Thus it begins. Our good friends, she does not care for pork, he ate a lot of beef bacon in the Middle East and liked it. They run a food service, have commercial accounts. So I proposed, you get the beef belly (navel), I will cure, smoke, and keep 25%. Done.
They got the minimum order from Ray's Meats, 5 slabs, close to 80 pounds, from the Toppenish slaughter house for SRF. $3.79/lb.
I took one slab, almost 16 lbs. Fresh, never frozen. Followed Meathead's maple syrup pork bacon recipe on free side, which I have experience with re pork belly. Did not trim at all, cut into smaller slabs, marinated 3 days, smoked about 2 hours at 225 to 150 internal. Out of smoker, looked and tasted nasty. Way too much fat. Refrigerated then back on counter. Hacked off much fat. To the slicer, cross grain best I could tell.
Friends over for supper that night, bacon and eggs. They both liked it, he raved about it. Next day, sliced up the rest of that big slab, a bit thinner than first slices, and divided it up.
Currently working on 2nd slab. Trimmed it fairly aggressively. Skin on slabs, so trimmed to make Cracklins, following Meathead's free side recipe. New to me. Boiled 30 minutes, on pellet grill 1 hour at 225, then cranked it to 400. Supposedly for about 45 minutes. Went inside, dicked around, made burger patties for supper, took them out, to confront a reasonable facsimile of coal. Ick. Third stage, stay with the grill.
Did render some fat into tallow, from my trimming. Strained and filtered, about 2/3 cup. Will give that to my partners. I have plenty. 4 smaller slabs now in brine. Sliced them so I will know the grain after smoking.
I have not seen much on beef bacon. My main question, use same amount of Prague no.1 curing salt?
To be continued.
They got the minimum order from Ray's Meats, 5 slabs, close to 80 pounds, from the Toppenish slaughter house for SRF. $3.79/lb.
I took one slab, almost 16 lbs. Fresh, never frozen. Followed Meathead's maple syrup pork bacon recipe on free side, which I have experience with re pork belly. Did not trim at all, cut into smaller slabs, marinated 3 days, smoked about 2 hours at 225 to 150 internal. Out of smoker, looked and tasted nasty. Way too much fat. Refrigerated then back on counter. Hacked off much fat. To the slicer, cross grain best I could tell.
Friends over for supper that night, bacon and eggs. They both liked it, he raved about it. Next day, sliced up the rest of that big slab, a bit thinner than first slices, and divided it up.
Currently working on 2nd slab. Trimmed it fairly aggressively. Skin on slabs, so trimmed to make Cracklins, following Meathead's free side recipe. New to me. Boiled 30 minutes, on pellet grill 1 hour at 225, then cranked it to 400. Supposedly for about 45 minutes. Went inside, dicked around, made burger patties for supper, took them out, to confront a reasonable facsimile of coal. Ick. Third stage, stay with the grill.
Did render some fat into tallow, from my trimming. Strained and filtered, about 2/3 cup. Will give that to my partners. I have plenty. 4 smaller slabs now in brine. Sliced them so I will know the grain after smoking.
I have not seen much on beef bacon. My main question, use same amount of Prague no.1 curing salt?
To be continued.
Comment