Bacon

[marauder11]

Hey all been awhile but i made another batch of bacon. Question i have is seems like the pork bellies are good thickness before i smoke them. After seems like thickness has gone down a lot.  I used dry rub and  buck board from hi mountain. I followed the instructions on the hi mountain to the final degree it called for. Do you guys notice the bellies thickness go down to.  Would using brine make them stay thicker. I also removed the skin before i cured them
Thanks

[Habanero Smoker]

If you are seeing shrinkage in thickness, there should be shrinkage in length and width. Did you notice shrinkage in those areas?

If you are bringing your bacon to 152°F your bacon will shrink some, and the higher the temperature you smoke/cook at the more shrinkage there will be. If you are cold smoking (or hot smoking and and keeping the internal temperature below 135°F) there should be no shrinkage during the smoking process. Often when using a dry cure you may notice some shrinkage after it has been fully cured.

Using a wet brine should yield less shrinkage, but I haven't notice much difference between the two methods. Though I have to admit, I've never took a close look in comparing the two for shrinkage.

[KyNola]

In keeping with Habs's comments, I hot smoke dry rubbed/cured belly bacon at 200 degrees to an IT of around 150.  I do notice a bit of decreased thickness in the finished product but it is nothing substantial.