Hunting Washington Forum

Community => Butchering, Cooking, Recipes => Topic started by: Blacktail Sniper on February 26, 2016, 09:10:24 AM

Title: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: Blacktail Sniper on February 26, 2016, 09:10:24 AM: Got a question for the bacon makers...

Was killing time in Costco yesterday waiting on a presciption and cruised through the meat section.

I see they have large sections of pork belly and was wondering about smoking some bacon.

I have seen where some do smaller sections and some do the entire slab.

Any benefit more so one way vs the other?
Title: Re: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: Ddouble on February 26, 2016, 09:42:20 AM: I get the 2 gallon ziplock bags and cut them to size that fits in there. Brining them in the ziplocks makes it easy to flip every other day.
Title: Re: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: NRA4LIFE on February 26, 2016, 10:16:49 AM: I cut the belly in half and also use the 2 gallon ziplocs for curing. The halves fit and hang better than a whole one in my big smoker. I love that Costco is carrying the bellies. I did a 10 pounder at Christmas. It's awesome looking in the pork box in the freezer and seeing it flooded with packs of bacon.
Title: Re: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: Carl on February 26, 2016, 12:22:14 PM: :yeah:
I did the same.
Title: Re: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: brewzer13 on June 06, 2016, 08:27:58 PM: Would one of you mind sharing details on the recipe. I picked up the pork bellies from Costco as well and just got a new electric smoker waiting to get something inside. What do you use for rub/cure, temps and durations etc. All would be helpful for a novice. :hello:
Title: Re: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: Southpole on June 06, 2016, 08:44:07 PM: Don't do anything with it. Slice up, salt, pepper, garlic, place on a cookie sheet and cook in the oven on 350 until browned... I must be the only person on earth that likes side pork. I'm on a Korean pork belly kick right now as well, it's all I can think about :drool:
Title: Re: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: Boss .300 winmag on June 06, 2016, 08:46:53 PM: Quote from: Southpole on June 06, 2016, 08:44:07 PM
Don't do anything with it. Slice up, salt, pepper, garlic, place on a cookie sheet and cook in the oven on 350 until browned... I must be the only person on earth that likes side pork. I'm on a Korean pork belly kick right now as well, it's all I can think about :drool:

How do you do the Korean?
Title: Re: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: Southpole on June 06, 2016, 09:04:19 PM: Quote from: Boss .300 winmag on June 06, 2016, 08:46:53 PM
Quote from: Southpole on June 06, 2016, 08:44:07 PM
Don't do anything with it. Slice up, salt, pepper, garlic, place on a cookie sheet and cook in the oven on 350 until browned... I must be the only person on earth that likes side pork. I'm on a Korean pork belly kick right now as well, it's all I can think about :drool:

How do you do the Korean?
Not necessarily pure Korean but on Pinterest there is a pork belly slider recipe I've done. There are countless others but I'm too retarded to figure out how to attach them here :rolleyes:
Title: Re: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: carpsniperg2 on June 06, 2016, 09:07:27 PM: All I do is use buckboard bacon cure. The side pork is thinner so most the times I only let it go about 5-6 days before smoking it.
Title: Re: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: Southpole on June 06, 2016, 09:26:00 PM: I think it was Andrew Zimmerman that I was watching. He was at a Korean restaurant eating BBQ pork belly dipped in some kind of sauce. I've been infatuated about pork belly ever since. When we process our pigs we always skip curing the belly into bacon and just stick with side pork. If I want bacon I just buy commercially made bacon. I've never had good homemade bacon from any local butcher shops around Snohomish county, it usually turns out too tough and / or too salty. I hope you find a good recipe to try and make your own bacon, it'll be fun to try :tup:
Title: Re: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: Blacklab on June 07, 2016, 05:11:21 AM: Homemade bacon :drool: When I do it's BBB as the base then I'll add to it. Such as fresh cracked pepper, honey, maple syrup any flavors you like. 13 day cure smoked with pecan or hickory are great flavors great stuff always thick slice.
Title: Re: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: bearhunter99 on June 07, 2016, 06:17:10 AM: I use this one and have never gone wrong:
Savory Bacon Brine

1gal of water
1 cup + 1tbl sugar
1 cup of kosher salt
1tbl pink curing salt
2tbl of ground pepper
2tsp ground fennel seeds
2tsp of ground caraway seeds
2tsp of ground rosemary
2tsp of thyme
4 crushed bay leaves

Mix all ingredient together til salt and sugar is dissolved and brine pork belly 24-48 hours, drain and pad dry, smoke til internal temp reaches 145-150
I grind all my spices in a coffee mill to approximately a medium to coarse grind.
If you dont have a smoker, you can do this in the oven on 250 til internal temp is reached.
Title: Re: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: Whitpirate on June 07, 2016, 07:28:23 AM: Quote from: Southpole on June 06, 2016, 09:26:00 PM
I think it was Andrew Zimmerman that I was watching. He was at a Korean restaurant eating BBQ pork belly dipped in some kind of sauce. I've been infatuated about pork belly ever since. When we process our pigs we always skip curing the belly into bacon and just stick with side pork. If I want bacon I just buy commercially made bacon. I've never had good homemade bacon from any local butcher shops around Snohomish county, it usually turns out too tough and / or too salty. I hope you find a good recipe to try and make your own bacon, it'll be fun to try :tup:

You need to drive a belly of your pork up to Del Fox Meats in Stanwood. Best bacon short of making it myself. I use them for my farm sales.
Title: Re: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: 206 on June 07, 2016, 07:36:02 AM: Get an accurate scale. Cut belly in 3 pieces. 1TBL tenderquick and a couple Tsp brown sugar per pound. 10 days in fridge. Rinse, soak 1/2 hour in ice water. Air overnight in fridge. Smoke at 120 degrees with hickory for 12 hours.

That's the summary of what I have done 3 times now. Best bacon we have ever had.
Title: Re: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: Carl on June 07, 2016, 12:17:49 PM: Lots of information and variations out there. Here's some info.

http://amazingribs.com/recipes/porknography/making_bacon_from_scratch.html
Title: Re: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: NRA4LIFE on June 10, 2016, 11:09:11 AM: One of my Memorial Day weekend projects, belly from Costco.
Title: Re: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: Blacktail Sniper on June 10, 2016, 11:44:08 AM: :tup:
Title: Re: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: Angry Perch on June 10, 2016, 11:56:16 AM: Quote from: NRA4LIFE on June 10, 2016, 11:09:11 AM
One of my Memorial Day weekend projects, belly from Costco.

Dang that looks good!
Title: Re: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: NRA4LIFE on June 11, 2016, 01:38:31 PM: Dang, I should have brought you some over yesterday. My bad.
Title: Re: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: Blacklab on June 13, 2016, 04:32:00 PM: Nicely done ;)
Title: Re: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: pd on June 13, 2016, 04:38:02 PM: This guy is a wealth of butchering knowledge. A cleaver use of pork belly.
Title: Re: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: Southpole on June 13, 2016, 10:59:37 PM: :yeah: :yeah: :yeah: That's what I'm talking about!
Title: Re: Pork belly bacon.
Post by: Fishnfowler on June 13, 2016, 11:57:04 PM: I put up slightly more than 60 pounds of bacon a year. Personally, I hate pink salt. My lifelong hatred has been recently reaffirmed with the declaration that it causes cancer. I'm a kosher salt and brown sugar kind of guy. Put a 5 pound strip into the bag with 1/4 cup salt and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Turn every day for a week then smoke to personal taste. Chill, slice, and freeze.

(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi718.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fww184%2FFishnfowler%2F20150314_160507-1%25202_zpsypaqrs2p.jpg&hash=d89e231a44cb39869e592f14781e3e5193cd0f04)