Another cold smoke

[Foggy01.1983]

Just finished two sides of bacon. One side with hickory and one side with oak.

Please excuse the wife's pj's LOL.

Now wrapped in the fridge and left to settle.

Bacon baguettes in 3 days i think yum yum

[Icefever]

 

Rind off?? looks good...I've just done two lots (Tue) their sat in the fridge. We haven't bought bacon for nearly 3 years now since starting to make our own.

10 hours ago, Foggy01.1983 said:

One side with hickory and one side with oak.

Did you spice the curing?? or just stay basic?? the wife asked yesterday if I was smoking any this time as we're down on the smoke bacon in the freezer. I may do both this time, not sure yet.

 

Ice.

[Foggy01.1983]

3 hours ago, Icefever said:

 

Rind off?? looks good...I've just done two lots (Tue) their sat in the fridge. We haven't bought bacon for nearly 3 years now since starting to make our own.

Did you spice the curing?? or just stay basic?? the wife asked yesterday if I was smoking any this time as we're down on the smoke bacon in the freezer. I may do both this time, not sure yet.

 

Ice.

Yes I removed the rind below curing. 

Curing was just a basic cure with soft light brown sugar

I cold smoked each slab in a weber Smokey mountain, by placing a smoking tube on the bottom, with a water baffle with Ice above.

Instead of doing one continuous smoke, i tried 4 hours smoke then chill in the fridge, then another 4 hour smoke, then chill, followed by one final smoke of 4 hours.

Do you hot or cold smoke your bacon? Although I've hot smoked before, this is the first time I've tried cold smoking bacon so I'll be interested to see the difference.

I got into trouble as we run out of bacon in our freezer before the new batch had finished. We bought some shop bacon and I completely forgot how much water was in shop bought bacon.

[Icefever]

3 hours ago, Foggy01.1983 said:

Do you hot or cold smoke your bacon?

I only cold smoke our bacon, then let it sit for 3 days in the fridge, then vac-pac and into the freezer.

 

Ice.

[Foggy01.1983]

Well today was the day for the taste test.

Both loins were cured exactly the same way equal parts cure to light soft brown sugar.

Only difference was the pellets which were hickory and oak. They were smoked for a total of 12 hours spread over 3 days (4 hours each day).

I was worried the bacon may have been salty as we used the supracure from weschenfelder at there recommended amounts, however I am pleasantly surprised its not salty at all! I'm guessing the level of sugar counter acted it.

Firstly the hickory smoked bacon. It was very nice and I would happily eat it all, but I would say there was nothing that made the taste buds go absolutely crazy. It's just simple nice bacon.

The second oak smoked bacon is a totally different taste in more ways than one. First you get a much more smokey taste along with a beautiful bacon aroma, then you get a really really nice subtle to medium sweet taste go around your mouth. It's my clear favourite for all the different flavours that you get while eating it.

I find it amazing that both joints were the same size, cured the same time, cured exactly the same and the cold smoking alone has adjusted the sweetness and flavor so much.

I can't wait to make more and play 😍😊😁

[Icefever]

13 hours ago, Foggy01.1983 said:

I was worried the bacon may have been salty

You may know this Foggy....when you've finished the curing and rinsed the joint, cut a thin slice and cook it...taste it, if you think it may be too salty, soak the joint for 20/30 mins.

 

Ice.

[Foggy01.1983]

Cheers ice, yeah I have heard of doing it but i must admit i didn't do it. It was a bit of a gamble lol.

I try to keep any joints I have to slice whole as my slicer leaves quite a chunk, which is unable to be sliced at the end.

I'll be using Wade's curing chart for the next batch, which uses significantly less salt per kg

 

[sotv]

I used to use a cheap slicer I owned and had the same problem, slices were irregular lengths and made a mess of the bacon joint, whilst trying to slice it, I know a lot of people have the more expensive slicers and some still get the tail end and slipping problems.

I am much happier using a knife now, I use this one and although I slice a bit thicker than the machine, it is not a bad thing and the knife is really handy for cutting other meats/roasts as well that I have done in the cooker or Grill.

Doesn't have to be this particular brand of knife there are plenty of other 12" carving knives available cheaper/more expensive. But for me one of my better investments, that gives me a more consistent finished slice of meat/bacon.

These were 6 slices of streaky that I had for my breakfast this morning, cut with the knife, certainly my slicer wouldn't allow me to cut them like this unfortunately 😞

 

p.s. I use the end pieces, by dicing them into small chunks and frying them with a few bits and bobs and tomato passata, and mix with some tagliatelle , very nice. or use them even in something like a bacon and leek pie or paella.

 

Edited May 3, 2020 by sotv

[Foggy01.1983]

Looks very tasty!! 

I saw this slicer on eBay for a starting bid of £65, but i offered £35 which the seller accepted if i went and collected.

I snapped his hand off and went and collected it locally.

It is a real ball ache to clean after using it, but makes a consistent slice. 

To make the hassle worth while we do a minimum of two joints and slice the let then vac pac and freeze.

The vac pac is a cheap one from Aldi. It does the job, but with large quantities it does over heat, so you have to let it cool down  for a few minutes some times lol.

The slicer does make things a lot easier as i could happily slice with a knife (which is what i initially did) but my wife on the other hand could only slice off door wedges haa haa.

It's the same with bread that we make. I had to buy a bamboo guide so when she cuts the bread it isn't an odd shape and thick one end and thin the other 😁

[Foggy01.1983]

The slicer is especially useful when slicing wafer thin ham. I could never cut down to 0.5mm, so it's extremely useful then.

As you can probably see the slicer is in a spare room. When i bought it back the wife put her foot down and said there was no way i could leave it in the kitchen 😂

It's also way too heavy to keep moving about sadly. 

Edited May 3, 2020 by Foggy01.1983

[sotv]

looks a decent bit of kit.

Is your wife left handed like me? It's the reason my slices are thicker than a machine for all things. I end up turning the meat or whatever it is I am cutting  90 degrees from the horizontal facing me to cut it. Getting better at it with a decent knives, but it can get messy when chopping finely or trying to peel potatoes.

I freak everybody out when I peel potatoes with a knife I hold the potato in my right hand almost against my stomach and peel it towards it. My wife won't watch me do it, she is convinced I am going to disembowel myself one day. There is very little potato left and takes me twice as long as a right handed person😀

 

Edited May 3, 2020 by sotv

[Foggy01.1983]

1 minute ago, sotv said:

Is she left handed like me? It's the reason my slices are thicker than a machine for all things. I end up turning the meat or whatever it is I am cutting  90 degrees from the horizontal facing me to cut it. Getting better at it with a decent knives, but it can get messy when chopping finely or trying to peel potatoes😀

Haa haa noooo my wife is great  with being way more intelligent/knowledgeable than myself and did excellent at uni etc. However when it comes to practical tasks, she is not that great (if she asks I'll deny i ever said that).

The attention to detail she lacks. I tried getting her to paint one of the small rooms when i was at work and when i got home it looked like someone had thrown the tins of paint at the walls haa haaa. I obviously said she did a wonderful job, but i had to completely redo it to get the bits she had missed and remove the paint runs lol