making bacon

Bill


Next time if you have time make sure to let me know before you come and we will get together if possible. Side pork on the smoker sounds good. I will have to try that


Fleener

Jake, do you have a good digital thermometer with probe? I had the Traeger Little Tex without the adjustable temp as well (later added it) and I am thinking I had a time of it keeping the temp below 200 just on smoke. It's been a while, though. I have heard pecan is a good choice for smoking bacon.
Art, I would love to connect and at least say hello. This last was a very quick trip and my first time in Iowa.

I do have a couple of digital thermometers and one is designed to sit outside the oven with the probe in the food in the oven. I hadn't thought about using that. Also the last time I smokes something, in my traeger it didn't get up to 200 degrees according to the outside thermometer on the thing and I think it was close as it didn't have much heat.

I just got finished boning out the shoulders and splitting them to pieces that are about 1-2" thick. I will leave them in the refrigerator over night to dry out some more. I took some pictures and will try to figure out how to post them along with information on the recipe I am using.

Black Hand, do you have any experience with loading pictures directly from a smart phone. I have an iPhone. I could also down load them to my Mac too, but it would just be easier to load them directly.

Okay here is an attempt at pictures

The first is the pork packages, second is one shoulder and third is the bone that was cut out and the split shoulder.

Okay, I got the picture links to show up. How do I get the pics to actually show in the post? BTW, I was able to send these directly from my phone.

Tried again didn’t work

Here ya go buddy...

Kansas Jake said:

Okay here is an attempt at pictures

The first is the pork packages, second is one shoulder and third is the bone that was cut out and the split shoulder.

Click to expand...

The reason yours didn't work was because you posted the web address in between the image brackets....Instead copy the picture itself and paste ....You can manually type in image in brackets ending with a backslash or you can use the mountain and sun icon above the reply message box...It looks like a triangle with a orange dot above it. Bottom row 4th from the left.
Looks like this.....


a new window will open, paste the copied picture in the new window and click OK.

Thanks Clyde. I'll give that a try as I move along with this project.

https://ibb.co/kMkCtA

Here is the curing rub and the source I received at the Mother Earth Fair. I’ll list the ingredients later.

pic attempt didn’t work

https://ibb.co/mZynRV

The previous post contains the link showing one of the pieces of pork wrapped after being coated with the cure and another with the cure on it waiting to be wrapped. I ended up with eight packages that are now in the refrigerator. The person who provided the recipe indicated the packages should be weighed down with something to help keep them flat and even. I stacked the packages on two cookie trays with one on top of the other and then a piece of 3/8" sheet metal on top of the top tray. I can get away with that because they are in an old refrigerator in the garage.

Following this thread closely. I think I will be hungry at the end ...

Kansas Jake said:

https://ibb.co/kMkCtA

Here is the curing rub and the source I received at the Mother Earth Fair. I’ll list the ingredients later.

Click to expand...

Kansas Jake said:

https://ibb.co/mZynRV

Click to expand...

well, at least I'm able to repost them for you....

Thanks again Clyde.

Here are the ingredients for the cure:

2 1/2-3 pounds thick skinless pork-belly

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses

2 tablespoons kosher salt( and more if needed)

1/2 teaspoon pink curing salt (instaCure #1)

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

I multiplied the recipe by 5 given the amount of pork i had to cure and mixed the ingredients all at once. The recipe suggests combining the sugar and molasses in a flat pan and mixing well and then adding the other ingredients. I did mine in a mixing bowel by hand.

The recipe suggest drying the meat well and the demonstration I watch suggested even leaving it uncovered overnight in the refrigerator to dry the surface of the meat. I did this.

After the overnight I took the meat and divided the cure into as many pieces as I had and rubbed it onto the meat in a flat pan and then put each piece into a gallon plastic freezer bag, removed as much air as I could sealed it and then put it into another bag.

When this was all done I placed the meat with cure on it on cooky sheets with sides and in the refrigerator with one cooky sheet on top of the other with a piece of sheet metal on the top of the upper pan to hold the meat flat.

This was all per the instructions from Ms. Solomon's recipe. Her book is Cured Meat, Smoked Fish & Picked Eggs. Storey Publishing is the publisher.

I deviated from things by using pork shoulder and multiplying the cure amount. Hopefully this won't ruin things.

The meat is currently in the refrigerator for the next 7 days. The instructions then suggest checking the meat and it should feel like a well cooked steak. If there are any spongy spots, add more salt and let it cure for a few more days.

Mine is curing so that is where we are at present.

Sounds awfully sweet with the sugar to salt ratio...

Here is a pic of the smoked meat