First time
Making Bacon

Won’t be the last

Nice! I did fake bacon. Tell us about your cure

Shoulder bacon hot smoke salt cure

For this test batch i had 3# of pork belly (basically 1/3 of a 10# belly i got at costco)

Did a dry brine of:
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 tablespoon of Black Pepper
3/4 teaspoon pink curing salt #1.

Coat all sides of the belly with the mixture and put in vaccum bag. Put in fridge for 7 days, flipping over 1x a day as the brine will become wet as it pulls moisture out of meat. After day 7, pull meat and rinse in cold tap water.. Pat dry and put on drying rack back in fridge for 12-24 hours to let it tack up.
Smoke at 185* for about 3-4 hours until internal temp of slab reaches 145*. (you dont want to smoke too hot because you dont want the fat to render)
After cooling for a bit, Wrap in cling wrap, put back in fridge overnight to let cool completely so that slicing will be easier than when warm.
Slice as thin or thick as you like your bacon.

This was a tad salty for my taste buds, so I'll prob do a little less salt next time, and will probably add some maple syrup to make "maple bacon"

Another first time treat that is absolutely the bomb if you are a bacon lover. (Got pork belly at costco)

Poor mans Burnt ends.

Basically cut pork belly into 1- 1 1/2" cubes. Season with your favorite BBQ rub on all sides. Put in smoker at 275, cook until you reach close to that almost fall off the bone rib temp of 195 internal. Pop the cubes into a pan, add ur fav bbq sauce (not a lot, just enough to coat the cubes when you toss em.. Put back in smoker for 20 min to let the sauce tack up and once they hit 205 internal.... OHH my GOD! these are amazing!

this was about 3# worth of belly

don't worry about using less salt, rise it as you said and let it soak in water for about 1/2hr to an 1hr.


oh look yummy by the way. I' ve got about 1/2 a slab I gotta do soon.

Pork belly burnt ends

Those look awesome! I need to try that, much easier than buying a Brisket and doing the Point as burnt ends.

I just got done pulling a couple of 4lb Pork butt's and then seasoning up a couple racks of Rib's to start in the morning. My Son turns 21 tomorrow and he wants BBQ for his Birthday.

The Pulled Pork is in a pan with a sauce, rub, and an Apple juice slurry. Pop it in the oven at 300 for 30 minutes tomorrow and good to go. The Ribs will be wrapped and transported hot, dinner is not at my house so it was a two day cook.

Hopefully it goes well.

WTF. You into baby butts? Or is each of those just a single butt cheek?

Well, when i went to Safeway that's what they had. I figured why not? They will smoke faster being smaller too.

Couple racks of baby backs hit the smoker about 9:30 this morning, it's all for my Son's Birthday dinner tonight.

Baby butt's...baby rib's.....WHAT DID YOU DO

You don't want to know.

Shit like this is why I get such analysis paralysis. I live and die by "buy once, cry once". So I hate buying an older gen or not the top of the line model. Camp Chef looks like they are killing it with the new Woodwind Pro series smoker. Have a cabinet smoker in the plans to purchase, but this new Woodwind comes with a new smoke box, and fan only mode that would eliminate about 50% of the reason for a cabinet smoker.
Anyone in the market for a well loved and taken care of Woodwind WiFi 36?

https://www.campchef.com/woodwind-pro-f ... ro-36.html