Misfitmorgan's Journal - That Summer Dust

[JHP Homestead]

We’ve been slicing our homemade bacon with a little Rival brand slicer like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Rival-1042W-Electric-Slicer-White/dp/B00006IV0X

It works ok but is a little too small. I have to cut the bacon into 4-6 inch lengths to be able to slice it, so I can’t slice nice long pieces of bacon.

 

[Baymule]

That sucks about the bacon. Chopped bacon sandwich, anyone? If you get a slicer, get a good one. A neighbor has one that he bought when we slaughtered hogs and it is a small cheap one. It gets the job done, but the carriage is too short. @JHP Homestead I can get longish strips, but I roll the bacon slab up and unroll as I slice. PIA, but it works-sorta.

 

[misfitmorgan]

We’ve been slicing our homemade bacon with a little Rival brand slicer like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Rival-1042W-Electric-Slicer-White/dp/B00006IV0X

It works ok but is a little too small. I have to cut the bacon into 4-6 inch lengths to be able to slice it, so I can’t slice nice long pieces of bacon.

That sucks about the bacon. Chopped bacon sandwich, anyone? If you get a slicer, get a good one. A neighbor has one that he bought when we slaughtered hogs and it is a small cheap one. It gets the job done, but the carriage is too short. @JHP Homestead I can get longish strips, but I roll the bacon slab up and unroll as I slice. PIA, but it works-sorta.

I was looking at something like this to start off
https://www.amazon.com/F2C-Electric...s=meat+slicer&qid=1563385102&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Then maybe later get something like this
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Choice-...=meat+slicer&qid=1563385270&s=gateway&sr=8-52

I dunno what I am going to do with the bacon...maybe make some bacon jam. I already had trimmed up the bacon ends to square it up before it went to be sliced so I have about 2lbs of cubed up bacon already

 

[Bruce]

The second one looks like the kind they use at the deli. Not sure I'd expect much from the first one either in quality or longevity. Likely not the best $38 you'll ever spend.

 

[Baymule]

Buy the better one, buy it once. I have bought cheap before and regretted it. But sometimes, cheap was the best I could do. Sometimes, I was so darn proud of a cheap item and I used it and loved it.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Shoot, I'd pick out the best of it for pcs....I'd still fry the other a batch at a time and top taters, salads, beans, or make a sandwich with.....course, with it being in pcs means ya need more for a sandwich....and ya can get a bite and not drag the whole strip out with the first bite.........and this comes from a man without dentures or teeth....yep, still eat em....

 

[farmerjan]

If he owns a store with a deli slicer he should have some common sense on what a slice of bacon should look like. BUT, one thing.....Did he know enough to get it VERY COLD to slice? If not, then I can see lots of "pieces" and short partial slices as he tried to get it to slice. Might not have known to chill almost to the point of freezing. We take it as just common sense or acquired knowledge.... but it is alot different to slice deli meats, in a "casing" as opposed to bacon that may not be cold enough .... just a thought. And he might have been working it from the " shorter side" which could account for it not looking like traditional slices of bacon. Handling it might have been a problem for him. If you cut bacon in half, you can get shorter length slices that still look like a bacon slices, but will fit on a slicer better....

 

[misfitmorgan]

The second one looks like the kind they use at the deli. Not sure I'd expect much from the first one either in quality or longevity. Likely not the best $38 you'll ever spend.

Buy the better one, buy it once. I have bought cheap before and regretted it. But sometimes, cheap was the best I could do. Sometimes, I was so darn proud of a cheap item and I used it and loved it.

Reviews are pretty good on that first one and we know a guy locally who has sliced about 200lbs of meat on one...not ideal but it has worked. I would love to just buy the big one but budget says if i am getting one to start off it will be the cheap one.

Shoot, I'd pick out the best of it for pcs....I'd still fry the other a batch at a time and top taters, salads, beans, or make a sandwich with.....course, with it being in pcs means ya need more for a sandwich....and ya can get a bite and not drag the whole strip out with the first bite.........and this comes from a man without dentures or teeth....yep, still eat em....

That's pretty much my plan.

If he owns a store with a deli slicer he should have some common sense on what a slice of bacon should look like. BUT, one thing.....Did he know enough to get it VERY COLD to slice? If not, then I can see lots of "pieces" and short partial slices as he tried to get it to slice. Might not have known to chill almost to the point of freezing. We take it as just common sense or acquired knowledge.... but it is alot different to slice deli meats, in a "casing" as opposed to bacon that may not be cold enough .... just a thought. And he might have been working it from the " shorter side" which could account for it not looking like traditional slices of bacon. Handling it might have been a problem for him. If you cut bacon in half, you can get shorter length slices that still look like a bacon slices, but will fit on a slicer better....

We had it chilled down to 32F for him and he put in the walk-in for a few hours. I was hand cutting some of it without issues so that should not have been a problem. The slices are cleanly cut, its just like he didnt know what way the short grain was and just grabbed the slabs and started slicing and checked at some point and switched the slab around. It's not like he cut it in half, its like he did i dunno what. I will try to get pictures it truley looks like ends and pieces boxes you get though ans we sent some nice bacon slabs.

 

[misfitmorgan]

This is the bacon directly off the smoker. It was soaked/washed for 30 minutes then put in the fridge to chill over night.

These are the areas I cut off right before it got taken to him to slice. The cut off areas were cubed up for seasoning things. That chunk with the scribbles was a off cut from when i was putting everything into cure so it got chopped up too.

 

[Baymule]

That is some beautiful slabs of bacon!