Man, that is really nice work. I love bacon that is on the leaner side and that all looks spectacular.

Was this a wild hog or store bought? I'm interested in trying this for feral hog but if someone has already tried and its a bust I don't wanna waste my time.

This is the second time I've made a batch. Both have came out phenomenal.
I also chopped an entire belly into cubes for pork belly burnt ends. Curious to see how those turn out
One belly got turned into lardons for red beans and rice, carbonara, bacon bits for salad etc.

I followed the recipe on this old Texags thread, https://texags.com/forums/67/topics/2730738

I vac sealed and cured them for 9-10 days flipping the bellies once a day.
Smoked over post oak, apple and hickory on my WSM. Would prefer to just use post oak, but trying to burn through some stores of these other woods

This is the first time buying from Rosenthal. These are store bought and not wild hogs.
My dad picked up the box for me and got the last one they had.
The bellies did have the skin on them which was a small pain to remove. Took probably 30 min total for all 6 bellies. Still a steal when HEB sells half a belly at $5-$6/LB

Looking at their Facebook page where they post sales it looks like they done it twice.

• Dec 2025 - $2/LB
• Sept 2025 - $1/LB

Layne Staley said:

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Was this a wild hog or store bought? I'm interested in trying this for feral hog but if someone has already tried and its a bust I don't wanna waste my time.

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People often comment "bacon!", when they shoot or trap one. My experience, the "pork belly" is basically gone, a rapid change from their domestic kin. Likely due to the nomadic, lengthy travel aspect of the feral hogs.

It was I, who posted the Rosenthal specials, and I bought a box in Sep....and another box in Dec, the 2nd box I asked for a "light one", the girls came out with a 25# box...great.
Curing 2 pieces in the frig, as I type. My standard is the cure, with a generous coating of McCormick's "Smokehouse Maple" seasoning. 5-7 days later, I rinse, add black pepper, smoke over hickory or pecan to an IT of 135-150 deg.

I don't slice homemade bacon for storage. Before smoking I cut the bellies into smaller chunks 1) to get more surface area to take on smoke, 2) to make manageable chunks for putting into 8" roll vacuum bags, and 3) maybe the most important, to leave the bacon in larger pieces so I can choose how I cut it for use at the time of use. Lardons, thick slices, thin slices, cubes of various sizes, etc.