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Speaking of Buckboard bacon, took out some from the freezer for today's breakfast! I bake mine vs. frying, drain well on paper towels, way less fat, both in the bacon and in the tray!
Finished right about 5pm, 9 hours, finished internal temp was 150°. They turned out great! In the back fridge cooling down so I can slice and ship tomorrow! But, unlike the smoked turkeys that were leaking all over, these were very lean and hardly any juices to clean up, so I got a little Qview!
Yep! But, every time I start up the smokehouse, just like I did at the store, thousands and thousands of times, every single smoke was critical, because I was raised a cheap bastard, lol! Last thing in the world was to ruin meat! So you have to go over and over it in your mind, plan your work and work your plan, start, be patient, and finish properly and most important, clean up after yourself; nothing worse than getting out everything and make someone else do the dirty work! Can't stress that enough! And, record it in your smoking log!
It's on it's way. Sliced up 4 of them, one whole (for my brother, he used to be a meatcutter too and can cut his own! lol!). Some to Florida, some to NNY, etc.I can imagine next year as other cousins find out...
It's on it's way. Sliced up 4 of them, one whole (for my brother, he used to be a meatcutter too and can cut his own! lol!). Some to Florida, some to NNY, etc.I can imagine next year as other cousins find out...
Brine can become frothy (ropy). It has both salt and sugar in it. It also is inputting curing ingredients into the meat and oozing out blood and plasma. Just dump the brine and make up fresh and continue curing should that happen. Make sure you keep it at 38° - 40°.
Weigh down meat into curing brine with half-filled ziploc bags of water on top.
No further mixing or stirring required, let it cure until done. Meats will come out of the brine wish a distinct grayish look. This is normal.
Computing equivalency, for 100 gallons of curing brine, you add 24 lbs. of curing salt to 100 gallons of water and mix.
That is .24 lbs, or 3.84 oz. of curing salt to 1 gallon of water maximum.
My recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of curing salt to 1 gallon of water. A level tablespoon is .88 of an ounce. Heaping is approx. 1 ounce. Either is fine. Neither comes close to the maximum amount allowed, but just enough to do the job. Curing at Maximum, plus with injection, requires 48 hours of cure time maximum. This process uses less than one third the curing salt and a longer curing time to tenderize and flavor the meat.
You must cover the product until it floats off the bottom of the container, then weight it down to stay submersed in the brine, leaving no area to be exposed to air. You must keep at 38° to 40° until curing time is over. Remove from brine, put or hang in smokehouse or smoker. I personally go from refrigeration to heat with no wait time myself. There is different thoughts, whether to allow a pellicle to form or not.
A pellicle is mainly, to my knowledge, allowed to form on fish prior to smoking. We were only 30 miles from Salmon River in Pulaski, NY, a very well known salmon run. We had many bring us their salmon to process and usually allowed a pellicle to form But, pork and beef are not tender like fish.
Anything I have left out or any questions, be sure to PM me! Don't hesitate!