[euge]

http://cowgirlscountry.blogspot.com/2008/12/making-bacon-part-3-cold-smoking.html

I've been to this blogspot many times.

Cowgirl's blogspot is the shazizzle!

It never fails to disappoint! And linking off her site yields some interesting info.

[johnf]

So how does one get an uncured pork belly? At the butcher? Seems to me it would be special order- what would be a fair price per pound?

$2 - $2.50. Probably special order. Places that sell house made bacon are more likely to have it on hand. Asian groceries often have it on hand.

[tfries]

No more store bought bacon for us either.  There is a meat processing place just a few miles from us that has fresh pork bellies every Wednesday. We have done some Pancetta also as well as curing fresh hams that we acquired from the same place.

No pictures of the bacon, but here is one of the Pancetta and a few of the ham we did for Christmas.

Pancetta


Pre-cured pig leg


Cured and Smoked


Mmmm meat

[Robert]

So how does one get an uncured pork belly? At the butcher? Seems to me it would be special order- what would be a fair price per pound?

Just picked up a frozen 5 lb belly at a butcher in Deep Ellum in Dallas, $3.60/lb. Seemed a bit steep, considering I found a cached website from '09 that listed it at $2.50/lb. Damn inflation. Anyways, it should be thawed by tomorrow and I'll be throwing on kosher salt, coarse ground pepper, a touch of Prague Powder and some local honey. I'll attempt cold smoking the following weekend in my sidebox smoker. Gonna use some plum wood from my plum tree that died last year. Can't wait.

[MrNate]

Three pages and no "Makin' Bacon" jokes? Just sayin.

[euge]

So how does one get an uncured pork belly? At the butcher? Seems to me it would be special order- what would be a fair price per pound?

Just picked up a frozen 5 lb belly at a butcher in Deep Ellum in Dallas, $3.60/lb. Seemed a bit steep, considering I found a cached website from '09 that listed it at $2.50/lb. Damn inflation. Anyways, it should be thawed by tomorrow and I'll be throwing on kosher salt, coarse ground pepper, a touch of Prague Powder and some local honey. I'll attempt cold smoking the following weekend in my sidebox smoker. Gonna use some plum wood from my plum tree that died last year. Can't wait.

Then I expect $2.50 is a fair price down here.

[Robert]

Makin bacon!

24 hours into cure


Simple cure:
5 TBS Kosher Salt
1 TSP Prague Powder
5 TSP Brown Sugar
1 TBS Black Peppercorns slightly crushed

[tschmidlin]

Any updates from anyone?  I looked this up to find the sources again, I'll read through these again as soon as I can:
http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=G2528
http://cowgirlscountry.blogspot.com/2008/12/making-bacon-part-3-cold-smoking.html

Not too long though, I picked up 5 lbs of belly today.  And I got that charcuterie book to go through too, see what they say about the bacon.  I'm excited.

[punatic]

Three pages and no "Makin' Bacon" jokes? Just sayin.

Obviously a Yankee.  
It's Macon bacon.  It's a Jawja thing. 

[hugh_jass]

Any updates from anyone?  I looked this up to find the sources again, I'll read through these again as soon as I can:
http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=G2528
http://cowgirlscountry.blogspot.com/2008/12/making-bacon-part-3-cold-smoking.html

Not too long though, I picked up 5 lbs of belly today.  And I got that charcuterie book to go through too, see what they say about the bacon.  I'm excited.

I'm kinda new here, so please pardon the interruption.

I bought that book this past winter and have not looked back.  I now regularly cure bacon.  Also, the sausage recipes are very solid. You and your butcher are going to be on a first name basis.

 I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. 

[tubercle]

It's Macon bacon.  It's a Jawja thing. 

 Been to Jawja...been to Macon

[Hokerer]

I'm kinda new here, so please pardon the interruption.

No pardon needed.  Everyone's welcome here.

[tschmidlin]

I'm kinda new here, so please pardon the interruption.

No pardon needed.  Everyone's welcome here.

Well yeah, but saying "I do it all of the time" and not providing any advice . . . !!!  Come on, give some details of your experience!

[johnf]

I've done the maple bacon from the Ruhlman/Polcyn book a few times and really like it. The instructions are to cook it in the oven at 200 (assumption being I think this is the most basic thing in the book and the one people will start on before they have a smoker). I hot smoke at about 200. Used plum wood this last time. Any mild fruit wood I think is good. Hickory can be overpowering.

I would use nitrite. Pork and cured pork taste completely different. If you expect it to taste like "bacon", use the nitrite.

This last time I did 5 lbs of the maple recipe and 5 the same way with D2 instead of maple. It's good, but the maple is better so I won't do it again.

My last tip is to put in the effort to get a good piece of belly from a heritage breed (tamworth, mangalitsa, berkshire, etc). I did my first batch with chinese grocery belly and it was fine but after doing the second batch with a much higher quality belly, I'll never go back. I just buy the whole belly and trim it square. Freeze the trimmings and use them for the fat in sausage later.

[hugh_jass]

I'm kinda new here, so please pardon the interruption.

No pardon needed.  Everyone's welcome here.

Well yeah, but saying "I do it all of the time" and not providing any advice . . . !!!  Come on, give some details of your experience!

Well, my procedure is to take a whole fresh side and cut it into ~4 lb pieces to fit them into 2 gal. zip lock bags (the bellies I buy are generally 12ish lbs).  Rub the meat with the salt, sugar, nitrate mixture as prescribed in Charcuterie.  I'll also add to that rub some crushed bay leaf, garlic (either high quality powder or minced), and course black pepper.  Into zip lock baggies go the pieces which are then placed in the fridge.  Every other day for a week I flip the slabs. ( I don't remove the liquid from the bag).  After a week, the slab is removed, rinsed and course black pepper is re-applied to the slab.  Sometimes I'll bake or smoke the slab.  Others, I'll just wrap in a bag then in butcher paper and freeze until I'm ready to use it.
  
When I plan to cook it, I'll quasi-thaw the bacon, and using a VERY sharp chef's knife, cut into thin strips. You'll want the meat to be kinda solid to cut it easier. These strips are placed on a baking rack atop a sheet pan to bake until "done"

I've found that while the smoke and cooking before freezing does add to the flavor, it's quite good cured and frozen (sans smoke or baking).

Trust me, homemade bacon done properly is glorious.