Smoking bacon rashers?

[spandit]

My local butcher sells big packs of bacon but it has water added & tends to be a bit slimy. I'm assuming the smoked version has artificial smoke flavour added too.

I have plenty of willow which I've read imparts a sweet taste to smoked foods so wondering how I'd go about smoking the unsmoked rashers myself?

 

[British Red]

Order it online from Meridian Meats in Louth. They will ship it to you in a chilled container. Their dry cured smoked back is a little bit of porky heaven. Their steaks (from their own longhorn herd) are insanely good and very cheap.


Do your tummy a favour and don't buy brine injected rubbish. Nothing you can do will fix it.

 

[Robson Valley]

I wouldn't use willow as smoke wood. For anything "porky," apple wood trumps the rest.
I use a mixed herb/spice dry rub on pork side ribs. Apple wood smoke for the first hour at 275F
then 2 hrs to ensure that the hard stuff is gelatinized = you can't rush it.
Really any fruit wood (pear/plum/cherry/etc) is the best of the lot.

For bacon, you need a controlled cold smoke which is difficult to set up for 12-24+ hrs smoke time.
I really like BR's suggestion. Get some, done properly, then fool around to see what you can do to match it.
What I'm doing is southern BBQ-style smoke cooking. Just barely hot enough to render the fat from the meat.
Might be sort of embarassing with bacon slabs.

 

[spandit]

Might be sort of embarassing with bacon slabs.

I was asking about rashers, thought I might be able to improve a product. I do have a load of cherry and apple wood - could use that, I suppose

 

[British Red]

Thing is, if its wet cured and brine injected you will be trying to smoke somthing slimy. I can't see it working in a cold smoker at all tbh.

 

[spandit]

Oh well. Thought it might dry it out a bit

 

[santaman2000]

I wouldn't use willow as smoke wood. For anything "porky," apple wood trumps the rest.........

......What I'm doing is southern BBQ-style smoke cooking. Just barely hot enough to render the fat from the meat.
Might be sort of embarassing with bacon slabs.

Apple wood can make a good bacon smoke all right. But southern BBQ calls for hickory.

Thing is, if its wet cured and brine injected you will be trying to smoke somthing slimy. I can't see it working in a cold smoker at all tbh.

I may be wrong but I think you're right.

 

[Goatboy]

I think what Red says will hold true on the slimey stuff. You may improve it by cooking on a BBQ with some woodchips but trying to smoke it for use later would be a loosing game I think.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[spandit]

It was more to give it a bit of flavour rather than preserve it

 

[santaman2000]

Then why not just try hot smoking it and cook it at the same time?

 

[Robson Valley]

Man, it gets too runny and dries out just when you want a little fat to seal up the taste.
You can't get a bark going.
santaman: I find hickory just a little too bitter for my taste. I can sell apple wood smoke to anybody.
Dad did everything with mesquite, that was OK. I get bucked up old apple trees for free, can't lose with that.

 

[Orchard]

Don't waste your time and money on an inferior product mate - like Red said, get some decent stuff whilst you set yourself up to cure your own joints

 

[Disco1]

You could try curing your own bacon then smoke it, its great fun and taste out of this world. No white stuff coming out of the bacon when you cook it.

 

[bilmo-p5]

Bit of a palaver, but you could dry your bacon before smoking it. With some thought, the construction of a combined dehydrator/smoker should be a straightforward DIY exercise.

 

[santaman2000]

Bit of a palaver, but you could dry your bacon before smoking it.....

Oddly enough that's how smoking meat was discovered. Originally (possibly as far back as prehistoric) meat was preserved by air drying it ; smoke was originally added to keep the flies away while it dried but we developed a taste for the smoke infusion.

 

[spandit]

I think I might try it - don't think it will do any harm. I'll either hang the rashers by laying them over a rack or skewer them. It's producing the smoke that I'll have to think about but a small charcoal BBQ with some wood chip thrown on should do the job

 

[Coldfeet]

Would it not be easier just to buy the joint and make you own bacon?

 

[Robson Valley]

You need the soaked wood chips to cremate, not simply burn up. Soak overnight in water. Wrap in 2 layers of aluminum foil (aluminium works just as well!!!!) All charcoal to one side, food on the cold side, no hotter than 250F, maybe 275F on the "cold" side. Place the wood packet (no holes needed) on the burning charcoal.
Albeit they are gassers but I have 3 set up expressly for smoker BBQ duty. In history, #1, #16 and #17.

 

[spandit]

Would it not be easier just to buy the joint and make you own bacon?

Don't have a means of cutting it neatly. I'd also be concerned about getting the smoke to penetrate all the way through

 

[rancid badger]

Don't have a means of cutting it neatly. I'd also be concerned about getting the smoke to penetrate all the way through

Any decent local butcher, should be happy enough to run your joint of meat through a slicer for a modest fee. Any thickness you like.