Picked up an almost 9 lb pork belly from Costco today and started the cure used the recipe on this site.
Broke the belly into three 3 lb slabs. Two went into the basic cure, one of which will get an extra thick black pepper crust prior to smoking. The third slab is destined to be a sort of pastrami bacon. I added a TBS of my pickling spice to the cure recipe. This slab will be coated in a black pepper/coriander rub and then smoked.
Plan on smoking on New Years Day do that will be a 5+ day cure. Stay tuned.
Lonestar Grillz 24x36 offset smoker, grill, w/ main chamber charcoal grate and 3 tel-tru thermometers - left, right and center
Yoke Up custom charcoal basket and a Grill Wraps cover.
22.5 copper kettle w/ SnS, DnG, BBQ vortex, gasket and stainless steel hinge kit.
Napoleon gas grill (soon to go bye bye) rotting out.
1 maverick et-733 digital thermometer - black
1 maverick et-733 - gray
1 new standard grilling remote digital thermometer
1 thermoworks thermopen mk4 - red
1 thermoworks thermopop - red
Pre Miala flavor injector
taylor digital scale
TSM meat grinder
chefs choice food slicer
cuisinhart food processor
food saver vacuum sealer
TSM harvest food dehydrator
Hi, my name is Darrell. I'm an OTR truck driver for over 25 years. During my off time I love doing backyard cooks. I have a 48" Lang Deluxe smoker, Rec-Tec pellet smoker,1 Weber Genesis 330, 1 Weber Performer (blue), 2 Weber kettles (1 black and 1 Copper), 1 26" Weber kettle, a WSM, 8 Maverick Redi Chek thermometers, a PartyQ, 2 SnS, Grill Grates, Cast Iron grates, 1 ThermoPop (orange) and 2 ThermoPens (pink and orange) and planning on adding more cooking accessories. Now I have an Anova sous vide, the Dragon blower and 2 Chef alarms from Thermoworks.
Weber Kettle -- 22.5" (In-Service Date June 2015)
Slow-n-Sear/Drip-n-Griddle/Grill Grates (In-Service Date March 2016)
Pit Boss 820 (Retired)
GMG Jim Bowie WiFi (In-Service Date April 2017)
Maverick ET-733
Fireboard
Home-brewer
Equipment
Primo Oval xl
Slow n Sear (two)
Drip n Griddle
22" Weber Kettle
26" Weber Kettle one touch
Blackstone 36†Pro Series
Sous vide machine
Kitchen Aid
Meat grinder
sausage stuffer
5 Crock Pots Akootrimonts
Two chimneys (was 3 but rivets finally popped, down to 1)
cast iron pans,
Dutch ovens
Signals 4 probe, thermapens, chef alarms, Dots, thermapop and maverick T-732, RTC-600, pro needle and various pocket instareads. The help and preferences
1 extra fridge and a deep chest freezer in the garage
KBB
FOGO
A 9 year old princess foster child
Patience and old patio furniture
"Baby Girl" The cat
Scotch: Current favorite- The Arran (anything by them), Glenmorangie 12yr Lasanta, sherry cask finished. The Balvenie Double Wood, also like Oban 18yr, and The Glenlivet Nadurra (Oloroso sherry cask finished) among others. Neat please.
About meReal name: Aaron
Location: Farwell, Michigan - near Clare (dead center of lower peninsula).
Occupation:
Healthcare- Licensed & Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) at MyMichigan Health, a University of Michigan Health System.
I have a Charbroil gas grill, Big Easy, Large gas smoker and small electric smoker, GMG Davy Crockett pellet grill. I also have a 160L Cabelas dehydrator which I use for beef jerky.
I, too, picked up a 9lb pork belly recently to make some bacon for the first time. Being my first time I wanted to keep it basic and just followed Meathead's maple bacon recipe on all three 3lb sections. Hung two of the sections in the PBC, and the third in the Weber kettle. Was a little challenging with the temps while smoking, but seemed to come out OK. Fried up a handful of pieces on Christmas morning - tasted great! Next time I'll experiment with other flavorings as you've done here. Keep us posted.
Dinner tonight. Originally meant to be a pastrami bacon BLT but forgot the LT. so bacon on toast. Pastrami cure and rub gave it just a hint of pastrami flavor. Really good but would go stronger on the pickling spice cure and rub next time.
Comment