Yes - my imaginative title says it all. I have (successfully) smoked some bacon. Huzzah!
My cold smoker cabinet was built from odds and ends of wood I had squirreled away, costing the sum total of £0. A great success to my tight-fisted mentality! I did buy some stainless steel mesh (1mm) to make the smoker part. You can of course go the simple route and buy a cold smoker (ProQ gets good reviews and seems straightforward) but I figure I could probably knock something up that would do the job for less than a third of the price. And I still have two more sheets of mesh for some other purpose!
The cold smoker was a simple design - worked it out on a bit of A4 paper first then set to it on the mesh. Having decent tools would help, I used a small pair of wire snips and it took a fair while to snip each wire individually to create the shape. Not too many cuts in all and a very simple shape, utilising the left over bits from the same sheet to patch in any blank spots.
I tried to create a ramp area where the wood dust would thin out and hence be easier to light, but it didn't really work and I ended up just thinning it out on the other leg and it worked fine.
The smoker ran for a good 12 hours as far as I can reckon. I also left it in the cabinet, full of smoke, over night.
The bacon is back in my fridge and whenever I open it up there is a strong scent of smoke! I like it, not sure TGF is convinced!
Taste test went fine - the cure was better this time compared to my last which was too salty. The smokiness is subtle, surprising given the scent of it, but in my humble opinion does add a little something special to the taste.
The cold smoker was a simple design - worked it out on a bit of A4 paper first then set to it on the mesh. Having decent tools would help, I used a small pair of wire snips and it took a fair while to snip each wire individually to create the shape. Not too many cuts in all and a very simple shape, utilising the left over bits from the same sheet to patch in any blank spots.
I tried to create a ramp area where the wood dust would thin out and hence be easier to light, but it didn't really work and I ended up just thinning it out on the other leg and it worked fine.
The smoker ran for a good 12 hours as far as I can reckon. I also left it in the cabinet, full of smoke, over night.
The bacon is back in my fridge and whenever I open it up there is a strong scent of smoke! I like it, not sure TGF is convinced!
Taste test went fine - the cure was better this time compared to my last which was too salty. The smokiness is subtle, surprising given the scent of it, but in my humble opinion does add a little something special to the taste.
