Beartooth > wrote:

> This year I finally found somebody to go halves with my on buying
> a fresh-killed hog -- and Slaughter Day turned out to be a week after the
> day a friend brought me a nice small deer
>
> So we cut & wrapped & froze like mad b*st*rds -- and only managed
> by cutting various corners, one of which near the end was just to wrap
> and freeze the ham and the bacon just as they were.
>
> That *may* be a benefit -- what I have is a propane-fired smoker,
> with a cast iron smokewood box right over the burner, then a water bath,
> and the racks above that. I'm hoping that the cold weather will enable me
> to operate it at a much lower temperature than in summer.
>
> I'd rather not pre-cook these meats; otoh, with my blood
> pressure, I'm sure as shootin' NOT going to brine them. (After all, once
> they're smoked and cooled, I'll put them back in the freezer till I want
> them.)
>
> So am I better off taking them straight from freezer to hanging
> from a rack? Or do I *have* to thaw them beforehand for some reason??

It's not going to taste anything like bacon unless you cure them.
You can cure them with as little as 1/3rd the normal salt, but you
MUST use the normal amount of nitrite and nitrate.

And to cure them you need to thaw them first.

If you hang frozen pork bellies in your smoker the smoke will only
condensate on it making for a bad case of creosote, not to mention
it's just going to taste like smoked pork ribs with 10x as much fat.
It won't be bacon - not even close. I don't think you'll find it
very tasty at all.

-sw