Makin’ Bacon
Makin’ Bacon, we love makin’ bacon. This was a beautiful, lean bacon and there is something special about making your own bacon with your flavor profile. I love thick cut pepper bacon and can’t get enough. We made 30 pounds of Maple Pepper Bacon!!! Enough for a few days around here. Pure Bacon Porn…
We made our cure into maple pepper slurry, cured it for 8 days, then we did 10 hours in maple smoke. We’ve made the best BLT’s ever, cubed it for some of Patti’s Mac and Cheese. Oh my it is good. Bagged some up for a potato bacon soup we’ll be doing soon as I smoke some more cheese and garlic… And you know some Big Burgers are coming soon!
I can’t believe how good this bacon is, I have already started working on my next batch, “Canadian Bacon” made from a pork loin.
Patti and I have set one night a week just for us. It’s our date night. We usually put something special on our Green Mountain Wood Pellet Grill/Smoker but sometimes we cook inside. We always eat outside on our patio where it is very comfortable with a rainforest theme. Wood Pellet Patio Heater, little lights, candles, lanterns and surround sound. We enjoy a little wine, or strawberry margaritas using frozen strawberries for ice, good food, music and sometimes a dance or two…
Makin’ Bacon
A Wood Pellet Grill Recipe
Prep Time: 9 days
Cook Time: 10 hours at 150* (66c)
Grill: Green Mountain Wood Pellet Grill
Pellets: Pacific Pellet Gourmet BBQ Pellet Smoked Hickory
Ingredients: Makin’ Bacon
Peppered Bacon Cure (15 pounds of pork belly)
- ½ cup Morton’s Tender Quick
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 2/3 cup real maple syrup (more if you want a slurry)
- 2/3 cup cracked black pepper
- ½ cup crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 Tbsp. hickory seasoning (optional)
Makin’ Bacon
A Wood Pellet Grill Recipe
Cooking Directions: Makin’ Bacon
Pork Belly is hard to find here but Winco will order it for me.
There is no rule for how to cut it. But I like to try for 3 pound slabs for easier handling. If it still has the skin on it remove it. If you can or score it through to the meat to let in the cure. It will be hard to cut and eat when the bacon it done and stops the cure from getting into the meat. As a kid I remember this was called the “Bacon Rind” don’t see it any more…
I made my bacon cure with Morton Tenderquick, and couldn’t find it in any stores around here so I ordered it at Amazon. I also ordered the “Hickory Seasoning” there. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. I found that if you add more maple syrup and make a slurry it’s very easy to cover your pork belly and rub it in. Do a heavy coat.
Now, it needs to cure about 7 days for every inch of pork belly, I did an 8 day cure. There are covered plastic trays that work great for curing, but I didn’t have one. (I Will Next Time) I used zip lock bags. Here is what I learned, bags leak. When it was all over I had a big clean up job.
After rubbing with the cure I put 1 piece of pork belly into a bag and into the refrigerator. Turning them once a day for 7 days. After 7 days you can test the cure by cutting a slice off, the pork belly should be pink all of the way through. If it’s not put it back to cure a day or so longer or until it’s pink.
On the 8th day I rinsed it off in cold water to cut some of the salt and pat it dry then returned it to the fridge to develop a sticky skin called a pellicle. I placed them on our Bull Racks System so the cold air can get to it for 12-24 hours. This will help the smoke really penetrate the meat because of the tacky exterior.
After the “Air Cure” you can add additional seasoning like pepper or whatever you like. I loaded them up on my “Bull Racks” and smoked it for 10 hours at 150* (66c) until I reached an internal temperature of 145* (63c).
Let it cool before slicing. (I put it back in the fridge overnight). I started with 30 pounds of Pork Belly so I had a lot of bacon here. I cubed some for recipes we want to do then ran the rest through the slicer, we did both thin and thick sliced bacon. We vacuumed sealed most of it and put it in the freezer. (It’s time to get more out already, this is so good)
I am sorry to say that with the magic of software I lost the pictures and video of smoking it.
I use a Maverick ProTemp Instant Read Thermometer for checking meat temps.
Note: I get a lot of questions about the kind of pellets you can use with a recipe. Keep in mind that a recipe is just an outline. Some you need to follow closely like when you are making bread, but most you can do anything you can dream, our favorite way to cook. Feel free to mix and match the pellets until you find a combination you really like. Also you are only smoking at temps less than 250 degrees (122c), anything higher is cooking and there will not be much if any smoke so it does not matter what kind of pellet you are using.
Makin’ Bacon
A Wood Pellet Grill Recipe 
The Cure
Rub The Cure Into The Pork Belly
Bag It
Makin’ Bacon
A Wood Pellet Grill Recipe
Stack it in the Fridge
Cut Into Cookin Cubes
Bacon, Bacon, Bacon
Makin’ Bacon
A Wood Pellet Grill Recipe
Ready to Vacuum Seal
Thick Cut
Bag O Bacon
Makin’ Bacon
A Wood Pellet Grill Recipe
Thick Cut
Lookin’ Good
Let’s Eat Some
Makin’ Bacon
A Wood Pellet Grill Recipe
About our Recipes
We do our recipes on our patio where we have a lineup of grills, including Green Mountain, Sawtooth, Louisiana, Royall, Memphis, Traeger pellet grills, Char Griller side box smoker, Saber, Charmglow, Char-Broil, The Big Easy, Pacific Living Outdoor Oven, Lodge Sportsman’s, Brinkman and Weber. I call it our “Wall of Grill”. Our grilling styles are healthy and low fat and will fit pelletheads, gas, natural wood and even charcoal purists. Almost any of our recipes can be done on any kind of good BBQ.
The important thing to keep in mind is TIME & TEMPERATURE. You can even do some of them in the oven or crock pot, but, then you lose all the flavors you get from cooking outdoors. But sometimes it does rain.
Remember that a recipe is simply an outline; it is not written in stone. Don’t be afraid to make changes to suit your taste. Take it and run with it….
Live your Passion and Do What You Love
Ken & Patti
http://datenightdoins.com
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“Date Night Heat”, Add a Little Heat To Your Meat”
“Date Night Gourmet Steak Seasoning“.
Our Thanks To:
Our new “Date Night Doins Seasoning”
http://datenightdoins.com/date-night-rub/
Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce
www.countrybobs.com
Maverick Industries, Inc.
1-800-526-0954
help@maverickhousewares.com
http://www.maverickhousewares.com/
Grill Grates
http://www.grillgrate.com/
Green Mountain Grills LLC
1 800 603 3398
Email: info@greenmountaingrills.com
http://greenmountaingrills.com/contact/
Pacific Pellet Gourmet BBQ Pellet
http://www.pacificpelletbbq.com/
Bull Rack System
EarthWorks Supply
503-678-7744
http://www.earthworkssupply.com/
A-MAZE-N-PRODUCTS
http://www.amazenproducts.com/
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