Todays smoking project

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ShadowsDad
Posts: 3121
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:13 am
Location: Central Maine

Todays smoking project

Post by ShadowsDad »

I have a Primo ceramic cooker and while it does a great job at southern BBQ, grilling, as an oven and such, it can be a bear to cold smoke anything in it without jumping through hoops. I recently got an Amaze-N-Smoker and today was it's first use, and now the Primo is a cold smoker that's easy to use... no more hoops to jump through. The reason ceramic cookers are so difficult to cold smoke in is they hold heat so well. The ceramic is one heck of an insulator, so any smoke generator needs to make little or no heat.

Here is the buckboard bacon I smoked today. I slit the boneless butt to make 2 slabs, that also allowed me to remove the lymph node easily. After curing them for about a week with TenderQuick they were ready for the smoke. 4 hours of apple smoke did the trick. FWIW, this is more like Canadian bacon. It's not at all like bacon made from pork belly. Since it's going through the grinder in a week or 2, storing it in slabs is the way to go.

Image


It may not look as though it's been smoked very much, but I don't use artificial coloring. The apple smoke taste is definitely there. All the way at the bottom of the pan are trimmings that will go through the grinder.


Since I made it for the bacon component of some Taylor Pork Roll (sausage) (aka Taylor Ham) most is earmarked for that. But I had 1# too much and that will be used for breakfasts. I couldn't resist heating up a pan and sampling... delicious. I'll definitely make this again! For those who live in NJ and close by I don't need to tell you about Taylor Ham, for those who have never had it, it's the king of sausage. It can be eaten like a cold cut, sliced and fried for a hot sandwich, eaten like bacon with pancakes or eggs. It incredibly versatile and when one moves away it's the most often requested item to be brought from home by guests. But hand carried TH only lasts so long. Hence the desire to make my own for an unending supply throughout the year.

Here's the link to the recipe I'm going to use: http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/New ... rkRoll.pdf
Brian

Maker of Kramperts Finest Bay Rum and Frostbite
Or find it here: Italian Barber, West Coast Shaving, Barclay Crocker, The Old Town Shaving Company at Stats, Maggard Razors; Leavitt & Peirce, Harvard Square
brothers
Posts: 21514
Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 7:18 am
Location: Oklahoma City USA

Re: Todays smoking project

Post by brothers »

Oh, that made me hungry. Is this edible (fully cooked) right out of the smoker, or is it considered uncooked pork at this stage? (Sorry if that's an ignorant question!)
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
ShadowsDad
Posts: 3121
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:13 am
Location: Central Maine

Re: Todays smoking project

Post by ShadowsDad »

It's a good question.

Like bacon, It still requires cooking since it was cold smoked. The thermometer never goes below 120°F on the cooker, not even at -20°F, and it never climbed above that during the smoking process. In the pan for a few minutes at most does the cooking. It's more like Canadian bacon in that respect. I don't think it will crisp up like pork belly bacon, but I've never tried. I make canadian bacon frequently using an entire ~10# cryovac'ed loin at a time ( a staple for us) but buckboard bacon is a first; not the last time though. Any bacon is incredibly easy to make. We haven't bought any bacon in years. But we buy lots of pork loins and boston butts when they're on sale. The P'loins get turned into C'bacon, the B' butts are sausage, and now, buckboard bacon. We haven't bought sausage in quite some time either. I can make much better than I can buy. That's a bit more work than bacon. Winter is a good time for sausage making since we have the huge outdoor freezer. I almost have enough curiosity to make pork belly bacon. Almost. I'd need to drive 90 miles to an Asian though market to find pork belly. Maybe some day if I find myself in Portland.

At one time I bought my sausage semi-locally for $7/#. It was and still is really good stuff (The Sausage Kitchen in Lisbon Falls - google it). But I like sausage of every bit as high quality, made to my spec's much more, for under $2/lb. Bacon too, is under $2/lb and bacon is so much easier to make. Actual work time, it doesn't take more than 15 minutes. The rest of the time is just waiting for the chemicals to do what they do.

Hot smoking produces what you're thinking of Gary. That's how I've made my Canadian bacon in the past. From now on I'm going to cold smoke it.
Brian

Maker of Kramperts Finest Bay Rum and Frostbite
Or find it here: Italian Barber, West Coast Shaving, Barclay Crocker, The Old Town Shaving Company at Stats, Maggard Razors; Leavitt & Peirce, Harvard Square
brothers
Posts: 21514
Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 7:18 am
Location: Oklahoma City USA

Re: Todays smoking project

Post by brothers »

Thanks for the helpful information Brian. I find this quite interesting.
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
ShadowsDad
Posts: 3121
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:13 am
Location: Central Maine

Re: Todays smoking project

Post by ShadowsDad »

All it would take for equipment to cold smoke is a container of some sort; a garbage can would work as long as whatever you intend to smoke can be suspended by some means. Hanging from a hook dangling in space would work, and an Amaze-N-Smoker. They aren't expensive. They make 2 types. One uses sawdust. The other, which I have, uses pellets. Give the container some draft so as not to smother the smoldering fire and you have a smoker. Heck, a cardboard box would work since there's no heat. Just place the A-N-S on something heat resistant. I used my Primo because I have it.

If you really wanted to guild the lily an aluminum or SS box with a hinged front and grate type shelves would be ideal and it'd last forever since it won't rust. A slider top and bottom for draft would complete it; a piece of material held on by gravity laying over a hole could be the draft. You'd need no water tray or anything even similar since there's no heat to dry anything out. It wouldn't work to make jerky because of that, and be sure to use fully cured meat so that it doesn't spoil during the smoking. A box 2'x2' and however high would handle anything you might want to smoke for personal use.

You get the idea.
Brian

Maker of Kramperts Finest Bay Rum and Frostbite
Or find it here: Italian Barber, West Coast Shaving, Barclay Crocker, The Old Town Shaving Company at Stats, Maggard Razors; Leavitt & Peirce, Harvard Square
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