Butcher’s Guide · Smoked Meats
Smoked Bacon
Cure. Hang. Smoke. Slice. The four-step method that turns pork belly into bacon — and why butcher-shop bacon doesn’t shrink to nothing in the pan.
Bacon starts as one cut of meat: pork belly. Everything that happens between the slaughterhouse and your skillet is craft. Cure, hang, smoke, slice. Four steps. The way a butcher does each one is what separates great bacon from the rubbery strips that vanish into a puddle of water in a 10-inch pan.
How It’s Made
The four steps.
01
Cure
Pork belly is rubbed with a cure mix — salt, sugar (brown or maple), pink curing salt (sodium nitrite), spices. Wet-cured bacon sits in brine. Dry-cured bacon is rubbed and packed. Either way, the cure penetrates over 5–7 days, drawing moisture out and flavor in.
02
Hang
After curing, the belly is rinsed, patted dry, and hung on a rack in a cool space (under 50°F) for 8–24 hours. The surface dries and forms a tacky pellicle that helps smoke adhere.
03
Smoke
Hot smoke at 200°F until the internal temp hits 150°F — typically 3–4 hours. Applewood for sweeter bacon. Hickory for stronger. Cold smoke (under 90°F, longer duration) is the traditional approach but requires more equipment.
04
Slice
Cool the smoked bacon completely (overnight in the fridge), then slice. Thick-cut is 1/8 to 1/4 inch. Paper-thin is 1/16 inch — the diner-breakfast cut. Stittsworth runs thick-cut as the default because thinner bacon falls apart on a smoker or in a BLT.
The Shrinkage Problem
Why grocery bacon disappears in the pan.
You lay six strips of grocery bacon in a pan. Ten minutes later you have three strips, a half-inch deep puddle of brine-flavored water, and a frustrating breakfast.
The reason: most large-scale bacon is pumped with curing brine to speed up production and add weight. A 1-pound package of grocery bacon may contain 10–15% added water. When that water boils off in the pan, the bacon shrinks dramatically.
Butcher-cured bacon — either dry-cured or minimally pumped — doesn’t do this. What hits the pan is mostly meat and fat. It still renders fat (that’s what gives you the crispy edges) but it doesn’t evaporate down to a third of what you started with.
Applewood vs Hickory
Two woods, two characters.
Applewood
Sweeter, milder, fruitier. The classic breakfast-bacon profile. Pairs well with maple, brown sugar, syrupy glazes. Most people’s first answer when asked “what bacon do you want.”
Hickory
Stronger, more savory, more aggressive. The BBQ-style bacon profile. Works hard with eggs, holds up in a BLT, the bacon that earns its presence on a burger.
FAQ
Common questions.
Why does grocery store bacon shrink so much in the pan?
Grocery bacon is often pumped with brine — 10–15% added water by weight. That water boils off in the pan, and the bacon shrinks. Butcher-cured bacon is dry-cured or minimally pumped, so what hits the pan is mostly meat and fat.
What's the difference between applewood and hickory bacon?
Applewood is sweeter, milder, fruitier — the breakfast profile most people prefer. Hickory is stronger, more savory, more BBQ-leaning. Both work for cooking; the choice is flavor preference.
How long does smoked bacon last?
Unopened in the fridge: 2 weeks. Opened: 7–10 days. Frozen: 3–4 months. Vacuum-sealed extends fridge life.
Is butcher bacon worth the price difference?
Often yes per cooked ounce. Grocery bacon shrinks 30–40% from water loss. Butcher bacon shrinks far less, so a pound yields meaningfully more cooked product.
Part of the Smoked Meats guide series. Bacon recipe: Candied Bacon.
Try Stittsworth Bacon.
Cured, smoked, and sliced in our Bemidji shop. Thick-cut. Ships frozen.
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