I went by my local Carneacia on Saturday and asked in my broken Spanish if they had any pork bellies. They use them to make cicerones or “pork rinds†to you Yankees and “cracklins†to you Southern boys. If youâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve never had hot fresh Mexican fried pork fat with hot sauce, youâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]re really missing out!
Any way it was pretty funny as the butcher had to lift an 80 pound case of four pork bellies over his head and smash it on the tile floor several times to break one lose from the solidly frozen block of meat. I ended up with a 22 pound belly that took 24 hours to thaw out.
This batch deviates slightly from my recently published diatribe on making bacon in difference to Rytec Kutasâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s instructions in his book. I left the skin on the bellies this time, I hope it proves easier to remove once the meat is cured and smoked!
I trimmed the belly and rubbed it with my previously posted dry cure, then “hammered†them into the curing box to remove any air pockets between the layers. Per the “Sausage Maker†book, the bellies were placed meat side to meat side with the skin on the top and the bottom. The box Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m using is a food grade plastic ice container from an airline galley cart that I normally reserve for making corned beef briskets. Once I had everything in the box, I covered it with plastic bags and a metal rack, then weighted it down with a gallon jug and stuck it in my fridge.
I plan to use my standard methods from here on out with the “wash†being of the honey variant I previously posted. Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m going to smoke with hickory and pecan for an American style bacon, but Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m still going to do my regular dip and dry step prior to smoking the bacon. Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ll overhaul the bellies in a few days and hope to be ale to dip, dry and smoke sometime next week. Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ll post more pictures for yâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]all later!
Jimbo
Any way it was pretty funny as the butcher had to lift an 80 pound case of four pork bellies over his head and smash it on the tile floor several times to break one lose from the solidly frozen block of meat. I ended up with a 22 pound belly that took 24 hours to thaw out.
This batch deviates slightly from my recently published diatribe on making bacon in difference to Rytec Kutasâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s instructions in his book. I left the skin on the bellies this time, I hope it proves easier to remove once the meat is cured and smoked!
I trimmed the belly and rubbed it with my previously posted dry cure, then “hammered†them into the curing box to remove any air pockets between the layers. Per the “Sausage Maker†book, the bellies were placed meat side to meat side with the skin on the top and the bottom. The box Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m using is a food grade plastic ice container from an airline galley cart that I normally reserve for making corned beef briskets. Once I had everything in the box, I covered it with plastic bags and a metal rack, then weighted it down with a gallon jug and stuck it in my fridge.
I plan to use my standard methods from here on out with the “wash†being of the honey variant I previously posted. Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m going to smoke with hickory and pecan for an American style bacon, but Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m still going to do my regular dip and dry step prior to smoking the bacon. Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ll overhaul the bellies in a few days and hope to be ale to dip, dry and smoke sometime next week. Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ll post more pictures for yâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]all later!
Jimbo
