Cold Apple Wood Smoked Bacon

 

As life happens, I have a one-pound piece of pork belly that I put on to cure in November.  Normally, I would never cure such a small piece by itself.  But I needed a small piece for a presentation I did.  So…..

This belly went onto cure on November 12, using a dry EQ curing process.  I decided I would turn it into pepper bacon, hence the heavy layer of coarse ground black pepper.  This belly/bacon will be smoked using my standard process of using apple wood pellets for a total of 24 hours.  I normally smoke bacon for six hours at a time, over four days.  I rest it overnight in my refrigerator. 

After the bacon is fully smoked, I allow it to age for five days or so in the refrigerator.  This allows the smoke to balance out.  If the item was properly smoked, this step will reduce the risk of the smoke being too strong

I am chronicling this process for start to finish so you can see the steps and the daily difference in the bacon.

As noted above, I use wood pellets for smoking.  I store them in my garage and in my location, they always soak up moisture.  To eliminate the moisture, I microwave the pellets.  In my setting it usually takes a total of 8 minutes (4 x 2 minutes sessions) in the microwave to eliminate the moisture.  I can see the moisture escape when I open the microwave door in between sessions.  It clouds the frame of the oven.  I stir the pellets between sessions.  I dry the pellets until no more moisture escapes.  Drying the pellets allows them to burn appropriately. In the following photo you can see the pellets in the microwave.

 

After the pellets are dry, I place them in an A-Maze-N tray.  There are other smoking apparatuses out there but this one works for me. And I do not have any affiliation with the company.  

 

Once the pellets are in the maze, you light one end using a good propane or butane torch.  I let the flame burn for 10 minutes and then blow it out.  Since we are cold smoking, we do not need to generate heat.  Cold smoking takes place at temperatures below 90°.  In this case, I am using my grill to hold the maze and ultimately the bacon while it smoked.

 

In a previous post

 https://cheflesliebartosh.blogspot.com/2021/11/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none_30.html

I wrote about using EQ curing in a brine and dry format.  The bacon I am smoking was cured using the dry format.  The evening before I was ready to start smoking, I removed the bacon from the zip lock bag it was curing in and allowed it dry on a rack, overnight, in the refrigerator.  This allows a pellicle to form.  The pellicle is dry and allows the smoke to stick to the meat.  Since I want peppered bacon, I pressed coarse ground black pepper onto the surface of the bacon before putting it back into the cooler.  This is the bacon after drying and before going on the "smoker."

 

When smoking we want to have light smoke.  We are not looking for heavy rolling thick smoke.  That type of smoke is caused by incomplete combustion will not taste good.

The next two photos show the bacon on the grill and the smoke content with and without the lid.

This photo shows the bacon at the end of the first six-hour smoking session.  Notice the difference in the color of the fat and meat. 

 And here the bacon before going into the cooler to rest overnight.  Notice the large zip lock bag.  The goal of using the bag is to reduce the smoke odor in the refrigerator.

 

As I type this the bacon is smoking for the 2nd time.  The bag worked well in keeping the smoke odor from being too strong in the refrigerator.  I will post photos of the bacon after each smoking session.

This is the bacon after the 2nd six hour smoking session.  Notice the color difference between the end of day one smoking session and this one.

The photo below is of the bacon after it's third day of smoking.  At the time of this photo it has been smoked for 18 hours.  Technically the bacon has been edible and finished smoking since the first six hour session.  We like the deeper flavor that is achieved by the extended smoking time.  Again, note the color change to bacon from day one, day two and day three.  

The next photo is the last photo of this series until the bacon is sliced.  It shows the bacon after it has been smoked for 24 hours over 4 days.  It is always interesting to see the progression.  The bacon will now rest in the refrigerator in a large zip lock bag for the next five days.  I will slice the bacon after that time and post photos of the finished product.  

At that tine I will also post information on suggested cooking techniques.  Bacon cured and smoked in this manner cooks much differently than commercial store bought bacon!

This following is the last photo for this post.

The bacon was sliced on Sunday December 19, 2021.  It was sliced by hand as in my normal process.  The small size of belly and it's width made the task difficult.  Still the end product tastes great and you can't find bacon like this in the grocery store!

As always your questions or comments are welcome.

Until next time,

Bon Appetit Y'all

Leslie Bartosh