On Wednesday I skinned a huge pork belly. What a huge PITA! Took me right at 2 hours. First time I have ever skinned a belly but still wound up with 13.5 lbs of belly to cure for bacon. Yesterday, I applied Ruhlman's basic dry cure to the 4 slabs and will allow them to cure in the frig for a week. After the curing week I will rinse the cure rub off of the slabs, pat them dry, place them on bacon hangers and hang them in the frig overnight to dry. Then the smoking procedure begins. The first two days are identical. Apply 3 hours of pecan smoke at a low temperature, 70-90 degrees Fahrenheit and hang in the house, not the frig overnight. Third day begins the same as the first two but after the 3 hours of smoke at the low temps ramp the heat up to 200F and continue cooking the bacon to an internal temperature of no more than 150.
First time for me to try this method so this could get interesting. The smoking and cooking will be done in an 8 year old Bradley digital smoker that is still using the same stock heating element. More to come later.
