HamCam

Batch 001 is done. The Meat Locker is not.

06 — Project diary

The Meat Locker

Where the actual projects live. Not recipes. Not Serious Eats. The diary — weights, cures, smoke, and honest results.

Case file — sealed

Batch 001 — Home-Cured Bacon

Complete
Holding the finished smoked bacon slab, showing the dark cured exterior and pink cross-section
The slab, the cross-section, and the verdict — August 30, 2026.

Overview

Status
Complete
Result
Success
Cure started
August 18, 2026 — approx. 8:30 PM
Smoke day
August 28–29, 2026
Cooker
Weber kettle, indirect
Final measured internal temp
Approx. 150°F
Meat
Skinless pork belly
Source
Sam's Club
Package weight
5.7 lb
Home-scale weight
5 lb 15.4 oz

This batch never reached the 160°F smoking endpoint. It must be fully cooked before eating.

The result

What we tried
Home-cured and hot-smoked bacon.
What happened
The Weber cook ran longer and less precisely than planned.
What we worried about
Too much smoke, and never reaching the planned 160°F smoking endpoint.
What happened at the table
Sliced by hand, fully cooked in a skillet, tasted good, and was not overly smoky.
What we'd change
Better temperature instrumentation and control.
What we'd keep
The flavor, the smoke level, and the thick-cut option.

Verdict: success.

The BLT Test

September 6, 2026
Thick-cut home-cured bacon on sliced garden tomatoes beside a slice of mayo-spread toast

Home-cured. Kettle-smoked. Thick-cut.

Then we did the only test that actually matters.

IT BACONS.

Think it looks good? Pipe up →

The recipe — what we intended

For approximately 5 lb skinless pork belly:

  • 5 lb fresh pork belly
  • 1 teaspoon Cure #1 / Prague Powder #1
  • 5 tablespoons kosher/table salt
  • 5 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 5 tablespoons paprika
  • 5 tablespoons coffee grounds — optional

Cure

  1. Pat the belly dry.
  2. Thoroughly mix the salt, Cure #1, brown sugar, paprika, and optional coffee.
  3. Rub the entire curing mixture over all surfaces of the belly.
  4. Place the belly and all of the cure into the bag, seal, and refrigerate at 40°F or colder.
  5. Flip the bag once daily during curing.
  6. Do not discard the liquid that develops in the bag.

After curing

  1. Remove the belly from the bag and rinse thoroughly under cold running water.
  2. Pat completely dry.
  3. Place uncovered on a rack in the refrigerator overnight, up to approximately 24 hours.

Smoke

  1. Smoke at approximately 225–250°F until the thickest portion reaches 160°F internal temperature.
  2. Apple wood is the first-choice smoke, although cherry, pecan, hickory, or maple can also be used.
  3. Cool, refrigerate overnight, and slice cold.

This bacon must be cooked before eating.

The diary — what actually happened

  1. Day 1

    August 18, 2026

    The first Meat Locker experiment is home-cured bacon.

    The pork belly was purchased from Sam's Club. The package listed the weight at 5.7 lb, although the home scale measured 5 lb 15.4 oz.

    The belly was unpacked, weighed, and thoroughly coated on all surfaces with the curing mixture.

    It was then sealed in a large zip-top bag along with the cure and placed in the refrigerator at approximately 8:30 PM on August 18, 2026.

    August 18 is Day 1.

    During the curing period, the bag is flipped once per day and the liquid produced during curing remains in the bag.

  2. Smoke day

    August 28–29, 2026

    The bacon went onto the Weber kettle, indirect setup, at 8:29 PM on August 28.

    The Weber lid thermometer indicated roughly 250–350°F for most of the session, at times approaching approximately 400°F. That gauge is known to be inaccurate, so those are indicated temperatures — not measured grate temperatures.

    The bacon came off at approximately 3:30 AM on August 29. Total session: about seven hours.

    Final measured internal temperature was approximately 150°F, short of the recipe's 160°F endpoint. The bacon was refrigerated immediately after coming off the kettle.

    Because the batch did not reach 160°F during smoking, this bacon must be fully cooked before eating.

  3. First taste test

    August 30, 2026

    Testers: Matt and Raylee.

    The worry going in was that a seven-hour smoke would produce something closer to a campfire than to breakfast. It did not. The smoke level was judged successful and not excessive.

    No meat slicer is currently available, so the chilled slab was sliced by hand. That produced thick-cut bacon, which turned out very well.

    Both testers thought the bacon was tasty. Specific takeaway: this would be excellent thick-cut BLT bacon.

Friday night on the kettle

August 28, 2026. Coals banked to one side, belly on the other, and nobody going to bed early. Seven hours of driveway smoke — the part of Batch 001 that happened in the dark.

Weber kettle grill smoking at night on a driveway
8:29 PM — lid onOne Weber kettle, indirect coals, and thin blue smoke over the driveway.
Close-up of the cured pork belly on the Weber grate taking on smoke color
Mid-cook checkBelly on the far side of the fire, cure set and starting to take color.
Pork belly darkening on the Weber kettle grate at night with a wood chunk nearby
Deep in the night shiftApple chunk on deck. Seven hours later it came off at about 3:30 AM.

Slab to skillet

Hand slicing the chilled, smoked bacon slab on a cutting board
The sliceHand slicing the chilled slab. No slicer in the building.
Four thick-cut bacon slices laid in a cast iron skillet
The first fryThick-cut slices laid into cold cast iron.
Placing the cast iron skillet of bacon onto the stovetop burner
Into the fireSkillet to burner. Fully cooked — this batch never hit 160°F on the smoker.
Thick-cut bacon slices crisping and bubbling in a cast iron skillet
The resultCrisping up. Smoke read as smoke, not as a bonfire.
Vacuum-sealed portion of smoked bacon on a kitchen scale reading 13.3 ounces
Packed for the roadFirst real use of the Anova Precision Vacuum Sealer Pro. Photographed portion: 13.3 oz.

What we learned

Keep

  • The cure and flavor profile
  • The smoke level
  • The thick-cut serving option
  • The overnight uncovered refrigerator rest before smoking

Improve next time

  • Use an independent digital grate-temperature probe
  • Use a reliable internal meat probe throughout the cook
  • Stop trusting the Weber lid thermometer
  • Better temperature control and endpoint tracking
  • Eventually add a meat slicer for consistent slices

Unexpected win — hand-cut thick bacon worked extremely well. Even once a slicer shows up, part of the slab should stay thick-cut for BLTs.

Think you could do better? Take it to the Smörgåsbord →

Equipment status

Anova Precision Vacuum Sealer Pro
In service
Wireless temp / humidity sensor
Online — logging
Utility room climate study
Data collection underway
Curing chamber
Pending data
Meat slicer
Not currently available

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