This blog entry is so good it deserves post of its own. I highly recommend it.
http://www.bsbrewing.com/blog/?p=261

Btw, be sure to read the response by Moose, a veteran bacon maker. Has some nice tips and suggestions for the next bacon smoke.

This will be my next adventure.
That bacon looks awesome and does not look too hard to do.

JimK, this is right up your alley!

He smoked his bacon on a WSM. Is the blog author one of us?

I think he may have had the smoker running a bit hot? My bacon never gets that dark, nor does it have deep grill marks...He didnt mention what temp he smoked at, unless I missed it...but I guess I gotta cut him some slack, being an Iowa boy and all

I use a dry cure and cold smoke it till an internal of 150. Hot smoking begins to render some of the fat and ruins the texture.

I wander if you could explain the difference between your temps. and mine. I use dry cure and after 7 days hot smoke it with apple and about 5 hours ago (and the time before that) it's texture was pretty perfect (to me). my temp. climbed from 80's & 90's slowly up to 220 and about then was off and done to 150-158 (i had 4 slabs on) I lost about 20 drops of fat from all of them, no more. just wanderin' i love bacon. (i was thinking like Brandon was, mines never that dark either, I guess its a possibility he used cherry or misquite...but i dont have a clue).

Ok after reading the blog I came up with two conclusions.

Conlusion #: Dark color.

I'm pretty sure that color comes from the wood. Those are some pretty big chunks of wood he has there and if they are cherry or hickory they could make it that dark for sure.

Conclusion #2: Grill Marks

Based on the Nineth picture in the blog: (This is the one right aobe the picture posted in this ofrum of the tongs) Those aren't grill makrs. If you look at shere the bacon is touching the grate you can see that it is dirty grill grate marks/previous cook goodies (depends on your view point). I'm thinking those grates could probably benifit from a good burnoff on a grill. This isn't to say that I haven't cooked on grates that look just like that.

What do you guys think on those observations/conclusions?

Josh

Yeah, your probably right Josh, probably just dirty grates....He would have to have one damn hot wsm to get sear marks like that. I've only done 2 batches of bacon to date, and I used maple for wood. Mine turns out more of a golden/red, like this...



I plan to do a hearty pepper bacon next, I'll probably go with hickory...I'll have to see if it looks darker when done smoking.

Brandon

darn those look good Brandon. Im tellin you two this is gonna be a bad/good habbit (by the way) I ate some of that garlic bacon. Nice recipie idea Josh, it was great. You asked about the lemon zest and to be honest I may have not used quite enough to do it for me... I kind of missed it. everything else added to it. I get lost in amounts to use in curing. It seems so much different then grilling, or just smokin' up a pork butt or briskit you know?... ill pick up on it though. and good analysis of the above i'de say to.

edit* interesting michael, (we posted nearly the same time) I love reading all these approaches. thanks.

I've done several sides of bacon in a modified WSM. I have a double stacked middle section that allows me to hang the bacon. I have a hot plate in the bottom that keeps the temp low and I heavy smoke tham for about 7 hours usually. I learned from a great smoking/curing chef while in culinary school and was taught to never take the internal temp above 125 degrees. I use Hickory and my come out just a little darker than the picture posted by Brandon A.