Bacon in my 3D

Danbow

New member
I have an old woodshed/smokehouse that once a year I do a cold smoke bacon. I'm doing it again on Saturday but I've noticed that there are some that are doing it with their SI and thought I might try half of it in my 3D and compare results. I guess my question is will the wood smolder at the 100degree temp enough to create smoke? Do I need to use my cold smoke plate with the ice? Temps will be in the teens so no worries about overheating. I read some of Brian "Pork bellies" posts and he says 2hr minimum at 100 and then 200 to 150IT. Is that pretty much what produces a great result?
I've got 24lbs of bellies that tomorrow will be on their 7th day in the cure. The recipe is from Ron Kulhman or something like that and it has the basic standard cure along with a nice mix of other things like coarse black pepper,garlic,nutmeg, bay leaves and Thyme. Crushed juniper berries are optional which I did 8 lbs with.
 
Do you mean Michael Ruhlman? I have seen Pork Belly's posts about just setting to 100 during the cold smoke phase for bacon. I don't know if that includes a cold smoke plate and ice or not. I don't think so. I've been wanting to try that in the winter to see if the temp on a non-D model will stay low enough to get a few hours of smoke without cooking it.
 
Yes Sconnie Michael Ruhlman, thats the guy. Got those babies rolling now. half in the smokehouse/ woodshed and half in the 3D. I noticed that the temp ramped up in the 3d after about and hour to 200. Must have had drier wood and it flared, oh well, it is what it is. I'm sure it will still turn out good.
 
Libohunden said:
Post the recipe when you get a chance!

Here is Ruhlman's recipe. I have never tried it myself but I have read it several times.  I tend to go simple on the cure. Ruhlman's book "Charcuterie" is highly praised. He is considered somewhat of an authority.
http://ruhlman.com/2010/10/home-cured-bacon-2/
 
Credit Michael on this. He adapted it from the book Charcuterie

I did not use his method in the oven, just the ingredients and cure time. I used the one"Pork Belly" from this forum posted on the temp and times. I will say though that I am at about 5hrs right now on 200 and it is still holding at 140 internal temp. Its as if its hit a stall which I would not have expected.I'm starting to nervous that its going too long. The batch in the smokehouse is gonna roll for about 18hrs before I pull it. Then I will compare which I like better after a couple days rest in the fridge. I wonder why you have to reach internal temp of 150 in the SI or oven when your going to re cook it anyway? Hmmmm.  Anyway, here is the recipe:


Home-Cured Bacon
(adapted from Charcuterie)

Five pounds of fresh pork belly (skin on), from your grocery store, the pork guy at your farmers market, or from a local butcher shop
Buy a box of 2-gallon zip-top bags if you don’t have a container big enough to hold the belly.
Mix the following together in a small bowl:

2 ounces (1/4 cup Morton or Diamond Crystal coarse kosher) salt
2 teaspoons pink curing salt #1 (I use this DQ Cure from Butcher-Packer, $2)
4 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper
4 bay leaves, crumbled
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup brown sugar or honey or maple syrup
5 cloves of garlic, smashed with the flat side of a chef’s knife
2 tablespoons juniper berries, lightly crushed (optional)
5 to 10 sprigs fresh thyme (optional)
Put your belly in the zip-top bag or on a sheet tray or in a plastic container. Rub the salt and spice mixture all over the belly. Close the bag or cover it with plastic wrap, and stick it in the refrigerator for seven days (get your hands in there and give the spices another good rubbing around midway through).
After seven days, take it out of the fridge, rinse off all the seasonings under cold water and pat it dry.

********Here is where I changed gears and went with this forums post********

Put it on a sheet tray and put it in the oven (put it on a rack on a sheet tray if you have one) and turn the oven on to 200 degrees F./ 93 degrees C. (if you want to preheat the oven, that’s fine, too). Leave it in the oven for 90 minutes (or, if you want to measure the internal temperature, until it reaches 150 degrees F./66 degrees C.).
Let it cool and refrigerate it until you’re ready to cook it. But I know. You won’t be able to wait. So cut off a piece and cook it. Taste it, savor it. Congratulations! It’s bacon!
Notes: If you don’t have five pounds of belly, either guesstimate salt based on the above or use the equilibrium technique I mentioned.

Pink curing salt means “sodium nitrite,” not Himalayan pink salt. It’s what’s responsible for the bright color and piquant bacony flavor. You don’t have to use it, but your bacon will turn brown/gray when cooked (you’re cooking it well done, after all), and will taste like pleasantly seasoned spare ribs, porky rather than bacony.

If you have a smoker or a grill, you can smoke the bacon (strictly speaking, it needs to have the pink salt in the cure if you’re going to smoke because, in rare instances, botulism bacteria from spores on the garlic could grow; pink salt eliminates this possibility; but I never worry about this, you’re going to cook it again in any case).

You can also, instead of roasting it or smoking, hang it to dry, in the manner of pancetta.
 
So here is the pictures of my smoke house set up. We all know what the 3D looks like so no need to post it here. My camera on my phone has a cracked lense and is a little hazy, sorry. I will be posting pics of the finished product soon. I just learned how to post pictures and need to get pics of the meat. This is an old cattle feeder (70yrs plus) that I converted into a shed to store my bow staves while drying ( I make all wood self bows for hunting as a hobby ). About 3 yrs ago got a wild hair and decided I wanted to start doing my own bacon the old fashioned way and this is what I used for a smokehouse. Thats a steel semi wheel as the burn ring and then some flat metal as a base for the converted brinkman smoker lid. The 5" galvinized pipe is 12ft long and pumps nice cool smoke into the smokehouse where I hang to bacon back away from the smoke opening to keep the heat off of it. I did a little Tillamook med cheddar on it for a few hours too. I rolled the bacon yesterday for 18 hrs and the temp never got over 60 in there as it was 27 degrees and sleet. Like I said, will be posting pics of the product soon.
 

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Will the wood smolder at the 100degree temp enough to create smoke? Do I need to use my cold smoke plate with the ice?

Yes 100 degree setting will make smoke however it is best with chips and a chip screen OR long slivers the size of a pencil. I have never used a cold smoke plate, I am to cheap to buy one. I do all of my cold smoking during the fall and winter when ambient temps are low. I have never felt like I needed the plate.

My #3 is currently on loan to a friend how is having a blast making tasty food. He has been cold smoking his bacon for 48 hours in the #3. I have done up to 24 and 32 hours cold smoking during cool or cold weather.

The old smokehouse looks pretty cool. It is the kind of thing I picture for a friends and family day of sausage making and smoking.
 
Cool, Danny!  Old-school traditional!

But... I wonder, if folks back then, would have gone to all that work if they had a #3 with a cold smoke plate?  Old-school is cool, but sometimes technology wins.  Not knocking what you are doing, by any means!  Just saying that some of the "traditional" methods were done because that was the best technology at the time.  If you can cold smoke, at 60° or below, in your smoker, why go to all that work?
 
If you can cold smoke, at 60° or below, in your smoker, why go to all that work?

He can stuff that smokehouse with several hundred pounds of sausage or several full size hams. It is a matter of what you are trying to do.
 
Pork Belly said:
If you can cold smoke, at 60° or below, in your smoker, why go to all that work?

He can stuff that smokehouse with several hundred pounds of sausage of several full size hams. It is a matter of what you are trying to do.

:-[ Duh...  Sorry for thinking so "small," Brian.  Won't happen again, Sir!  :)  What a lovely sight, that must be... several hundred pounds of smoked goodness!
 
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