Beefmann Beefy Bacon

[beefmann]

As i did not want to hijack the beef bacon thread I  did decide to bite the bullet and make beef bacon, and here is what i have done so as of today

bought a 14 lb brisket




Made the wet cure


the cure made and remove foam at top

Cure is
1 gallon apple juice ( changed from apple cider )
3.2 oz by weight of insta cure # 1
1 cup salt non iodized
1.5 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp onion powder
2 tbsp pepper
mix all together let stand ,,, remove foam at  top mis again, trim a bit of the brisket and remove the ball from the flat ,,, cut id necessary to fit into container, them remove any more foam and  mix one last time the cure
place all into container

the brisket cut and look close there is still  some fat,,, whats shown if the lean  side


into the container to soak for 7 days then smoke with apple or maple for 4 hours , with a box temp of 225 till an it of 155- 160


am planning to rotate the brisket in the cure every  12 hours  till done

[Saber 4]

Beefman I will keep my eyes posted for this thread, and you could have hijacked my thread with no problem. I can't wait to see how it turns out this is definitely on my list of next few projects, as soon as I'm clear of this strep throat I'm headed to the meat locker to see if they can actually get me some beef belly at a reasonable price to do mine with.

[SiFumar]

Will be following this.  Would be something I'd be interested in trying.

[beefmann]

thanks guys and am planing to smoke / cook this coming up monday or tuesday  once done will post pics and give my  opinion,,, so far every thing is going smoothly and do not anticipate any problems

[beefmann]

I know you  been waiting for this and here it is.. smoked the beef bacon sunday which had a great flavor and juicy, i would recommend people to try it,,, taste like the name says,,, you  can tell that it is beef and it tastes like bacon.. like my family that is  use to pork bacon we have mixed  reviews on who likes which better but all agree it has  great flavor,, So it comes down to personal taste for bacon,, i say  give it a try and decide for your self...


out of the wet cure and rinsed off


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


then into the smoker with 3 hours of smoke with maple,  watched the temps  pulled at 156 and cut up a  piece , thought it was a  little  tough and left the rest in.



pulled the rest at 169 and it was a lot more tender  and getting ready to slice it up today


Pulling it at 169 - 170 is a great place to pull it,,, going to slice it up later and fry up a few   pieces to see how it  comes out,,, my  opinion this is a great recipe,, and works great on brisket,, if you  could fine beef naval,,, might  be  even better,,, also would be  great on a  pork belly,,, so give it a try


all sliced up

[SiFumar]

Great job! Looks amazing!

[ragweed]

Great looking beef, Beef.  Gonna try that for sure!!  Nice post too!

[Habanero Smoker]

Looks good. How was the texture compared to pork belly bacon? I may make some beef bacon in the future, but I'm still holding out to find beef plate.

[Tenpoint5]

Looks good beefman.  If they didn't think brisket was gold around here ($4.49#) I would give that a try.

[beefmann]

Looks good beefman.  If they didn't think brisket was gold around here ($4.49#) I would give that a try.

it is  great, great  flavor bacon taste, though  not  like  pork bacon though i have a  hard time  finding pork bellies at a  good price,,, seen up to $ 7 / lb for it and around here brisket is around $ 2.30 / lb,,, might have to get  use to beef bacon around here  ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Saber 4]

I guess I'm blessed to be in Texas the land of beef and hogs, I can get brisket for $1.77 and pork belly for $3.99, what I can't afford anymore is the price of feed to raise my own steers and hogs for slaughter like I used to. There was nothing like having home grown prime beef and pork chops with deep marbling :D.

[ragweed]

I guess I'm blessed to be in Texas the land of beef and hogs, I can get brisket for $1.77 and pork belly for $3.99, what I can't afford anymore is the price of feed to raise my own steers and hogs for slaughter like I used to. There was nothing like having home grown prime beef and pork chops with deep marbling :D.

Cripes!  You could almost ship me one and I'd probably be money ahead.  $4.99 here today, "on sale"!!

[Keymaster]

That looks excellent, nice job Beefman!!!

[beefmann]

Looks good. How was the texture compared to pork belly bacon? I may make some beef bacon in the future, but I'm still holding out to find beef plate.

the texture was like brisket taken to the temps and you  could tell it was a beef cut  while the  flavor leaned towards pork belly bacon... of course the curing process and seasonings  make a  difference


I  still say it is worth a  try and I think it needs to be dialed in a bit... out of 15 or  so people that have tried it only one had  said,,, great flavor but  still prefers pork bacon over beef... so it  will be a  personal choice on texture and taste

also let it  sit in the  fridge a day before slicing and tasting ,,, the flavor is a lot better the  next day

[Saber 4]

Beefman, I'm going this week looking for beef belly and I was wondering why you went with a wet cure on yours instead of a dry cure, I haven't really found a good explanation of the benefits or differences in the two methods. I was thinking about using a dry cure since that's the only way I've done bacon so far but I'm open to revising my plan. If I can't get beef belly I'm going to find a good sized brisket.