Mmmmmm Bacon

[Thirsty Boy]

Piece of pork belly - couple of tablespoons of honey - 1/2cup salt - rub honey and salt into pork and put in a container in the fridge - turn every two days for 8 days - rinse off and pat dry - hang or place bacon on rack uncovered in the fridge for 24 hrs to dry and form a pellicle on its surface - smoke at about 100C for 5 hrs with a mixture of apple, mesquite and chardonay soaked oak (just a packet from BBQs Galore)

Result - bloody beautiful. Heart attack here I come



TB

 

[Mercs Own]

Looks fantastic, I am sure it tastes fantastic!! I want to do my own bacon but for the moment am keeping an eye on the salami plus my cholesterol is up so bacon is off the list! As for salami I wont be eating that for several months so I am working at getting my cholesterol down so I can eat my salami and get it up again!

Anyway I must do some bacon! Your recipe or one from a book?

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Mine, but not startlingly original. I just subbed honey in to replace the maple syrup I saw in a few recipes online.

Mostly followed this guys method and recipe - I screwed up a little though, my piece was actually only a little more than half the size of his pieces and I still used half a cup of salt, so it ended up too salty and I had to give it a 24hr soak in plain water to make it edible (before the smoking step). Next time a little less salt and it should be spot on.

I'm in the process of getting some prague powder, so the next one should also be a nice pink colour as well, not that I really care.

Check out this website - http://home.pacbell.net/lpoli/index.htm - The guy who does this one really knows his stuff. Dozens and dozens of recipes for sausages, salamis, hams, bacons, pancetta, prosciutto etc etc. Just the intro page took an hour to read and I came out knowing ten times as much about meat handling, meat products and food safety as I did before.

My cholesterol is beyond control by dietary means - no matter how good or healthily I eat, its still 7+... so, I am on cholesterol tablets.... and when I am on them, no matter how badly or unhealthily I eat, it sits on about 4.5 - so I take the tablets, eat the bacon and am happy. You still get fat - but your cholesterol is fine, just fine.

Cheers

Thirsty

 

[browndog]

Great link there Thirsty, like you my cholestrol is 7. something, been on lipitor for the last 3 months and just went on saturday to have some3 blood drained and inspected. Hope it gets down to 4.5 like yours.

cheers

Browndog

 

[reg]

Hey Mercs,

I also have high cholestorol.
The misses has put me onto this margarine.........................................................

Hang on a minute!!!!!!!!

 

[mwd]

Bacon Sandwiches with warm crispy bacon.

Anything that tastes that good just has to be bad for you.

 

[agraham]

That looks awesome! God im starvin

 

[Thirsty Boy]

I'm gonna turn into a lard arse after working out how to do this... it been bacon and eggs for breakfast far too often recently.

I've just ordered myself some curing salts and will be playing with homemade ham, prosciuto, pancetta etc soon .... and all sorts of bacon. mmmmmmm

 

[drsmurto]

What do you use as a smoker? Been looking at smoking (meat, that is) for a while, and am continually changing my plans for the setup.

+1 for this question

Have been wanting to make my own smoky bacon since its too bloody hard to buy good bacon in Oz. In the old dart there was a whole isle of bacon in tescos.........

Also, want to smoke my jalapenos - chipotles in a chilli con carne....mmmmmmmmm

 

[Katherine]

Smokers are easy to make yourself....

 

[InCider]

Smokers are easy to make yourself....

Hi Katie,

Have you got a pic of a homemade one?

Cheers,

Sean

 

[Adamt]

Try these.

Small one:

Hope this helps Sean...

 

[Thirsty Boy]

I bought a cheapie electric hotplat off e-bay ($15ish) and I just shoved that inside of my small hooded BBQ. Hotplate just sits on the plate o one side, bacon on a rack on the other. At the bottom it was about 80C and if I put the bacon on a rack up the top, it was about 120 - I went for the middle at 90 - 100C

Basic idea came from this Trash Can Smoker I would install a little door to change the wood chips though - but I thought I'd use the BBQ I already had instead. Or you could go ultra ghetto and try this.

Thirsty

 

[katzke]

If you are going to smoke lots of stuff start searching for an old fridge. Not one of the new ones but an old one with metal insides. I have one from like the 50's that I got for that use but the darn thing still runs and has beer in it now. If I do convert it to a smoker while it still runs I can always make locks but for the fact I do not like them.

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

If you want the easy way out and have a lazy fifty:

https://www.raysoutdoors.com.au/catalog/pro...products_id=825

 

[Katherine]

Hi Katie,

Have you got a pic of a homemade one?

Cheers,

Sean

Will take a shot for you this weekend.... but Thirsty is pretty spot on (AS USUAL) lol!

We use (big ) oil cans we then then put them on top of the gas burners... we have a commerical kitchen with huge exhaust fans.

 

[Katherine]

Our dodgy smoker.... but it works well!

 

[browndog]

Katie, they look great, chicken thighs right? did you marinate or soak them in brine? what kind of wood do you use?

cheers

Browndog

 

[Steve]

Katie, they look great, chicken thighs right? did you marinate or soak them in brine? what kind of wood do you use?

cheers

Browndog

The uncooked pics are definately chicken thighs...but the cooked pic looks like rabbit ?

 

[Katherine]

Yes they are thighs... Soaked over night in brine and smoked with hickory. YUM!