Right, so I am having guests on Sunday to help me out with the car, so I've decided to get one of the bellies smoked tomorrow so I can cook them a thankyou breakfast.
Pulled it out of the fridge and washed it down with cold water to remove as much salt etc as I can. The meat has visibly darkened and has firmed up quite a bit.
Now after washing, give it a good shake and put it on a rack to air dry for 24 hours. Ideally you dont want to pat it dry or anything like that as it wipes off some sticky layer that it forms on the outside of the belly (which helps the smoke flavouring to "stick") - you can see it with the glisten on the fat in the pic below.
So I've sat mine over a bowl in a cool spot to dry overnight and I'll smoke it tomorrow afternoon. I picked up some applewood and peachwood from a camping store......I'll soak a couple of handfuls over night and add some dry to it tomorrow so some burns and generates heat while the wet smoulders and smokes for a longer period.