First Bacon

[Grouperman941]

I went to buy a pork loin to try to make Canadian bacon. Got it, no problem, but while I was there, I saw some pork bellies, and I figured that if I'm going to be mixing up a cure, I might as well try to make bacon out of those, too.

The problem is, the belly was cut into 3-4 inch pieces. The recipes I am seeing seem to assume a bigger piece.

Questions:

1 -- If I just use Basic Dry Cure, will that be an acceptable bacon (for the belly), or should I look to add other things?

2 -- To figure the amount of cure, should I weigh each piece of belly like the Canadian Bacon recipe or just use the total weight?

3 -- All I have left is oak and alder. Should I get other smoke for the bacons? I know you're supposed to use maple, but what else is good for bacon?

I am really looking forward to doing this. Thanks for any help.

[Kahunas]

Hi,
1. Should work fine
2. I would weigh the amount of cure for each piece and apply individually. Also wrap individually for curing
3. I like Apple for bacon
4. Have fun with it.

[sjmcdowall]

I like apple too -- but given your woods, alder should work pretty well ... It's a milder smoke (and hence great for seafood) .. Put some fun stuff into the cure too!  You can add / swap some maple sugar / syrup and crushed peppercorns, etc. to make a very interesting bacon indeed.

[KyNola]

Conversely I would go with your oak that you have on hand.  As was stated alder is a milder smoke while oak is a heavier smoke, much like hickory which is my "go to" wood for bacon.  Apple is a good one too but either hickory or in your case oak would be my choice.

[mikecorn.1]

Try to get some Maple. It goes well with bacon.  :)

[Grouperman941]

Rinsed, soaked, tasted. Now resting in the fridge.

No pics, because, quite frankly, these were not attractive pieces of meat.  :D

[Tenpoint5]

Rinsed, soaked, tasted. Now resting in the fridge.

No pics, because, quite frankly, these were not attractive pieces of meat.  :D

Have you not seen the pictures of all the guys that was "Deep in the Heart of Texas"?? There ain't a single one of US, that is attractive by any stretch of the imagination but we posted pictures!! Let's see that bacon. Bacon always looks good!!

[mikecorn.1]

Rinsed, soaked, tasted. Now resting in the fridge.

No pics, because, quite frankly, these were not attractive pieces of meat.  :D

I humbly disagree. UNICORNS are beautiful and majestic creatures ;D ;) I'm sure anything made from their meat will look and taste great :o


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[Grouperman941]

OK, you asked for it.

When I opened the package of bellies, it turned out they were not 3-4 inch pieces but 1.5-2 inch pieces. So I ended up mixing cure 8 times. It made slicing an adventure -- I have 16 'ends'. But it is delicious! I used the oak for the belly bacon and I have pecan going for the back bacon.


The bellies:


The loins (in the smoker right now) -- I made three small ones to experiment:


Bellies all cooked:




and Sliced:

[SiFumar]

Got some good color on that bacon! When you can't slice up small pieces just dice up...always good in something.  I've even been know to eat the fried pieces that were meant for something else.

[sjmcdowall]

Looking great!

[Tenpoint5]

See Bacon always looks good!!

[Kahunas]

That's some great lookin bacon you got there.

[Grouperman941]

Got some good color on that bacon! When you can't slice up small pieces just dice up...always good in something.

Thanks for the tip. Probably a better idea than gnawing on them like a dog, but that was all I could come up with at the time.  ;D

[Grouperman941]

The back bacon came out great.