Pics of bacon, or GTFO.
Smoked duck is nommy.
Anyone smoked lamb before? That's one I'm curious aboot…
Off to work now, I'll put up some shots when I get home.
Being cheap is OK. Being a clueless sanctimonious condescending douchebag is just Vlad's MO.
Makin' bacon from scratch or pkg'ed bacon and smokin' it some more?
Scratch. Pork belly from the grocery store, cure with pink salt and various spices (I do a maple chipotle one and a savory version with garlic, sage and crushed bay leaves) for a week in the fridge, rinse, allow to dry 12-24hrs in the fridge, smoke approx 3 hours or until internal temp is 150F, then it's like normal bacon and you slice off a piece as you want it. Mine ends up being fairly thick slices because I like it that way, then you just cook normally in the oven or fried in a pan. It's much more tender than store bought, and it doesn't shrink very much because it's not pumped full of water like store bought is.
You can smoke it with the belly skin on or you can remove it first, I've been smoking with the rind on and then removing it post smoker, but my last batch I took the skin off before curing to see the difference. It's tougher to get it off first though as when it comes out of the smoker it's mostly cooked and easier to cut through the fat layer, then you end up with the smoke on two sides of the bacon instead of just one (as the smoke doesn't really penetrate the skin).
Being cheap is OK. Being a clueless sanctimonious condescending douchebag is just Vlad's MO.
Bacon pics as requested. First batch was a single half slab of pork belly cured in pink salt, maple syrup, and chipotle peppers.
Half-slab of pork belly
Cure applied, now 1 week in the fridge
Rinsed and dried, placed in the smoker
Smoked to 150F
Taste test!
A full smoker is a happy smoker. Maple chipotle, savory, and mango bacon, with a pork shoulder underneath for pulled pork.
Being cheap is OK. Being a clueless sanctimonious condescending douchebag is just Vlad's MO.
^omfg….i'm in heaven
Bacon pics as requested…
I tried to REPZ for bacon, but my PEW needs to be spread…
This thread was awesome from the first post, and is only getting better.
C'mon, people:
Moar pics of smokey animals!
The best things in life all start with the letter B
Hooray for: Bacon, Bikeys, Boobies, Boards, and Beer!
3 full briskets after 15 hours smoking over lump charcoal and oak wood. No finished product pics…but noone wants my pulled pork after they tried the burnt ends…
The main reason I got a smoker was to have a go at The Brisket. Now I just gotta find one. Meat and fresh veg selection blows in general in this town, don't know why.
try to find a friend who owns a restaurant / has a account with a distributor.
i got those through a food rep hook up, a co-workers bro-in-law.
other ones have been through the butcher. make sure you get the whole brisket and not just the flat. the point is where the burnt ends live … and they are better than bacon!
Thx mrduke, I just haven't had a chance to hit up the butcher at the meat shop yet. I just knew they've never displayed them. I'm sure he'll make the cut for me.
Reading around online…it seems the demand is/was too low at least in western Canada for stores to offer it. It gets turned into corned beef and pastrami.
Might do this for tonight…Mmmm
http://www.extraordinarybbq.com/award-winning-chicken-thighs/
I need to find a better source of pork belly, I'm paying less at Thrifties than I was at the local butcher shop, but still 2-3x as much per lb as what I'm reading about online. By the time everything is said and done my bacon costs about the same as store bought, but it tastes so much better.
Being cheap is OK. Being a clueless sanctimonious condescending douchebag is just Vlad's MO.
The pricing on meat out of the states is very cheap compared to what we have here. I have to order in the briskets from the butchers, but the turn around time is pretty quick.
Make sure you throw some wings in the smoker. smoke them till cooked, toss in a spicy chipotle bbq sauce and toss them on a hot grill to char them up a bit. those are pretty popular.
and that pork butt … looks good. make sure to rest the meat. wrap in foil, a few towels ( use old ones .. the smokey meat smell stays in them) and toss it in a cooler for an hour or 3. it holds the meat hot, lets the juices return. give it a quick shred, toss in a vinegary sauce and you are done.
Have you tried the farmers market? Downtown on a saturday there's lots of small vendors who I would think can hook you up.
Genuinely curious, I've bought some good steaks there and amazing chorizo but its not something I've done a lot of.
^yup..that's the butcher I was going to see…Thx
Try alder for chicken. Try lower temp for pork (175).
It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.
- Josiah Stamp
Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.
- H.G. Wells
Forum jump:
