Smoking Bacon using the Smokenator

[ncsmoker]

This is the hardest thing I do using the SN. First is the cure, this is now a brine it must be calculated exactly depending on the weight of the raw pork belly. First I do the salt and Pink salt or Sodium nitrite, make sure you have an accurate recipe as excess Pink Salt can cause poisoning.


After this I add maple sugar and maple syrup again in proportion to the meat weight.

I rub all this into the meat

After this I bag it and turn it every day for 6 days. They scrub it and let it set another day before smoking.

Tom

[ncsmoker]

When I take it out of the fridge for smoking I dry it with paper towels as much as possible and let it set while I set up the SN for the smoke. I will use 4 lit coals to start the SN and keep the SN at a temp of around 180. This is really hard to do especially if there is any wind.

I use apple wood to smoke with and will pull the bacon off when it reaches 150 degrees. I used my Hovergrill as I needed the room, just switched position of the pieces every couple of hours.

Here is the final product after 7 hrs.

Here is the final sliced product, wished you had taste-a vision.

Tom

Everybody have a Happy Thanksgiving, I'll be smoking a bird.

[alimac23]

Wow Tom that looks seriously good! I've always wanted to smoke my own bacon.

You said that you start with 4 lit coals, do you fill the smokenator full of fuel to last the 7 hours, and to keep the temp at 180, how open are your vents?

I'm definitely going to have to try this!

[ncsmoker]

almac I try to do this when the outdoor temps are in the 40's. I do fill the SN full with coals. The vents are open only a very small amount maybe a 1/16 or less. It was windy this year so couldn't keep it as low as I wished but still had a long smoke of 5-6 hours and the apple wood flavor is there. Last year it took 9-10 hours for the bacon to reach 150. That is the important temp you are looking for.

I very mush want to caution you on the cure. Make sure you have a good recipe that gives all the salt, sodium nitrite and sugars in proportions is very important. Here is my recipe: www.willowcreeksugarhouse.com/uploads/Maple_Cured_Apple_Wood_Smoked_Bacon.pdf if you wish to try it. This is for 5ls. of belly you will need to adjust for the piece of belly you get. I had two pieces this year one 6.8 and one 9.9. There are others on the web. The most important thing is to smoke the bacon to 145 degrees to kill the trichenacea, not really important today as it is rarely seen in today's pork, no need to take it higher. The fat will start melting at 160. I take it off at 150. I bought a $100 slicer and put it in the freezer an slice it the next day.

If you have any questions pleas feel free to e-mail at arrowhead @ live.com I'll be glad to help Or just ask here I check daily.

[pilfjd]

Taste-a-vision, indeed! I would love to try that out, it looks amazing!