The former: it re-starts.

how are people slicing the finished bacon - slicer or by hand

I hand-sliced mine as the belly was too big for my little Waring slicer

I hand slice or use a mandoline or V-slicer.

I would say use a slicer. You can't make consistent thin slices with a knife. Maybe kevin K can but i can't. The slicer is good for many things and you do need a new toy. I have a chef's choice vary tilt slicer and it is easy to clean and great.

quote:

Maybe kevin K can but i can't.

That's because you're blind! (It amazes me that you do what you do!)

Actually, par-freeze the bacon first if you want to use a knife. Use a thin-bladed, wider knife, if you have one.

Just took my first maple smoked bacon off the smoker. Sliced it by hand while still warm with now problem. I fried up a couple of slices and wow! I'm hooked. Thanks to all for answering my questions along the way.

Steve

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Carson:
Just took my first maple smoked bacon off the smoker. Sliced it by hand while still warm with now problem. I fried up a couple of slices and wow! I'm hooked. Thanks to all for answering my questions along the way.

Steve

I smoked 4 slabs of pork bellies on the weekend. I used apple wood on two of them and maple on the other two. We did a taste taste on the two (tough job, but someone's gotta do it!) and found that the apple wood imparted a milder taste. Not surprising, perhaps. I actually think I preferred the apple smoke. What did you use?

Elsie,

I ended up using apple and the bacon turned out great. It had plenty of smoke flavor, I don't think I would have preferred anything stronger.

Steve

a couple questions:

1) I'm planning on getting a case of bellies that will clock in around 50 lbs. Does anybody know what I can expect to get in the case? 5 10# pieces? 10 5# pieces?

2)Has anyone tried standing slabs up in a rib rack? I read about problems with the outside hot zone and thought this might work.

Just picked up a full belly slab at T&T Supermarket for $2.38/lb, bone-in. It was just over 10 lbs - and not the largest one there.

Anyone in the Vancouver area who wants to get in on this deal - pork bellies are on sale at this price until tomorrow.

Now I have to figure out which dry brine I'm going to use. I'll be smoking with Alder, so something savory is most likely.

I'm kinda leaning towards Kevin's savory mix, but I don't have any juniper berries or Prague powder (so instead of that, hopefully, just 1.5 T/lb of kosher salt will do the trick).

I was also thinking of adding some toasted fennel and coriander to the dry brine spice mix.

J - THe rib racks work great. I use them often when I'm doing a large amount of bacon, including leaning extra pieces on the sides of them.

Bruce, wish I would have gotten in on that deal!

Clark

I once did 4 full bellies at once and used 2 sets of rib racks on my 22" WSM. There was a problem in that the bellie slabs were crowded against each other, so there wasn't much browning/smoke penetration on the flat surfaces.

I think ribs work better because the bone maintains a rigid shape that keeps the racks separated, where the slabs, if thick, just bump up against each other.

I saved the batch by removing and finishing the smoke laying them flat.

Bottom line, if using a rack, I'd use every other slot.

This is great. I've been looking for a bacon recipe and this looks like the one. Anxious to try it. I think a good Sunday morning pairing would be home fries cooked in duck fat. It's worth cooking a duck and saving the fat just for that. If you think lard is great, duck fat rules!
Oh, Bruce McLeod: Porko Rosso is my hero.

did anybody else find Ruhlman's recipe excessively sweet? I found the bacon was burning in the pan before browning, which I could only assume was from the sugar.

quote:

Originally posted by j biesinger:
did anybody else find Ruhlman's recipe excessively sweet? I found the bacon was burning in the pan before browning, which I could only assume was from the sugar.

I have had that problem when i cook it in my cast iorn pan with med high heat. I have found using a cold non stick alum. clad skillet with med. heat produces "perfect" bacon with this recipe.

I had the same problem. Once I dialed the heat down under the pan the bacon did not burn.

quote:

I had the same problem. Once I dialed the heat down under the pan the bacon did not burn.

that's exactly what I did this morning!

I'm going to have to call this recipe "bullet proof." I started curing my slab in my basement fridge. The next day I went down to grab some steaks out. Three days later I realize I left the fridge door open. The slab was warm but smelled clean so I left it to cure for a total of 11 days when I finally got around to smoking it. I tossed on my kettle since my wsm's haven't been cleaned since m last comp. The kettle got up to 375* and my slab got to temp in less than a hour.

despite all the deviation from the original recipe it still cam out great (if not a bit too sweet for me).

J, I wonder if the extra days curing, and 3 of those days at a warmer temp might have made the bacon sweeter.

I've got my cure salt, maple sugar & syrup, just need a belly to get started on this recipe.

Several years ago I cured bacon often, using just Morton's Tenderquick, and smoked in an electric smoker.
I haven't had bacon as good since, and I'm sure this will taste even better than that did.

quote:

Originally posted by Bob Correll:
J, I wonder if the extra days curing, and 3 of those days at a warmer temp might have made the bacon sweeter.

I've got my cure salt, maple sugar & syrup, just need a belly to get started on this recipe.

Several years ago I cured bacon often, using just Morton's Tenderquick, and smoked in an electric smoker.
I haven't had bacon as good since, and I'm sure this will taste even better than that did.

Bob, what make was your electric smoker?