Wade

I tried several "domestic" models a few years ago and was always disapointed with the results. In the ens I bought a small commercial one - Buffalo CD278 - and it had given good results, is solid and is easy to clean. Ibought mine from Nisbets and they are still a current model. They are not cheap - but you certainly get what you pay for.

Keep it wrapped while it is resting in the fridge. In a ziplock bag, clingfilm or vacuum packed - it does not matter which. Most fridges work by circulating cold air around the inside so If you leave it unwrapped the smoke will start to come off the surface of the bacon and liberally coat everything else that happens to be in the fridge at the time.

Hi Bob The cure will work perfectly well when vacuum packed. It would be interesting to know where they are getting their evidence from for this claim Vac packing helps to ensure that the cure remains in intimate contact with the surface of the meat for longer. If you do not vac pack and just use a ziplock bag you need to try to get as much air out of the bag as you can in order to minimise any space for a brine to form and cure to flow away from the meat. You will still get a brine forming around the meat when vac packing but it will not be as obvious as it will be more efficiently kept in contact with the meat surface so that it can diffuse inwards. Either way, you should ensure that you turn your meat over in the fridge at least once every 24 hours to ensure any brine that is formed stays in contact with as much of the meat surface as possible. Another good tip to ensure the even distribution of the cure. If you have one, weigh all of your cure ingredients into a spice grinder or coffee grinder and give it a blitz together before applying it to the meat surface. Dont forget that any cure that does not stick to the meat still needs to be added to the bag before it goes into the fridge. Cheers Wade

Hi Bob This is really a difficult to give a specific answer to as it is down to personal preference and the type of smoke you are using. Hopefully this will help... If you are using a sweet wood (such as hickory) then you can smoke longer to get a deeper rounded flavour. However if you are using something like Oak then smoking too long can result in quite a harsh edge to the flavour. I suggest that for your first smoke you go for a happy medium (8 hours of smoke) and then adjust up our down for subsequent smokes. After the smoke dont forget to wrap the bacon joint and leave in the fridge for several days to allow the smoke flavours to mellow and diffuse into the meat. Also be aware that when you slice it, the first couple of rashers at each end will taste much smokier and more salty than the centre of the bacon. If you are going to use the bacon within a couple of weeks then slice it all and refrigerate. If you want it to last longer (unfrozen) then slice off what you need as you need it and it will keep for about 6 weeks. If you intend to keep it longer then slice and freeze. Cheers Wade

Hi Bob - No you do not need to smoke it. Once it is cured it is unsmoked (or "Green") bacon. If you would like "Smoked" bacon then smoke it. However you prefer to eat it you slice and cook it in the usual way. Sliced it gives you bacon rashers, cut into steaks it gives bacon steaks, Cooked a a joint it becomes a bacon joint. Cheers Wade

Hi Bob You do not need to smoke it all in one go. Most smoke generators struggle to give more tha 6-8 hours continuous smoke. In the summer when its hot it is good to smoke in the cool evening or morning and then put it in the fridge during the day before continuing to smoke. It is not uncommon to do this over 3 consecutive night - depending how much smoke flavour you are looking for. The answer to your question is yes. You can simply refill and carry on. As @pittmab has said, the joint is already cured and is protected to a dregree from spoilage. Try to keep it at 8 C or below if you can - but it will be fine up to 10-15 C for several hours.

A good starting guide would be "Smoking, Curing and Drying" by Turan T, Turan - ISBN Number 978-1-84543-561-5 I have watched Turan give demonstrations at BBQ events and his teqhniques are sound and easy to follow.

Hi Craig You only need to leave a few holes at the bottom to allow air and sufficient holes in the body to allow for canes to be inserted to support the food racks. Air will then come in at the bottom to fuel the smoke generator, pass over the food and then out through the lid flue. The smoke generator will need little air so providing you have 3 or 4 holes at the same level or below it will be fine.

This is what the Americans commonly refer to as "Canadian bacon" as it is cured and fully cooked/smoked before it is sliced. This is delicious however it is different to what we would usually recognise as bacon here in the UK. There is a lot of talk about making bacon without using Nitrites however it is the Nitrite that gives bacon its "bacon" flavour. You can reproduce this without using a specific nitrite cure by substituting something like celery powder, however you are still effectively adding Nitrite/Nitrate in a different form - and in a less precise way. Completely Nitrite free bacon that tastes like bacon is now possible to produce commercially however it is difficult to produce at home. You can show that it is the Nitrite cure that gives the bacon flavour by curing a chicken breast with a standard dry cure bacon mix. The chicken takes on a distinctive "bacony" flavour. For members of the forum who are interested in trying their hand at bacon curing for the first time, please drop me a message as I will be happy to send them some Cure#1 to get them started on their journey.

Many years ago I created insulated sleeves for my ProQ/WSM smokers and they worked well. I used similar materials to those you show in your picture, however I can no longer find the exact materials again online. Firstly - the most important area to insulate is the smoking chamber - as it is the heat loss along the length here that results in the heat gradient experienced in these smaller smokers. Reducing the heat loss here will greatly improve the internal temperature stability. I would not worry about insulating the fire box to begin with as this will have less overall benefit. The closest I can find is the Vitcas Ceramic Fibre Blanket (£24 on Amazon). This can be stuck on using the VITCAS Ceramic Fiber Adhesive (£15 on Amazon) The blanket I used has an aluminium blanket covering. In place of this you could use a simple foil blanket (£1.80 each) on the outside - also on the inside if you did not want to glue the fibre blanket directly onto your smoker. Another option would be to simply use Vitcas Aluninium Coated Insulation Flue Wrap (£24 on Amazon) - which already has an aluminium coating on one side. This could be wrapped around the smoking chamber giving several layers. This can be held in place using High Temperature Aluminium Tape (£6 per roll). If I was doing this again, this would be the method I would probably use. To help reduce the temperature gradient in the smoking chamber also ensure that you have a heat deflecter where your fire box meets the cooking chamber. I hope this helps

Hi Tina - The ProQ cold smoker cabinet is quite confined and so is easy to overheat. A couple more suggestions... When you load the dust in your maze be sure to compact it firmly with your fingers before lighting. This helps to stop it flaring up. Try using a larger cabinet - a new garden incinerator works well Always leave your cheese for at least a week (preferably more) before tasting - especially after being exposed to heavy smoke. The sharp smoke taste will mellow over time. When selling my smoked cheese commercially it was rested for at least 3 weeks before I would sell it. This may help... Dont give up

Nostalgia isnt what it used to be. Remember the days when Asteroids and Galaxian were the latest in high tech graphics - or even Pong. Just as people are now coming back to play these, the trusty old ET-732s will continue to be brought out for use for decades to come. I have several of them and they get used regularly. I have not yet found anthing that matches the range of the remote.