makin' bacon~

One of my goals in life is to become the person that my dog already thinks I am.

We're making bacon.
It all starts with the purchase of pork bellies; which weigh just a little over 10 pounds a piece.  The first step is giving each pork belly a rub down with a dry salt and brown sugar cure... Slim's secret recipe...lol.

After a couple days in a cooler with the dry salt cure ... they then get submerged into a wet brine for a few days ... another step of Slim's secret recipe... lol.

After a good rinse under cold water and a pat down with paper toweling to absorb some of the excess water ~ it's off to get hung up in the smoke house. 

Here's Dear Hubby Slim putting in the meat thermometer.

Our smoke house is a homemade smoker that we made out of an old double glassed door pop cooler which we gutted out and lined with stainless steel and made a stainless steel door.  The bottom is an old gas regulator from an old gas kitchen stove.  This sits under the ash pan ... that holds the wood chips ... that burn at a slow smoulder to make the smoke.  Not the prettiest of contraptions; but it gets the job done.  Also, on the picture besides  the thermostat you'll see our handy temperature alarm.  If the smoker gets too hot or the meat is cooking too fast it will go off and alert us.  Pretty nifty set up if I say so myself. lol

Here's a photo of the bacon after a few hours of smoking:

and Slim adding yet another round of wood chips to the burner:

Tomorrow  ... we'll have fresh ... home cured bacon for the year! Yum.

Until next time...
So it goes in my neck of the woods.
~mel