easier to skin it after the cure / smoke.
Most of the time I can just pull it off the bacon after it's hot out of the smoker.

[DTJ]

For mine IIake the sin off prior to curing,  I think you get quicker and better penetration of the cure and smoke.  I try to leave as much of the fat on as I can.  The sharper the knife the easier it is.  Habs turned me onto a skinning knife that is shaped to remove skin and it does work easier.  With all of that said it is much, much easier to get the skin off after smoking, but IMHO I prefer the results with it off first.


Daryl

[Habanero Smoker]

I can't say it any better then DTJ. The only thing I can add to his statement is that Manxman turned me on to that style of knife.  :)

[carnie1]

For mine IIake the sin off prior to curing,  I think you get quicker and better penetration of the cure and smoke.  I try to leave as much of the fat on as I can.  The sharper the knife the easier it is.  Habs turned me onto a skinning knife that is shaped to remove skin and it does work easier.  With all of that said it is much, much easier to get the skin off after smoking, but IMHO I prefer the results with it off first.


Daryl

I can't say it any better then DTJ. The only thing I can add to his statement is that Manxman turned me on to that style of knife.  :)

C'mon boys, you gonna let us in on some info on the secret knife??

[devo]

I remember watching a hunting show years ago where they hunted deer and dressed the deer out with a rapala fillet knive. They skinned, deboned and cut all the fat from the meat in twenty minutes. Since then i use my fillit knive for just about every thing. I find its one of the best tools I have for cuting meat.

[Bavind]

Thats what I use all the time for skinning and deboning you just have to make sure its kept razor sharp.

[Habanero Smoker]

C'mon boys, you gonna let us in on some info on the secret knife??

Hi Carnie;

A skinning knife is the first knife pictured in the following link. It does a better job then any other knife that I have used. I couldn't find the original link to the one Manxman posted, but I purchased mine from one of the outdoor type of stores; I can't remember which one.

I've found that semi freezing the bacon, and skinning while the skin side is on the cutting board works best. It is still tedious, but to me it works better then other knives.

Skinning Knife

[Phone Guy]

Well my box of bellies finaly thawed enough for me to pull one of the bellies out.  These are the whole bellies from front to back about 3- 4 feet long but they don't seem very thick.
How thick is normal? I am thinking I will cut the sides to a length that will fit hanging in the OBS then leave the skin on due to the thickness. I guess I will peel the skin after the smoke. Does the meat pull in and thicken up some? I have done lots of butt bacon but not bellies.

[Habanero Smoker]

When I purchase bellies I can only get them if I buy the whole belly. They generally weigh between 10 - 14 pounds, at the thickest edge they should be about 1.25 - 2.00 thick. It all depends on the age of the hog when slaughtered.

I usually cut the whole slab into thirds prior to curing. That also gives me the ability to use different flavoring for each piece.

[Phone Guy]

When I purchase bellies I can only get them if I buy the whole belly. They generally weigh between 10 - 14 pounds, at the thickest edge they should be about 1.25 - 2.00 thick. It all depends on the age of the hog when slaughtered.

I usually cut the whole slab into thirds prior to curing. That also gives me the ability to use different flavoring for each piece.

Thanks H.S., I do appreciate all the help from everyone. I have 3 whole bellies and I am going to try some different flavors.

[Phone Guy]

So I have a small 14lb batch of bacon curing. I trimmed the side and cut it into 3 sections, one skinned (not easy) and two skin on. I did one with Cure #1, salt, brown sugar and maple syrup. 2 are with MTQ and brown sugar. I will coat one of the MTQ's in pepper before the smoke. I know it will only be peppered on 3 sides but I think that's good enough. I put them in Friday so either Thursday or Friday I will get them smoked.

[SoCalBuilder]

Good luck with the smoke and we'd love to see some pics of the finish product :D

[Habanero Smoker]

Skinning is definately not easy, but does get a little easier after you skin a few. Either way I am sure you will enjoy the bacon.