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  1. Hampshire pork belly bacon w/qview

    Hampshire pork belly bacon w/qview

  2. catzcradle

    Hampshire pork belly bacon w/qview

    Thanks to a question this weekend, I was reassured about what Nitrate burn is.  Anyways, This was a test of the Hampshire bellies I bought from an online retailer out of Iowa that sells only heritage Hampshire pork from small farms.  I wanted to try something a step up from the local asian...
  3. IMG_0189.JPG

    IMG_0189.JPG

  4. IMG_0188.JPG

    IMG_0188.JPG

  5. IMG_0187.JPG

    IMG_0187.JPG

  6. catzcradle

    slight green tinge in the fat of a cured belly

    Thanks everyone.  It's been in a cherry wood smoke since noon using the AMNS.  Should be done around ten
  7. catzcradle

    slight green tinge in the fat of a cured belly

    It really is feignt, you can see it in the left slap on the edge, and on the main slab top left.  These were white when they went in the cure.   On the other hand the fry test seems fine.  One thing different on these is there was silverskin still on some of the bellies.I took most of it off...
  8. IMG_0186.jpg

    IMG_0186.jpg

  9. catzcradle

    slight green tinge in the fat of a cured belly

    I'm going on my third year of making my own bacon. I use a dry cure from high mountain seasonings that has worked great for me since the beginning.  I recently scored some great Hampshire pork bellies, and the first belly finished it's 7 days and is now soaking for an hour. However, one of the...
  10. catzcradle

    First Smoked Chicken - Questions inside

    I do chickens in my cookshack split down the backbone for about an hour and a half at 300 degrees to make the skin a little less rubbery than lower temps.  I usually have to do one on a vertical roaster in the weber bbq as well as the missus doesn't like smoked chicken much.  The cookshack is a...
  11. New experiment with large beef shoulder

    New experiment with large beef shoulder

  12. catzcradle

    New experiment with large beef shoulder

    I had picked up beef shoulder before to make ground beef for beef sticks.  Good price, not a ton of fat on it, and grinds nice.  I had seen someone mention smoking one, and being better than brisket.  So I picked up a 21 pounder and gave it a shot.  First thing I noticed, it took longer than the...
  13. shoulder.jpg

    shoulder.jpg

  14. catzcradle

    Bacon made the easy way...

    So after all these years, I'm finally going to ask about the brining method.  I have always done my bacon with a dry cure.  One of the reasons is I can coat it in the cure mix on sunday night, and smoke it by the next saturday.  If I leave it more than 5-6 days, it becomes so salty that I can't...
  15. catzcradle

    Very Simple Question

    I made a large batch of beef sticks using the high-mountain kit.  They were drier than those ones in the store, but when looking at what I used for the filling, and what a commercial place uses I think where the difference comes from is the fat content.  I used chuck roasts and a couple other...
  16. catzcradle

    Rushing the cure

    This is an interesting discussion, as the LEM's bacon cure I use says to cure for 4-6 days.  After talking to the guys at High Mountain regarding using their buckboard bacon cure, they gave me similar instructions for belly up to 1.5" thick as it takes 10 days to cure 3.5" thick pork shoulder. ...
  17. catzcradle

    Researched but still have a couple questions....

    I've got a electric Cookshack, and I've not had any problems producing bark.  I've even managed smoke rings by adding a piece of lump charcoal in the wood tray just based on suggestions here.  I can also get fairly crispy chicken by putting the heat up to 280 or so.  Mine will go up to 300 if I...
  18. catzcradle

    Jeff's Sauce

    Friedboudinball  It does have some sugar, I actually substitute ideal sweetener that is made with Xylitol and some sucralose and a touch of maltodextrin.  I also sub some other sugar free alternatives, and I've never had a complaint from anyone eating it, and the sauce usually goes very fast.
  19. catzcradle

    New to so cal group

    Welcome!
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