...thanks to Robert, for the inspiration!
Well my butcher gal came thru for me. She got me a 14.9 lb. belly for $4.98 lb. Not too bad, as pork belly is getting close to that around here, sad to say.
(If it's allowed, I'd like to plug this family-owned and operated butcher shop, Double DD Meats in Mountlake Terrace, WA. They carry over 3,000 hot sauces, plus another 2 or 3 aisles of BBQ, mustards, and any other kind of sauce you can think of. It's run mostly by women, and yeah, they're in on the joke.
)
Cut into three pieces. The one on the right had a big, bleeding vein going thru the end that I couldn't seem to completely drain, so I sliced a 1" chunk off to get rid of it. Other than that, I didn't trim it much; took off maybe 4 oz. of extra fat, and cleaned up a little trim from the middle.
This is almost 3" on the thickest side, but doesn't get any thinner than 2".
I watched some YouTube videos, and most of them used a wet brine, but I like the texture of dry brining better. Just using a standard bacon dry brine mixture for this; since it's beef, I think it'll hold up to some added CBP during the smoking process.
I think this would be okay brining for two weeks, but I may go three since it's so thick.
Back later...
Well my butcher gal came thru for me. She got me a 14.9 lb. belly for $4.98 lb. Not too bad, as pork belly is getting close to that around here, sad to say.
(If it's allowed, I'd like to plug this family-owned and operated butcher shop, Double DD Meats in Mountlake Terrace, WA. They carry over 3,000 hot sauces, plus another 2 or 3 aisles of BBQ, mustards, and any other kind of sauce you can think of. It's run mostly by women, and yeah, they're in on the joke.
Cut into three pieces. The one on the right had a big, bleeding vein going thru the end that I couldn't seem to completely drain, so I sliced a 1" chunk off to get rid of it. Other than that, I didn't trim it much; took off maybe 4 oz. of extra fat, and cleaned up a little trim from the middle.
This is almost 3" on the thickest side, but doesn't get any thinner than 2".
I watched some YouTube videos, and most of them used a wet brine, but I like the texture of dry brining better. Just using a standard bacon dry brine mixture for this; since it's beef, I think it'll hold up to some added CBP during the smoking process.
I think this would be okay brining for two weeks, but I may go three since it's so thick.
Back later...