Bacon in done!

[ThunderLund78]

Completed my first batch of homemade bacon this weekend.  Have to say that this was a very fun and educational process. I started a week ago last Saturday, prepping the bellies and putting them in brine.  I used a popular internet recipe that used Tender Quick as the curing agent.  The one part I went wrong is not trying a test strip BEFORE smoking.  If I had, I probably would've soaked in cold water for a couple of hours and then put it in the smoker.  After smoking, the first strip was VERY salty.  But I read-up on it and found that you can still soak the smoked slabs in water to cut down on the saltiness. So on easter they took a bath for a few hours and It worked! My fear is that it would dilute the smokiness, but it really didn't.  Really good stuff.  I'll make my adjustments and it will be even better the next time.  Still have 3 more belly slabs in the freezer to use up.  But for now I have about 10 lbs finished weight to eat up.

[glenn57]

SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mike89]

that looks awesome!! hubba_hubba-404.gif

[dew2]

 AH REAL Bacon that looks great!

[Boar]

awsome!!!! can you give up the prossess and recipe youd do next time. i got some bellies to do myself

[Reinhard]

Labor of love!!  Great job Thunder.  Did you cold smoke it or put some heat to it while smoking.  Or both.  good luck.

[Rebel SS]

You guys sure do it up great!!!!     

[ThunderLund78]

After looking at a lot of sites - I chose to follow this method:
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2015/05/08/how-to-make-your-own-bacon/

What I learned and adjustments I will make:
If I indeed use this recipe again, I will do more than just "rinse thoroughly" after brining.  I did this and put it right in the smoker.  The next day, I cut the slabs in-half and took a sample piece out of the middle and fried it up - VERY salty.  So I did what the article said and put them in a water bath AFTER smoking.  After three hours, it did indeed cut the salinity, but I'm guessing it probably diluted some of the smokey goodness, as well.  It still tastes great, but I think you'd get the excess salt out more efficiently by soaking before smoking when it's not baked-in under a dried crust.

I'm also not sure if the author's analysis of Tender Quick being an alternative, lower-nitrate option to Cure #1 is accurate.  It's not equal to Cure #1 but at the end of the day, I'm not sure one contains any less nitrates than the other as you have to typically use more Tender Quick per pound to cure meat.

I will say that 1-1/2 cups in 6 cups of water seems excessive and lead to a VERY salty product (until I soaked it).  I need to look more into how much Tender Quick is needed per-pound, I'm wondering if I could actually cut the amount in this recipe, safely cure the meat and get less-salty results.

Otherwise, I found this website very helpful and a good way to get started.  I did not cold-smoke, I smoked at 200 deg until an internal temp of 150 as the site instructs (about 4 hours).  It cooked and rendered a little of the fat on the outside, but the inside seemed like normal bacon.

[Boar]

thanks thunder!  tender quick calls for 1/2tbls per pound of meat for whole meat chunks ot 1 cup TQ per 4 cup.water. this could get real salty.  when i do reinys canadian bacon i use the pink nitrate cure. 1 z0 pe.gal of water and even cut back on the recipe salt by 1/3 cup comes out really good not to salty.

[ThunderLund78]

Yeah, I do think I'm going to use Pop's Brine on my next batch and compare methods.  But I was able to soak the salt out of these and I have a lot of bacon to eat in the meantime!

[Boar]

yup lots of money or lots of bacon either way is awsome!

[Reinhard]

I like to use Pop's brine myself but I was thinking of a dry cure myself.  So I just checked with Curleys for the heck of it.  Instead of measuring stuff with this method, why not use a ready made one.  Since I get my sausage stuff from them I checked if they had stuff to do this.  They do.  It's called brown sugar cure 1.  If you want to try this go to their site and look for seasonings.  Go down to miscellaneous and you will see brown sugar cure 1  then go to Recipes and scroll down to bacon and it shows you step by step.  Haven't done this, this way but I'm going to try it. for slab bacon.  Still will use Pops brine for Canadian bacon.  good luck.

[LPS]

1 1/2 cups sounds like a whole lot of Tenderquick...  I have done the dry brine and it was fun but then I did Pops Brine and liked it better.  The dry does make some fluid in the bag but nowhere near the liquid that a actual brine like Pops.  I think Pops ends up with a lot better uniform juice everywhere on the slab, not just on the bottom of the bag. I added mollasses, garlic, etc...   

[Reinhard]

I think for tenderquick it's 1 tablespoon per pound of meat in a dry cure.  Tenderquick is 90% salt, some sugar and the rest cure.  So if there is a recipe that includes tenderquick and it has salt in it also besides the tenderquick then I would leave out the salt.  There is enough salt in tenderquick alone.  Most if not all commercial jerky seasonings like High Mountain and Nesco use tenderquick.  I only use cure one, but it's all about personal preference.  I've been using it a long time and it's easy to measure per gallon of water.  Check out ThirdeyeQ.com  I used to belong to a Outdoor forum that he came on time to time.  He has it down with tenderquick.  I still follow him.  He has a great dry cure using tenderquick for salmon.  good luck.

[ThunderLund78]

I've used Curley's seasoning a lot but never saw the Brown Sugar cure.  If it's as good as the rest of their stuff, I'm sure it would be awesome.  I might have to try it on at least one slab.