Home Smoked Bacon!

[IronNoggin]

When we were in the process of dealing with the pigs we bought from a Farmer Buddy down-Island, one of the Ladz on the hunting site suggested we should likely try to make some home smoked bacon. First little piggy was already cut by then, but all of us around here have bit of a Bacon Addiction, so it wasn't a hard leap to convince the troops to give it a whirl...

The Big Boy on the left is the Guest of Honor for this recipe:

A little bit of research put into just how to get them from that stage through this paid off well:

While butchering, we cut off the bellies to try the sausage with. Cut them into manageable size pieces, and created the following brine for them to swim in:

6 cups water
2 Cups thick Maple Syrup
3/4 cup salt
3.5 cups Demerra Sugar
Couple shots old dark Rum (everything in life goes better with rum!)

The bacon-to-be sat in the brine (in the fridge) for a week. Then it was removed from the brine, well rinsed, and sat under the fans for an hour to dry the surface:

Then into the smoker at a low heat setting (~ 125 degrees F) to suck up some hickory smoke:

Took but 4 & 1/2 hours for the bacon to take on a nice golden hue, indicating it was READY!!

Instantly into the frying pan for the taste test! And... YES! We have a WINNER!
That Incredible Smell as it was cooking was a great indication of what it was about to taste like! Awesome!! Melt in your mouth YUMMY in fact!!

We've already ordered 7 or 8 pigs between our Crew for next season. And given the success with this run, I can see a LOT of home smoked bacon in our futures!!

Cheers,
Nog

 

[Gear'n'beer!]

Hey Nog, i am right in the process of building a smoker from a ss freezer.......looks like you do a pile of smoking and your end product is making my stomach rumble!! What do you use for a smoker?

 

[IronNoggin]

Yeah, we do a LITTLE bit of smoking around here... LOL!

Here's the smoker set-up I've been using for the past 7 or 8 years:

The digital unit to the left is used for cold-smoking. The main smoker is an old converted fridge. For hot-smoking I use an infinite control hotplate and a cast iron frying pan for the chips. Works Very Well! It has consumed literally hundreds upon hundreds of pounds of product, and has never let me down. Decent capacity (8 screens). Unlikely I'll be switching any time soon, although if I ever win the Lottery, a custom stainless job slightly larger would be sweet!

Cheers,
Nog

 

[Sculpin]

Your killing me Nog. Awesome threads!!!!

 

[damnfish!]

That all looks very healthy... lol

When we were in the process of dealing with the pigs we bought from a Farmer Buddy down-Island, one of the Ladz on the hunting site suggested we should likely try to make some home smoked bacon. First little piggy was already cut by then, but all of us around here have bit of a Bacon Addiction, so it wasn't a hard leap to convince the troops to give it a whirl...

The Big Boy on the left is the Guest of Honor for this recipe:

A little bit of research put into just how to get them from that stage through this paid off well:

While butchering, we cut off the bellies to try the sausage with. Cut them into manageable size pieces, and created the following brine for them to swim in:

6 cups water
2 Cups thick Maple Syrup
3/4 cup salt
3.5 cups Demerra Sugar
Couple shots old dark Rum (everything in life goes better with rum!)

The bacon-to-be sat in the brine (in the fridge) for a week. Then it was removed from the brine, well rinsed, and sat under the fans for an hour to dry the surface:

Then into the smoker at a low heat setting (~ 125 degrees F) to suck up some hickory smoke:

Took but 4 & 1/2 hours for the bacon to take on a nice golden hue, indicating it was READY!!

Instantly into the frying pan for the taste test! And... YES! We have a WINNER!
That Incredible Smell as it was cooking was a great indication of what it was about to taste like! Awesome!! Melt in your mouth YUMMY in fact!!

We've already ordered 7 or 8 pigs between our Crew for next season. And given the success with this run, I can see a LOT of home smoked bacon in our futures!!

Cheers,
Nog

 

[Gear'n'beer!]

Hey nog, I'm going to put a plumbed in Borden tube type thermometer in my smoker. I was thinking center near the top but under the chimney...... Any suggestions? Or do you just check meat temp?
Also what do you think about having a fire box right underneath smoker for coals or briquettes?
Here's a pic of where I'm at so far. Basically just stripped all fridge stuff out, plugged the holes and put chimney in.

 

[IronNoggin]

Hey nog, I'm going to put a plumbed in Borden tube type thermometer in my smoker. I was thinking center near the top but under the chimney...... Any suggestions? Or do you just check meat temp?

I use two remote (wired) thermometers to monitor the heat range inside the smoker. Both have their sensors a few inches below the ceiling, but off to one side. I would think that if directly under the chimney, it would reflect a slightly higher temperature, and get covered in smoke film quicker. This provides a good indication of what the "air" temperature inside the smoker is, but can NOT be relied on to determine internal meat temperature. The only way to do the latter is with a meat thermometer. This is critical when smoking meats, so best to do both IMHO. After a while, you'll get to the point where you'll know how long a certain size of product has to sit in a given air temperature to reach your required heat level. Always check that though, much better safe than sorry!

Also what do you think about having a fire box right underneath smoker for coals or briquettes?

I've constructed about a dozen of these smokers over the years, and never tried what you are suggesting. I either go with an internal hotplate on the floor, or a removed hot box for cold smoking. Cannot see why your suggestion wouldn't work for hot smoking though. Only caveat is that the temperature is a tad tougher to control without fluctuations with briquettes or coals, whereas electric is much easier to do so...

Looks like you are off to a Good Start!
Couple things to keep in mind when building a fridge smoker:
- The fridge must be an older design in that the insulation MUST be glass. The vast majority of today's modern fridges (and freezers) have foam insulation which, when heated, releases Formaldehyde! Very Dangerous! For that reason one has to be Very Careful to ensure you have a glass insulated fridge to create your build around!
- All plastics and rubber must be removed from the inside of the fridge. They too can and do release a handful of nasties when heated. I replace the main door panels with sheets of cedar, same with some freezer compartments, and plug the holes with stainless fittings (can use tinfoil though). The magnetic rubber door seal is good to go just don't get it overly hot.
- I also put locks (gate latches) to secure the door closed. Helps keeps wildlife, pets, buddies & kids from checking out how your product is coming along

Hope this helps! Feel free to give me a shout if I can provide any further advise...
Methinks you are headed in the right direction, and can look forward to a whole pile of Great Grits coming from your machine in the not too distant future! Simple Warning - it becomes downright ADDICTING! LOL!

Cheers,
Nog

 

[Gear'n'beer!]

Hey nog, thanks for the info..... I knew about the insulation and it does have glass, but never thought about a lock on the door. Hope to get it going next week so at the least I can do a small test run.... Maybe smoke some cheese or something for a test run.