dstr8 Posted July 26, 2014 Report Share Posted July 26, 2014 Experimenting is 1/2 the fun I started with Alton Brown's non-nitrate salt brine for 8 pounds of Devil's Gulch Ranch pastured naturally raised belly. For those of you not familiar with Devil's Gulch Ranch in Marin County California: http://www.devilsgulchranch.com/ Alton Brown's Bacon Brine recipe: 1C sugar 1C salt 8oz molasses 1/2 gallon water 1/2 gallon apple cider 2T course ground black pepper Press the black pepper into the pork belly (if skin on then just rub into the flesh portions of the belly). Combine remaining ingredients in a suitably sized pan and heat until the salt and sugar is dissolved then chill to 40 degrees F. Using large ziploc bags (I used the 2.5 gallon size, double bagged) combine the pork belly and prepared brine and refrigerate for 3-days. After 3-days remove the pork belly, pat dry and place the pork belly on top of a cooling rack atop a sheet pan. Alton states to set-up a fan on the counter and 'blow dry' the pork belly at room temp for an hour. I, however, with the pork belly resting on the cooling rack atop the 1/2 sheet pan let it sit in the refrigerator for several hours to form the pellicle. His recipe doesn't state what temp to smoke the pork belly...just "...smoke for 4-6 hours". Using info found here I decided to pull the belly pieces once the internal temp of the larger cuts got to 150 degrees F. This took about 2-1/2 hours over apple wood with a temp within the KK of between 160 and 200 degrees F. Although this "un-bacon" won't be confused with nitrate cured bacon it is still very good. The only thing I'll do different the next time is add 25% more salt to the brine mixture. And I'll smoke the belly to 170-ish degrees F. I think taking it to 170 degrees will bring additional tenderness to the bacon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loquitur Posted July 27, 2014 Report Share Posted July 27, 2014 Interesting post, Dan. Why did you cut the belly into pieces? I'm thinking maybe for better brine/smoke penetration? Susan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dstr8 Posted July 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2014 Susan, I portioned the belly mainly due to logistics: Not enough refrigerator space for brining, etc. And yes, at least in theory, smaller portions would provide more surface area for smoke penetration... Can't wait to try it with more salt in the brine and then longer smoking session with higher internal temp. But its going to be a while now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
