Sawmill's Home Smoked Bacon Recipe!

[IronNoggin]

When we were in the process of dealing with the pigs we bought from a Farmer Buddy down-Island, Sawmill 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:

http://gallery.fishbc.com/albums/Ironnoggin/Porkchop_1.jpg

A little bit of research put into just how to get them from that stage through this paid off well (thanks for the advice Folks!):

http://gallery.fishbc.com/albums/Ironnoggin/Porkchop_2_4.jpg

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!)

This is of course a "*******ization" of the recipe Sawmill so generously provided! Seems we pretty much always have to tinker a little...

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:

http://gallery.fishbc.com/albums/Ironnoggin/Bacon_Dry.jpg

Then into the smoker at a low heat setting (~ 125 degrees F) to suck up some hickory smoke:

http://gallery.fishbc.com/albums/Ironnoggin/Bacon_Smoke.jpg

Took but 4 & 1/2 hours for the bacon to take on a nice golden hue, indicating it was READY!!

http://gallery.fishbc.com/albums/Ironnoggin/Bacon_Done_2.jpg

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!!

First skinny little piece we tried was a tad too salty IMHO. But I now believe that was simply due to it being so small. The larger pieces are not at all too salty, in fact are fairly sweet with a very nice maple overtone! Superb!!

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!!

Many Many Thanks Sawmill! Without your gentle prodding and providing this recipe, we would have been missing out on this downright fantastic addition to the grits larder!

Cheers,
Nog

[TheProvider]

You just made me very hungry.... looks great

[d6dan]

Winner,winner, pork dinner...looks great Nog..

[longstonec]

If you blanch over salty bacon quickly before frying it will pull some of the salt out.

[brig]

I smell bacon, I smell pork! Run piggy piggy, I got a fork!

[Philcott]

Not that is torture for the rest of us, pure and simple.

Looks fantastic Matt.

[LYKTOHUNT]

As I have a new Bradley smoker and have been trying a few things this looks like it could be my next project, I am curious, how much or how many bacon slabs does your recipe do and do you use smoke for the whole cooking duration also I see on your garlic coil thread that it was difficult to get into the casing being it was sticky, do you use a sausage stuffer or is it going through the grinder into the casings

[BiG Boar]

What is the black color? Everything else looks normal. And good.

[IronNoggin]

What is the black color? Everything else looks normal. And good.

Just a trick of the lighting when the picture was taken. It's not actually "black" rather a very deep golden brown. This is where the brine has been sucked up a little more than the rest (on the outside of the exposed meat portions). Taste is Incredible!! Salty/sweet with maple & rum overtones... :wink:


... I am curious, how much or how many bacon slabs does your recipe do and do you use smoke for the whole cooking duration?

That was enough to drown 7 slabs of ~ 2.5 pounds or so each. As long as you stick with the ratios noted above, the recipe can be altered to handle any amount of product methinks. You do want the bacon to be covered by the brine.


... also I see on your garlic coil thread that it was difficult to get into the casing being it was sticky, do you use a sausage stuffer or is it going through the grinder into the casings

We figured out that the reason the mix was so sticky is that it simply wasn't COLD enough. These days we pre-mix the stuffing the day before, and let it sit in the downstairs fridge (set on Very Cold!) overnight. Shooting that is literally a breeze compared to what we originally did. Not nearly as sticky, and thus shoots very well. Still haven't found a collar for the 5 lb horn stuffer I got from a fellow here (despite 2 years of looking!) so we still shoot it through the Cabela's Grinder. Works well, but thinking of perhaps upgrading that machine once again...

Cheers,
Nog

[LYKTOHUNT]

Thanks IronNoggin, I asked about the stuffing through the grinder because I was doing some Chorizo sausage with pork and ground moose and i found that the coarse plate on my grinder was plugging up often and making the stuffing into the casings slow, I think because of the stringy bits in the burger from where we had the moose cut up,I think I can make this easier by either cutting up roasts or steaks and being carefull not to get gristle and silver skin in the grinder or by just getting a dedicated sausage stuffer

[IronNoggin]

I asked about the stuffing through the grinder because I was doing some Chorizo sausage with pork and ground moose and i found that the coarse plate on my grinder was plugging up often and making the stuffing into the casings slow...

I can see that happening. We don't shoot the mix through a grinder plate. The Cabelas unit we use has a plastic piece the same size as the stainless plates which holds the center of the auger spindle in place. It is MUCH more open than a plate, which allows the product to flow pretty much freely through into the casings. here's a pix:

http://gallery.fishbc.com/albums/Ironnoggin/sausage_shooting_plate.jpg

I'd be surprised if you weren't able to find one that would fit. makes that part of the process Much Easier!

We try to remove most of the sinew, but of course never do get all of it. That obviously helps too, but the above attachment is the way to go if shooting with the grinder IMHO.

That, or go to a dedicated stuffer (thinking of a water stuffer for our efforts next year...)

Cheers,
Nog

[sawmill]

Glad it worked out for you Matt.

[IronNoggin]

Glad it worked out for you Matt.

That it certainly DID!! :mrgreen:

Next time I'm wandering near your area, I'd like to buy you a wobbly pop or two! :wink:

Cheers & THANKS!
Nog

[LYKTOHUNT]

This may be a stupid question but here goes , when using your grinder for stuffing sausage do you have to use the cutting blade (leave it out ) and just use the largest size grinding plate, I am wondering if that will make the mixture flow better or is the blade actually what pushes the meat through the plate

[IronNoggin]

... when using your grinder for stuffing sausage do you have to use the cutting blade (leave it out ) and just use the largest size grinding plate...

The blade is Never in place when we shoot it. Just that plastic piece I noted above, no blade. I suspect if you don't have the sausage shooting plastic plate, what you are suggesting would probably work... sans blade.

Cheers,
Nog

[The Hermit]

Finally a postiive post about pigs! oink

[huntcoop]

Salivating heavily.....wow that looks good.

[IronNoggin]

Update to this old thread...

I've run the new smoker a little bit already, and am quite Impressed with how it performs (thread on that here: http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?106267-New-Smoker )

http://gallery.fishbc.com/albums/Ironnoggin/Smoker_2.jpg

Been a few mods since that picture was taken so I'll get another one up when we get to the next project...

I've been itching to give the new Auberin Smoke Controller a spin, so a week ago we dumped a fair chunk of bacon into the brine.
Yesterday was Smoke Day, so out of the brine and into the Big Box.

Controller worked very well (beyond expectations) and handled the lengthy burn right well. Temperature never fluctuated more than two degrees for the 7 hours it was running. Good Stuff!

When it came out of the smoker and landed to cool, the entire house immediately smelled WONDERFUL!!

http://gallery.fishbc.com/albums/Ironnoggin/Bacon_4.jpg

So Good in fact, we decided to have Breakfast for Dinner!

Sliced when still warm:

http://gallery.fishbc.com/albums/Ironnoggin/Bacon_2.jpg

And immediately into the pan:

http://gallery.fishbc.com/albums/Ironnoggin/Bacon_3.jpg

Couple free range eggs, some home made hash browns, and that was Oh My God DELICIOUS!! http://fishbcforum.com/public/style_emoticons/default/bowdown[1].gif

Felt only slightly strange to wash that down with a fine Import Beer, but we Hoisted once or twice In Sawmill's direction once again for prodding us into trying this excellent recipe out!!

Cheers!
Nog

[tomahawk]

That bacon looks unreal, I can smell it through the computer while it cooks !!

[Brew]

When raising your pigs what king of feed do you give the pigs. Do you finish them with anything. When growing up my dad would give them lots of apples near the end. Possibly buying a small property soon and getting pack into the farming a bit and would like some tips on raising some pigs for the freezer. That bacon looks great

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Hate you....drool

["No Choke"Lord Walsingham]

Excellent!

I am thinking that this process will transfer to Black Bear, with ease.

[M.Dean]

Sure beats the hell out of the slimy bacon you get in the stores now a days!!! Think I'll try Sawmills recipe this coming fall, I like the rum idea! What I did with the bacon I made was a little different. I put the fresh slabs onto a large cutting board, then took a fork and started to jab holes in it every quarter inch or so, took a bit of time but was well worth it, then I took course salt which I had placed on a real fine screen on the top rack of my big smoker and left it well smoking a couple batches of jerky, and a few batches of salmon too. The salt turns a nice golden brown and tastes like cherry smoke, really adds a nice flavor to the bacon. I then rubbed the salt and maple syrup into each piece of the soon to be bacon. The holes get the salt and syrup deep into the meat, then I placed each piece of bacon into large freezer bags and left them in the fridge for two days, I then took them out and repeated the process 2 more times, so 6 days rubbing them down and aging them in the fridge. I kept cutting pieces off and frying them up to make sure they didn't get to salty. Then, after 6 days I put them into my big Texas style smoker, it's got a fire box on one side, a real big grill in the middle and a smoker on the other end. So when you get the cherry wood fire going, the smoke has to travel through the grill section, then into the bottom of the smoker, I then smoked the bacon for about 6 or 7 hours at 100 degrees, and I raised the temp towards the end to get the golden brown color, and it turned out great!

[IronNoggin]

When raising your pigs what king of feed do you give the pigs. Do you finish them with anything. When growing up my dad would give them lots of apples near the end. Possibly buying a small property soon and getting pack into the farming a bit and would like some tips on raising some pigs for the freezer. That bacon looks great

I'm not the one who raises the pigs - that task falls to a Rancher Buddy of mine down Island. I know he feeds them some sort of commercially available feed, which is supplemented by their ranging over a large area of land foraging. Also know they Love apples & eggs. I'll ask him the next time I see him and get back to you...

Mr. Dean: We did punch a lot of holes with a fork into the product before it hit the brine. You're right - takes some time but ensures the brine will penetrate deep. Interesting Formula you have there - Sounds Good. Wouldn't mind seeing a picture of your smoker / grill set-up some time...

My Partner picked up his half of the bacon yesterday. Fried up a Big breakfast for him and his Lady. The instant she wandered out the door for work, he immediately chopped up half another chunk and chowed it down by himself! http://www.excaliburcrossbow.com/phpBB2/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif

He then called to announce I had pulled off a "Fantastic Job" and further that he was suggesting we get the call in for more pigs NOW! Guess he liked it... :wink:

Cheers,
Nog