Bacon time of the year

[peterk123]

And some cured tenderloin. That pork belly is about to become 45 pounds of bacon. They will be going into the cold smoker after curing. Then the pellet grill for the final phase.

 

[pastera]

My first attempt
Jowls that I cut myself (got the pig's head split in half)
Standard cure for 10 days
One went in the smoker direct
Other I used a maple syrup (real stuff), brown sugar and black pepper rub

I'm in the middle of a 7 day fast so I'm dying here - The plain bacon smelled incredible when slicing. The rub was simply insane.

 

[peterk123]

My first attempt
Jowls that I cut myself (got the pig's head split in half)
Standard cure for 10 days
One went in the smoker direct
Other I used a maple syrup (real stuff), brown sugar and black pepper rub

I'm in the middle of a 7 day fast so I'm dying here - The plain bacon smelled incredible when slicing. The rub was simply insane.

View attachment 953205View attachment 953206View attachment 953207

Man that looks great!

 

[pastera]

Man that looks great!

I'm a smoker newbie so I wasn't sure how it would come out - My first attempt was some beef and I over smoked it.
Processed 8lbs of pork chops (have more than the wife and I will eat) into cubes and spiced it tonight - will grind it and stuff it into breakfast sausage tomorrow.

I'm going to eat pig like a pig Tuesday.

 

[pastera]

Son was over the house so he cooked up the plain bacon - both he and the wife said more salt, so not sure if I should add more salt in the cure or just salt to taste after cooking.
Did the sausage this morning - cooked two small patties and both Wife and son said perfect as it is.

Wife reserved a pound of the sausage meat for making meatballs
Stuffed the remainder