I picked up 3 slabs of pork belly on December 31st. Each weighed approximately 3.5 pounds after I
removed the rind. I followed TentHunteR’s recipe for Cider Mill Bacon and also advice from Cliff via PM’s
during the past 11 days. The pork belly was put into my large Briner bucket and into a 38 degree
refrigerator to cure.
Here they are after 10.5 days in the brine.
I split the belly into smaller manageable portions and cut off a few slices from the middle of each slab.
These slices were a little salty so they were put into a water bath for an hour, changing the water after
the first 30 minutes. After the hour we tried a few more pieces and found the salt level perfect.
Here they are this morning after drying out all night.
Put on the upper rack in my Grid Iron. I am using apple pellets in my 6 inch and 12 inch tubes and will be
cold smoking them until the tubes run out of pellets.
Here is how they look after 5 hours in smoke. I fired up the Grid Iron and will running it at 175 until the
bacon hits an internal temperature of 150.
Another 4 hours at 175 and the bacon is at 150 internal. Put in 2 gallon Ziploc bags and into ice water.
Will refrigerate for the next 48 hours and slice.
Sliced pictures to follow in a couple of days.
