I have a belly in the brine and am going to smoke it latter with a shoulder.
Has anyone ever made their own bacon?
Any tips would be great. I will not be aging it, only brine and smoking.
Right now I am smoking a bunch of salt. Mmmmmmmm Smoked sea salt is awesome and better than regular salt on bost of the things I eat.
Way more flavor with nothing worse for you than the salt itself 
Smoked paprika goes in next. My homemade stuff is way tastier than the store bought stuff.
Bacon
That is all.
I have cured and smoked my own home grown bacon.
It the wrong time of year to cure bacon safely unless you have refrigeration to brine it in.
I used to do it in the Fall when I could keep my brine tank in the breezeway around 40 degrees.
Pink salt which contains Sodium nitrite and salt.
Plus sugar, maple syrup and other spices.
I hope you are using a recipe but I question how you could do it safely this time of year in Florida.
I guess I am just smoking brine soaked pork belly.
Tomorrow I will slice and fry.
I do realize it is not cured or preserved but May taste good.
I will report.
I just put it in the smoker now.
I have cured a whole (quartered) deer using large coolers and a steady supply of ice. Did it for 7 days on the porch.
I imagine there’s a way to do bacon similarly.
You guys are my heroes if you make your own bacon. You got me thinking.
I brine mine for 6 days before it goes in the smoker. I don’t use any nitrates or nitrites. Cream of tartar keeps the color. Many don’t prefer bacon that does not have the nitrites since the taste is different.
Combination apple and pear wood.
I used to have a hobby farm and did many tings teh old fashioned way.
I still miss the pork, beef, and chickens, turkeys and goats. There was some good eaten there.
And worth all the work.
Never cured deer.
Never saw the need to as it tasted good and if you add some beef tallow to the grind pile the hamburger is good too especially for summer sausage.
Otherwise it is too dry and deer tallow tastes like crap. Worse than mutton fat.
All this talk about beef tallow, deer tallow, and mutton fat is making me hungry.
Did you slaughter your own?
As for smoking my own bacon, Wallmart has it for $2.00 a pound and its sliced…
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Yes.
Well not the beef. they were just to darn hard to handle.
Until hyperinflation starts. I spend a lot of time learning all the primitive skills. We’re going to need them.
Nick, the skills you mention will be in high demand sooner than most think.
I hope we are both wrong but it isn’t looking good.
Stage 2 Smoked. Will chill till I slice and fry
Shoulder in for a while. I will take it out and put it in the convect oven at 170 till the party for that crispy bark.
Looks tasty
Nothing that a bag over their head and a sledge hammer couldn’t handle…
No worry, you’ve got Gold!
Not the kill.
The lifting and handling.
Easier to have it killed on site and transported to the butcher for processing when you are dealing with that much meat.
We had a tractor with a front end loader which helped, but once quartered its manageable. We did all our butchering including ground beef.
I know but it was more than I wanted to do with the help available.
Processing half a dozen deer with two or three guys was more than enough to take on.