Homemade Applewood Smoked Back Bacon

Homemade Applewood Smoked Back Bacon

This homemade applewood smoked back bacon is easy to make with readily available pork loin.

Once you make back bacon you will never buy the over priced stuff again. With a $25 pork loin and a simple bacon kit you can easily have over $100 worth of the most incredible back bacon you have ever tasted.

Start With Good Ingredients

We first started experimenting with traditional bacon years ago which lead to making back bacon. Because pork loin is very easy to source and the price is very affordable it is the bacon made most often. With great success using the bacon kit we started with we still continue to use it today.

 

bacon cure

You can find the Buckboad Bacon Cure in many hardware stores in the canning or bbq section of the store as well as most hunting stores. Online sourcing is also a great option as well. One box makes up to 25 pounds of bacon.

Just like bacon made from pork belly, we rub it down in cure and refrigerate it for up to a week. After a week it is soaked in fresh water to remove the salt. Once done soaking it is placed back into the fridge for 24 hours. This step is very important, the pork is forming pellicle, which simply means the proteins are forming a skin over the meat for which the smoke will adhere to.

Weigh Everything

It is very important to weigh the pork loin. If you do not have a scale be sure to take note of the weight listed on the sales tag on the packaging. You will need 2 tablespoons of cure per pound of pork loin.

Place the loin into the container that you are curing it in. For long loins cut them in half.  Rub down the entire surface well with the cure, leaving any excess in the container. Cover with a lid or wrap the container tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate.

We cure our bacon for 6 days, on day 3 we unwrap the container and give it a flip. Depending on how long you plan on curing your pork, flip it during the middle or the curing period.

smoking pork loin for back bacon

 

Prepping The Smoker

Often mentioned in my posts, applewood is the preferred choice for all of our smoking needs. It suits our tastes and we enjoy it with beef and salmon as well as pork. It is sweet and will not create any bitterness if you’ve accidently over smoked something.

Prepare the woodchips and preheat the smoker. When there is good smoke you can put the loin into the smoker. We want the meat cooked with the heat of the smoke not the heat of the smoker.

Once the pork is in the smoker a temperature of 180F – 200F is maintained. We smoked the back bacon to an internal temperature of160F. In our smoker this took close to 4 hours.

It is then pulled and allowed to cool fully.

 

fresh back bacon off the smoked

 

Homemade Applewood Smoked Back Bacon
 
Recipe type: Back Bacon
Cuisine: Preserved Meat
Ingredients
  • 1 large pork loin - note the weight
  • 1 bacon curing kit
Instructions
  1. Weigh the pork loin you are using.
  2. Following the measurement directions in the bacon curing kits weigh out enough cure for the loin.
  3. You will need 2 tablespoons of cure for each pound of pork.
  4. Place the pork into a large plastic container that will fit in the fridge.
  5. If your container is too short cut the loin in half.
  6. Rub the loin on all surfaces with the measured out cure.
  7. Cover the container and place in the fridge.
  8. Flip the loin mid week around day 3.
  9. After the 6th day remove the loin and rinse it well under cold running water.
  10. Fill a sink with cold water to soak the cured loin for 90 minutes.
  11. Remove and pat dry
  12. Place the loin back into a clean plastic container, lightly cover with plastic wrap and rest in the fridge for 24 hours.
  13. Preheat the smoker to 180F and place the pork loin in the upper most shelf in the smoker.
  14. Smoke until the loin reaches an internal temperature of 160F
  15. Remove and allow to fully cool.

 

Cut each half into thirds then freeze.

To enjoy the back bacon slice and fry to desired doneness.

Published by Redawna

Garden & Food Writer/Educator/Photographer. NFT artist. Management Professional. Community Builder. Entrepreneurial spirit.

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