Recent content by jpgauthi79

Hi Ng, what temperature did you cook your brisket? Also, were you using the MES' temp setting as your gauge?  I would follow hardcookin's advice, and just use the probe test. If it goes in easily, then it's ready. 

Great job, Gary. Next stop after I give you some points... find me some butcher paper!   

Id2, you will hear different opinions. Personally, they are all correct, it just depends on what you like. I recently did some (title is Belly Bacon - 3 day smoke) where I kept the temps in between 100 and 120 for the majority of the time in my MES 30. The heat came solely from my AMZNPS burning...

Kit, not sure on all of this but I'll answer from my experience. If you want a strong bark formation, I would not put any liquid in the pan. I do, however, spritz my butt once an hour during the initial phase before foiling. You can find various recipes, but mine consists of 3 parts apple cider...

Slow, I also like a good crust, and each time I wrapped, I lost a little bit of that on the finished product. So the last time I wrapped, I decided that at 190 degrees, I would unwrap it and put it back in my MES. Within the last hour or two that it took to reach 205, it barked right back up and...

That's good enough for me!

Dave, I noticed in your pics that you smoke the bellies with the fat down. Can you give me some insight on that? 

Arlie, if you feel like driving to Humble (Fall Creek neighborhood), I've got a lb with your name on it.

Thanks for the kind words, guys. The other two times I'm done these bellies, they've been more meaty than typical bacon. That first pic was one of the meatier slabs, but you can tell from the pic that they are all pretty full. Here's the 9 lbs that I kept for myself.

Here's a few pics of the first of four chunks I sliced. After these pics, I was pretty much elbow deep in bacon grease so I failed to get more pics. Total packaged product consisted of 13 lbs of thick cut bacon, 4 half-pound bags of chopped bacon bits (about 1/2" chunks for recipes) and a pound...

Thanks Bear. This has become a hobby of mine in my downtime and I am thoroughly enjoying the fruits of my labor. I've got a friend in high places at my local grocer and can get these bellies for $1.47/lb any time I want! I try to keep a constant supply for all my friends who just happen to "stop...

Dave, I can't get my smoker temp that low. I'm in the process of getting the cold smoke attachment that I can hook up with a dryer tube that will allow me to pull the burning pellets out of the box. Maybe that will help me get lower temps. End of day 3, total time was 8.5 hours. Most of the...

At the 3 hour mark, temp is at 113 due to direct sunlight hitting the box. Everything is going according to plan.

Dave, yes, those are the slices I fried up for a taste test. 

Day two completed. Total cook time was 9 hours, mostly from 100-110 with the last two hours from 115-120. Needed to take a small sampling, for sanitary reasons that is. It's coming along nicely! I do like the pecan smoke, very nice flavor.