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