Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Hell ya, that's nice.

 

You don't put Dale's on filet mignon either.

 

Awesome, thanks. Of course, now I have even more questions.
I have read to cure for 5-7 days, any reason to go longer?
I am going to smoke on my GMG. Suggested temp was 170* til internal temp is 150*. I'll also add smoke with a Smoke Daddy. The GMG will run at 150* all day and night long, but internal temp would take a long time to come to 150* I don't mind having to cook the bacon before eating. I don't like a heavy smoke on my food, so I won't have to smoke for a long time. Thoughts?

The assembly line sounds like a good idea! So does the brown sugar, I will do that. Still 1 flavor to pick to make 4.

Again, many thanks for the advice, and the time it takes to type it.

 

To add: the pork belly was $3.97 per #, I bought a package of fresh side already sliced, for $3.49 per #. huh pork belly IS fresh side. Might as well let them slice it and save my fingers, and blood. I'll be cookin' me some fresh side tomorrow!

 

Lots of good reading, thank you!
And it also reinforces my earlier comment about conflicting info.
I have: Tender Quick, pink salt, kosher, pickling, canning, and table salt! I guess I need to get some #1 curing salt. Coz you can never have enough salt right? And my doc says I need to cut down on salt... lol!

 

I put Dale's on anything I want.

 

Cure typically penetrates the meat at about a rate of 1/4" per day. Then you add in a couple of days for a safety factor. So a 2" thick cut of meat will talk a minimum of 10 day.

2" / .25 + 2 = 10 days

The big thing is you do not what to under cure the meat or you risk botulism the thing you are trying to protect against.

So it sounds like you are hot smoking the bacon which is totally fine. After the bacon is out of the cure, air dried in the fridge and ready for smoke start you smoker at 120 degrees and put the bacon in for 1 hour with no smoke. After 1 hour raise the temperature to 130 degrees and start smoke. Every hour after that raise the temp of the smoker 10 degrees until you hit between 170 to 190 then let the bacon go until it reaches an internal temperature of 152 to 155 degrees. After it reach's 152 to 155* remove from the smoker and put on a cooling rack back in the fridge overnight to "gas off/rest" and cool down.

Raw pork belly is fresh. Are you talking about they broke down the meat into manageable pieces or they sliced it into bacon strips? If broken down into manageable pieces you can more forward with what I have typed. If it is presliced you will need to look for a different process, spicing and smoking method.

Curing salt is really only that by name. As I posted before it is cure (nitrite/nitrate) w/ salt added in a quantity only enough to make it easily and accurately measured/weighted. It does not contain enough salt by itself when curing so additional salt must be added to the curing salt in the correct amount. With Tender Quick that was already done for you at the manufacturer.

There is no cutting down n salt in cured meats. While salt isn't cure it assists the cure in making a inhospitable environment for bacterial growth by leeching moisture out of the meat. Bacteria love warm moist environments so reducing moisture and refrigeration help ward it off.

 

The pork belly is whole, the 1# of fresh side I also bought is sliced. The sliced is going to meet my skillet today.

 

I'm not sure how the fresh sliced belly will turn out but consider baking it verses pan frying. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil spread the bacon out in a single layer, season and bake at 350/375 degrees until done to your liking. Once the fat cools on the foil ball it up and throw It away. Much easier than cleaning up grease spatter the 15 foot radius around the frying pan.

 

For all you blokes looking for a glass door beverage cooler to cure meats age cheese or simply keep your drinks cool. I just posted a one F/S in the classifieds:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/posts/17088234/

 

Valentines Day is just around the corner. Nothing says i love you like a


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lJDSYGVptQ

 

That's a helluva deal!

 

Let the fun begin!

 

I'm thinking about snagging a brisket. Need to make sure I have an ample supply of pellets, even with the thermal blanket on I go through fuel faster since it's stupid cold and snowing out. Grrrrr need to move back south so I don't have to be a popsicle every time I go outside.

 

Ya it's nice to not have to worry. I do less work than I did on the old smokers and the results are just as good now. It's great when we have errands to run for parties and stuff. I throw the meat on and don't worry about it while we are out running around. Get back home, check on it once. Remote temp probes are a must though.

 

That's what she said

 

...and you are one of our favorite pin cushions...

 

I'd argue remote temp probes are useless unless you have a means to remotely adjust things. Knowing and not being able to do anything about it would be torture.

 

When I'm in the house it stops me from having to run outside to see what the temps on the meat(s) and the smoker itself are.

As for remotely do something about it. I'm already working on that. Building out the controller for it and it has WiFi in it. Have to work on the software now also.

 

Picked up a Pit Boss Ceramic smoker from Costco for $599. It can fit 3 racks of ribs with room to spare. Testing her out today but so far I am impressed with the quality and capacity.