IronNoggin
Well-Known Member
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
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