Bacon Makin'

So the bacon came out of their curing bags today, it was soaked, and was put in the smoker. Yes, I know I should wait at least over night for it to form a pellicle but I just don't have time for it. So it went in the smoker today. It may not end up looking as pretty but I think it will still taste like bacon which is all I need. I fried up a piece after it soaked to taste test it and it tasted like bacon so really smoking it is just extra.
This picture shows you the amount of bacon from just the one pig. There is one jowl and one piece of loin for Canadian bacon in this picture.

 So this went in the smoker and cooked until it had an internal temperature of 160 degrees and I actually left it about an hour after that because I just didn't feel the jowl was done.
Meanwhile I did not do a thing that was constructive. No spoons today. I watched the birds. I have not had a bird feeder for years because I read an article then on how feeding the birds caused them to not migrate when they should and it was also like "fast food" for birds since the seeds in most bird feed were not what they normally would eat but what they like instead.  Anyway, this year I got over it (since all the birds haven't died as the article seemed to suggest they would) and I put up two little cheap feeders.

Sorry but my camera does not take pictures very well from about 15 feet apparently. 

I am rather amazed that the same variety of birds come to my feeders here as did when I was 1000 miles away in New England. I get chickadees, tufted titmouse, blue jays and cardinals. The only difference is that the blue jays and cardinals are more cautious here but that may just be because of the cats. 

I also chipped up more plum wood. Plum chips is what we used to smoke this bacon. The smell is just wonderful! This is when I peeked in when the thermometer told me the meat was at 160 degrees F. I let it smoke an hour more.

Here is what it looked like when it came out. Not as nice a color but the smell... you just can't describe how good it smells!

 

We, of course, had breakfast for supper. I won't tell you that the bacon tastes just like store bought because it doesn't. It might have been closer if we had smoked it with hickory but I am glad we didn't. While the taste is not exactly like store bought bacon it is much better in my opinion. I love the taste of the plum smoke on it. It is different but so much more...savory.