Haunted Bacon :D

Stargazer · March 07, 2009, 11:51:49 AM

Ok, cured up some belly squares, smoked. they turned out really good.

I think my Marie is haunted though. Everything worked fine but at the end I noticed the temp dropping. Chamber wasnt heating and light was out. So after 105 internal temp just tried to treat it as a cold smoke. Never cold smoked in my life but I dont think it was bad for a first time I guess, being chamber just stayed at between 104-115deg. I know thats technically not cold smoking being its still over 100degress though.

Checked all I could and nothing. Finally called Bradley, greatest help in the world to be honest.

Tried one more time after bacons were done and turned on and everything working as strong as can be.

Im just wondering if the back plug gotten loose as its major windy here right now.

Anyway, Bacons did turn out really nice. Did 6 hours of hickory. We love a strong hickory smoked bacon, but still kept dampers half open.

Actually, these are the best bacons I ever smoked. My old smoker couldnt even come close to doing this...

As for Marie, she might of been acting silly. But did pick up some SS cleaner to clean the outside of her when it warms up some.

Although, this did spark my interest to get more into real cold smoking.

Mr Walleye · March 07, 2009, 11:55:23 AM

You can never go wrong with bacon Stargazer! :D

Looks great! 8)

Mike

Stargazer · March 07, 2009, 11:58:25 AM

I got literally no experience cold smoking, but when this happened, I tried to make the best out of it when the chamber stopped heating "most likely not plugged in all the way, my fault"... and treat sort of like a cold smoke I guess, although I dont think its technically cold smoking.

But Im to understand alot here cold smoke bacon if Im right. If so, Im gonna be asking a boat load of questions for advice on cold smoking. Takes alot longer but the results were phenomenal :D

seemore · March 07, 2009, 12:31:46 PM

SG, that's some might fine looking bacon! Marie did you proud!!!

FLBentRider · March 07, 2009, 05:22:58 PM

Nice looking bacon SG!

Smokin Soon · March 07, 2009, 06:49:14 PM

Looks great to me Gazer! Whats your cure of choice? I'm with you on the hickoy thing. Tried Maple a couple times and went back.

Stargazer · March 07, 2009, 09:44:24 PM

Sliced the bacons up and taken to my lodge "meeting was earlier tonight" and was a huge hit.

We had a country breakfast for dinner. I made up a bunch of my breakfast sausage too so we had two meats. Breakfast sausage was from the Rytek Bible which can't be beat.

The bacon really had them coming back for more, and looks like I might get to do the sausage and bacon for our public breakfast to raise money for charity for local kids.

This is pretty neat ;D

Still got to keep alot of bacon for me and dad here at the house. Dad loves it which was my main concern. Just want to make sure he enjoys his breakfasts and dinners and eats well.

As for the cure, I used Maple cure with some InstaCure#1, both from Sausage Maker. I like the instacure#1 best. Havent used Mortons tender quick or their others and Im sure they are very good. But seems the Mortons tender quick and sugar cure are more the quality of instacure #2 which is meant for long dry curing due to their nitrate properties.

Name	Nitrate	Nitrite
Insta Cure #1	No	Yes
Insta Cure #2	Yes	Yes
Mortons Tender Quick	Yes	Yes
Mortons Sugar Cure	Yes	Yes
Mortons Smoke Sugar Cure	Yes	No

I been reading on this, pretty cool site all about cures and explaining the nitrates and nitrites specifically for hams and bacons. http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/nitrates-intro.htm

Keep in mind, I'm still learning, and will be the first to say, there are some major pro's here on this forum who know their stuff about cures inside out. I aint one of them but I strive to learn and read their posts so one day I can be as good as them :D

I'm wanting to make a honey bacon thats in Rytek's book soon though. That stuff just sounds real good :)

Habanero Smoker · March 08, 2009, 01:42:49 AM

Thanks for posting that information. I was trying to find out more about Morton's Smoke Sugar Cure ingredients. I look on their site some time back, and didn't see the list of ingredients the first time.

I just want to add, Cure #2 and Morton's Tender Quick are not interchangeable, and do not measure the same. Only use each product as directed by the manufacturer. Morton considers Tender Quick, and it's Sugar Cure quick cures. So it can be used for smoked sausage, belly bacon, Canadian (back) bacon, pastrami etc that are cured quickly, which you should not use Cure #2 for.