First attempt at BBB (Thanks Bearcarver)

riverrat3 · Oct 23, 2014

Well starting this thread early mostly due to going crazy waiting on cure time. First things first.Thank you so much for your help Bear your an asset to this forum. Found a small end cut of a Boston butt about 4lbs. that only had a thumbnail size piece of bone in it. Figured this would do nicely for a first run. Read Bearcarver's step by step for the gazillionth time and here we are.

Cut and weighed each piece then weighed out the tender quick. Kept it all nice and neat. This seems unimportant when reading Bear's guide but really does make it simpler. Although with my ninja knife skills I got the pieces pretty close to even.:biggrin:

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riverrat3
Oct 23, 2014

Got my brown sugar together.

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riverrat3
Oct 23, 2014

All ready for the chilling process till Halloween.

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riverrat3
Oct 23, 2014

Neighbor owns a little store/restaurant next door gave me an early Christmas present just in time for this little project.

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riverrat3
Oct 23, 2014

I'm now on day 2 of curing will be updating later on thanks for looking.

crazymoon · Oct 23, 2014

Looking good and nice slicer !

Bearcarver · Oct 23, 2014

Great Start Riverrat !!

You're gonna love that stuff !!! Be Back!

Bear

BTW: Congrats on the early Christmas Present !!

one eyed jack · Oct 23, 2014

Nice looking start to your project. I would like to give that a try too.

pc farmer · Oct 23, 2014

I am in.

I gotta try bbb.

riverrat3 · Oct 23, 2014

Thanks everyone. Anybody with any experience in hanging meat to smoke? Ive got several stainless s hooks that would be perfect just wondering about benefits from it. I thought with bbb it might stretch it a little for a more belly bacon shape. Any imput appreciated.

Bearcarver · Oct 24, 2014

riverrat3 said:
Thanks everyone. Anybody with any experience in hanging meat to smoke? Ive got several stainless s hooks that would be perfect just wondering about benefits from it. I thought with bbb it might stretch it a little for a more belly bacon shape. Any imput appreciated.

I don't believe it would stretch it any noticeable amount.

The only difference I can think of is you won't have any grill marks if you hang it, but once you slice the Bacon the grill marks aren't seen anyway.

Whichever way you do it, don't allow the pieces to be in contact with each other, or that area may not get the same smoke color or flavor.

Bear

gary s · Oct 24, 2014

Nice RR. Keep those pictures coming. More great advice and help from Bear

Gary

disco · Oct 25, 2014

I'll be watching this one. It should be great.

Disco

riverrat3 · Oct 25, 2014

Thanks Gary and Disco,the wait is killing me. They're looking good in the bags,I put a pyrex pan the same size on top for a little pressure. Seem to be forming a nice shape and color.

dirtsailor2003 · Oct 26, 2014

Nice little present you got there!

I like to hang bacon when I smoke it. It doesn't stretch much. No real difference in the end product except I think it looks cool hanging in the smoker!

riverrat3 · Oct 30, 2014

And the saga continues! First off thank you again John and secondly damn you.lol this is now officially a no store bought bacon household! Was very happy when I cut the better piece in two and found such beauty,moved on to the fry test saying to myself "now remember this is just the fry test it's not supposed to be good." Well let me tell you otherwise,it rivaled some of the best breakfast meats on the market as is bar none. I could have sliced it all and ate sandwiches all day. But alas I can only imagine the final product. Enough said here's some tasty pics for y'all.
The picture just doesn't capture the color great. It is the color of really fresh ribeye,bright red.

soaking

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riverrat3
Oct 30, 2014

cured beauty

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riverrat3
Oct 30, 2014

fry test

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riverrat3
Oct 30, 2014

ready for a day in the fridge

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riverrat3
Oct 30, 2014

disco · Oct 30, 2014

Looking good!

Disco

Bearcarver · Oct 30, 2014

riverrat3 said:
And the saga continues! First off thank you again John and secondly damn you.lol this is now officially a no store bought bacon household! Was very happy when I cut the better piece in two and found such beauty,moved on to the fry test saying to myself "now remember this is just the fry test it's not supposed to be good." Well let me tell you otherwise,it rivaled some of the best breakfast meats on the market as is bar none. I could have sliced it all and ate sandwiches all day. But alas I can only imagine the final product. Enough said here's some tasty pics for y'all.
The picture just doesn't capture the color great. It is the color of really fresh ribeye,bright red.

cured beauty

image1 (4).JPG

riverrat3

Oct 30, 2014

That's what I'm talking about !!----------A Thing of Beauty!!!

-----------------

See----The Bear would never steer you wrong!!

Nice Job!!

Bear

riverrat3 · Oct 30, 2014

Thanks Disco.

Sure didn't on this one Bear! I couldn't believe the flavor without smoke. Perfect balance of salt and sweet. Hats off to you sir!

gary s · Oct 30, 2014

Good job

Gary

riverrat3 · Oct 31, 2014

Let the smoke roll!

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riverrat3
Oct 31, 2014

Bearcarver · Oct 31, 2014

riverrat3 said:
Let the smoke roll!

IMG_20141031_085529.jpg

riverrat3

Oct 31, 2014

RR,

Pay attention when it gets colder out:

I tried a chimney like you have on my old MES a long time ago, and in the Winter the cold outside temps caused the Warm Humid smoke to condense on the inside of the chimney & run down the pipe and through the top vent holes & drip on the meat.

If you use the chimney in Winter, you might want to either keep any food away from the back right corner, or put something under the top vent to catch the drippings.

My Son had the same trouble with his old Cook Shack smoker, but his was worse because their top vent was a hole in the middle of the top of the smoker, and it dripped even without a chimney.

Bear

gary s · Oct 31, 2014

Just thinking out loud, and i'm not familiar with electric smokers but what if you wrapped and insulated the stack ?

Gary

Bearcarver · Oct 31, 2014

gary s said:
Just thinking out loud, and i'm not familiar with electric smokers but what if you wrapped and insulated the stack ?

Gary

Quite Possibly!!

Some put the chimney on because it's the only way to get enough draft for their AMNPS to work, so they might want to try that.

I however only tried the chimney to reduce the wind's effect on my vent. When I saw it dripping, I just stopped using the chimney, because there are other ways to block the wind.

Bear

First attempt at BBB (Thanks Bearcarver)

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