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View Full Version : Having fun sure gets compkicated.



Glenn Vaughn
02-21-2012, 2:44 AM
Because of eye problems I have had to curtail my woodworking severely (very difficult to read measurements). I decided I needed something else to do as a stress reliever and, because I have a smoker, settled on smoking meat and sausage making. As long as I stuck to Salmon and roasts it was simple.

Then I get this bright idea - I love bacon and it is just smoked pork so it should be easy.Bacon is smoked pork belly so I decided to get some from the store ... easier said than done. Nobody in town carries pork belly and only one store would order ot for me. The price was not bad BUT I had to buy a case of 3 bellies. So I ordered a case - 33 pounds; almost $100.00. While waiting for te bellies I read up on making bacon and discovered that it needs to be cured before it can be smoked. One ingredient needed for the cure was "Pink Salt". This took some seatching to find locally but I managed.

I used a dry cure which takes a week to cure the meat. It has to be kept at 40 degrees ot lower for the week - luckily I have an empty refrigerator in the basement I can use for this part of the process. After getting the bellies prepared I was ready to smoke them.

Now the fun really started.

First problem was capacity of the smoker - only room for 1 at a time. I could live with this even though it meant it would take 3 times as long to get it all done.

The next problen is the actual smoking process and the temps needed. I have converted my smoler to propane so I can controll temps easier than I can when buring wood or charcoal. I needed to smoke at 130 degrees until the meat reaches an internal temp of 127 deg then reduce the smoker temp to 120 deg. I can do the temps easily BUT can't get the wood chips to smoke. I ended up having to crank the temp is to 150 - 160 to get smoke. This worked but the process ran quicker that it should have.I finally got it all cone (took most of 2 days) and it turned out very good.

In a way it turned ot too good since my wife, who says she does not like smoked meats, is giving me recipies for other things to make. Naturally most involve "cold" smoking instead of "hot" smoling. Now to keep her happy I have to build a smolehouse with a separate smoke generator (separated from the smokehouse so the smoke can cool before it gets there). J will also need to devise a method to control temp in the smokehouse.It turns out that this is probably as expensive as woodworking. However I get to explore a whole new world of tools; mainly for sausage making.

I am anticipating lots of requests from family and friends for smoked items. The bacon was a big hit with everyone - even the 5 year old granddaughter who says that it is much better than "boxed" bacon.

charlie knighton
02-21-2012, 3:07 AM
when i was a younger we use to go to indian rocks beach visit grandma, i would get a sailor hat, sunglasses , and smoked mullet

i still remember the smoked mullet, it was great, there use to be vendors set up on the side of the rode , seems like some of the mullet was smoked with mustard?????

Paul Gallian
02-21-2012, 3:26 AM
I take five pounds of smoked bacon and 10 pounds of smoked pork butts... lol

Jim Rimmer
02-21-2012, 10:27 AM
Interesting post but as I was reading I was thinking about the early pioneers that smoked their meat without the benefit of temperature controls and meat thermometers. They got it done somehow without the aid of the technology we have now. Good luck with your new hobby. One difference between it and woodworking is that with woodworking eventually your house is full of furniture. With this hobby, you can just eat your projects. :D

Marty Paulus
02-21-2012, 10:49 AM
Glenn,

A couple of years ago I bought my first smoker to make the wife some ribs for Mother’s Day. She wasn't a big fan of smoked meat at that point. Over the years I have cooked beer can chicken in it, pork tenderloin, brisket and pork shoulder for pulled pork. As my skills with the smoker increase so does my wife’s appreciation for the food that it makes. She now is actually asking when I am going to fire it up again and taking an active roll in the menu for that day. I have not ventured into the cold smoked food yet nor have I gotten to a salmon fillet yet either. These are areas I am going to try soon. I have, as you have, noticed the limits of my current set up. I have upgraded my smoke box to using two bread loaf pans since I could not use chunk wood with the old smoke box. I am now also working on the design for a larger unit as I am not sure I can buy what I want at a reasonable cost. Yes it is a slippery slope just like the other tools I have in the garage. Until the upgrade on size I am working on different rubs for different meats.

Now if you are looking for something to occupy your time while watching the smoker you may want to think about learning to home brew!

Glenn Vaughn
02-21-2012, 11:07 AM
There are still quite a few that presrve meat the "old" way - especially in the south east. he essential equipment for them is a large smokehouse and a fire pit 10 - 20 feet from the smokehouse. Smoke is channeled to the smokehouse and cools as it travels. The old process is almost excusively "cold" smoking and can take weeks to cure the meat and smoke it. Finished meats do not require refrigeration and keep for a much longer time than modern smoked meats.

The Italians produce a ham that is not smoked at all - it is salted and airdried for over a year (Serrano Ham). It will keep for a long time at room temp.

Commercial smokers can produce product in hours instead of weeks - but it has a much shorted shelf life even if refrigerated. I had a great uncle that had a farm in Texas in the 1950;s were he raised hogs and smoled his own meats in the traditional way. His hams and bacon could be kept for many monts in a cool room with no problems. The USDA has guidelines for preserving meats that result in quicker processing . The down side is the need to refrigerate or freeze the product.

I would love to be able to smoke the old way but I don;t have enough room to build a proper facility (the City would probably refuse a permit if I did have room). Also I am getting to the age where a six month to a yea process might be too long for me.

In my opinion dry cured meats taste much better than the modern wet cured meats. When I was growing up we had things like Smithfield hams that were much better than the modern Smithfields and the same with slow smoked bacon.

Ryan Mooney
02-21-2012, 11:07 AM
Good times, you can make better stuff at home this way than you can buy (well not totally true, I've seen some quality meats for sale, but only in lucky areas and the prices!!! :eek:).

This is the best intro book I've found, worth it if you don't have a copy: http://www.amazon.com/Charcuterie-Craft-Salting-Smoking-Curing/dp/0393058298

For cold smoking, I just pop riveted a drier duct vent attachment to one of the lower vents on the smoker and another to the vent on a small $15 hibachi BBQ. Hook the two together with a length of drier ducting and voila - cold smoker. I use charcoal to get the wood smoking in the hibachi, but once its going it will smolder and smoke all day with only a little maintenance. Smokes pretty cold (at ambient or close to it), so you may want to add some auxiliary heat to the main unit or do a "finish" smoke a little hotter.

If you haven't made "real" pastrami (brisket cured ~4-6 days, smoked and then steamed for 4-5 hours) you need to try that as well. Daaaannnnggg

Other sources of interest:
- http://www.butcher-packer.com/
- http://www.sausagemaker.com/

curtis rosche
02-21-2012, 12:21 PM
now you just need to make sure you only work woods that you can use your scraps for smoking :)

Ted Calver
02-21-2012, 12:55 PM
I don't know if where you live would permit it, but I made very effective smoker out of an old refrigerator when I lived in Alaska. Drill hole to insert thermometer, another at the top for a vent. I used to cold smoke (kipper) salmon for three days at around 90 degrees and it came out great. I did chicken, turkey, moose jerky and caribou jerky. You can also regulate the temp for hot smoking. We used an old electric frying pan to heat the alder chips. The set up would probably be the same as some folks on here use for drying bowls.

charlie knighton
02-21-2012, 2:55 PM
Ted,
I made very effective smoker out of an old refrigerator when I lived in Alaska.

did you have any trouble with bears??????????