Ok, after making breakfast today I have come to the conclusion that I am tired of over priced tasteless grocery store bacon. I have tried all the bacons available around me and I am extremely unimpressed. I have decided I am going to make my own. Soooooooooo what does everyone know about cold smoking and bacon making? I dont have a smoker yet but I am going to be making the alton brown ceramic smoker and i am pretty sure I should be able to make this into a cold smoker. Now I just need tips/suggestions/ideas.s
I make my own bacon fairly regularly. It is spectacular and spectacularly easy. First, though, get a copy of Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn's
Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing. It is the bible. You will find yourself not only making bacon but breakfast sausage, salamis, cured hams and the incredible chicken-tomato-basil sausage.
You can get away with curing with just salt if you are a no-nitrate or nitrite kinda guy (and you don't smoke the bacon), but I'm more comfortable with the added safety of including pink salt in the cure.
Pink salt, aka Prague Powder or Cure #1, is salt with 6.25% sodium nitrite. It not only acts as a preservative but it also keeps the meat safe from bacterial growth (particularly botulinum) during the cold smoking process. If you use pink salt you can also get away with using much less salt overall, so you don't have to blanch or soak the bacon before use.
I cold smoke my bacon in a Weber Smokey Mountain and fill the water bath with ice, which cools the smoke on the way up to the grill racks. It's not ideal, but it works quite well, giving me a three hour smoking time before the meat reaches an internal temperature of 150°. I smoke with apple wood, a much milder smoke flavor than hickory.
The cure is 2oz kosher salt, 2tsp pink salt and 1Tbsp cracked black peppercorns. You can add 1/2 cup of maple syrup if you like that kind of bacon. Dextrose also works well. It is less sweet and is easier to use in the cure. Rub the belly liberally with the cure and place in a large Ziplock bag. I can find the 2 gallon size fairly easily. Refrigerate for 7-10 days, flipping the bag to redistribute the cure every other day.
After 7 days check for firmness. It should feel firm at the thickest point. If it is still squishy, return to the fridge for another couple of days. The thicker the belly, the longer it will take to cure.
Chad