First bacon in new smoke box (youtube video)

[johngoes]

Howdy fellow smokers!

Back when UT played Baylor, I smoked my first bacon in a smoke box I made out of 2x2 framing clad in 1x6 T&G pine siding. I used my cellphone to record video as I smoked and spliced together my first youtube video of my bacon smoking adventure. I fed the smokebox from ducting from off my primo grill. (Better seen in video.)

I have a great neighbor out next door to some property I own and I gave him a slab along with my brother. (Both of whom are named Kenneth by long chance...) Ken, the neighbor, said it tasted just like the bacon he had as a kid on the Texas farm he grew up on. I take that as quite a compliment.

It's been several weeks since I put this together. I will buy another slab of pork belly next week. I am also planning to get a bone-in pork rib roast to see if the bacon smoking process is the same used to make German Kaessler Ripchen. I was stationed six years in Germany and my wife is German and there's some German food you just can't get here. Now that I have a cold smoker I'll be trying to smoke up some landjaeger this winter too. Not all the pork belly gets smoked. A few meaty slabs are put away after the salt cure is finished to make Salzbauch. This salt-cured pork belly is cooked in a pot of shredded cabbage and salzkartoffeln for another German treat we can't get here.

Hope you enjoy!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=F83BBE08XEk

JohnG

Cedar Park, Texas

 

[chef jimmyj]

Nice job on the Bacon, Video and Smoker! Ok, what's the Story!?! Did a search on [color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]German Kaessler Ripchen and the descriptions say, traditionally, it is Smoked...Then...Brined. But there is some info missing. Is it Cold Smoked first then Brined and Dryed awhile...OR...Hot Smoked then Brined like a pickled pork product? But all the recipes say to Brine first then Cold Smoke it, so basically similar to CB or BBB[/color]. If you don't know, I think you are going to have to ask the Mrs, or call the relatives in Germany to get the straight scoop and pass it on. Next this stuff...Salzbauch...I can't find any info on this in English. What can you tell me about this...JJ

 

[johngoes]

I found the same "smoke then brine" search results, but I've shopped for, seen, and eaten enough Kaessler Ripchen in Germany to believe it's brined then smoked, and one very good looking search result showed the right stuff made the bacon way. (I'll have to look it up again and post it here...)

Salzbauch, literally, "salt belly" is salt cured pork belly, from the meatier cut. The way my wife and her family made it was by the following recipe:

Salzbauch mit Weiskraut und Salzkartoffeln.

One head cabbage, cored and coarsely shredded

2 tbs vegetable oil

One small onion, chopped,

1-2 tbs caraway seed,

salt, to taste, (be careful as the Salzbauch adds salt too)

salad vinegar to taste (I like a lot, my wife, less, so I add more vinegar at the table)

1/2 C. Beef bullion

1/2 slab Salzbauch

In dutch oven, heat oil and saute onions until tender. Add cabbage, caraway seed, salt, beef bullion. Bring to boil, then cover and simmer until cabbage close to tender. Add chunk of Salzbauch and several tablespoons salad vinegar and heat until Salzbauch heated through and cabbage tender. (We go out of our way to buy Heinz Gourmet Salad Vinegar as it has the most authentic German flavor to us.)

On the side, peel and quarter 3 to 5 medium potatoes, place in pot with lid, cover with water, salt and bring to boil. Cover and simmer until potatoes tender and serve with the Salzbauch and Weiskraut.

For years we used thick sliced store bought bacon instead of Salzbauch. That works, but it's way better made with the Salzbauch!

For some reason, this tastes especially good as leftovers. Both cabbage and sauerkraut always tastes better re-heated. When Inge, my wife, bakes her Christmas goose every year, she cooks the sauerkraut a day ahead to get that richer twice cooked flavor.

BTW - my entire life I HATED sauerkraut - until I went to Germany and found out they wash and flavor it so that it has a very mild flavor. If anyone asks, I'll tell you how to make some awesome authentic German Sauerkraut. (I learned to cook all her German dishes when she worked night shift for a couple of years.)

 

[chef jimmyj]

Is the Salzbauch smoked or cooked after the salt cure? From the recipe it seems as though you are just heating the belly and I would not expect it to be very tender after a heating from the raw state. I am always interested in Sauerkraut Recipes...JJ

 

[johngoes]

HI Jimmy,

The Salzbauch is not smoked, just cooked (simmered) in the pot of cabbage for about 30 minutes or so until it gets tender from the cooking. It is very tender and tasty.

Sauerkraut, German style.

(This summer we started making our own sauerkraut which is really good and surprisingly easy to make. But cans of sauerkraut will do.)

Depending on the size of the crowd to feed:

2-3 cans Bushes sauerkraut. (best with plain, not "bavarian")

2 tbs vegetable oil

1 - medium onion, coarsely chopped.

1 - medium red apple, cored, peeled and chopped

1 C. Beef stock (or bullion)

1 bay leaf

1 tbs caraway seed

3-5 juniper berries.

a smoked pork hock or chunk of smoked bacon

Open cans of kraut (or fresh kraut) into a collendar and wash thoroughly under running cold water. Let sit in sink and drain.

In dutch oven, heat oil and saute onions until tender. Add sauerkraut and remaining ingredients, bring to boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer ~45 minutes or until the apple very tender. Really good if made a day ahead of time and reheated before serving.

Most of the time we eat sauerkraut with creamy mash potatoes to accompany either grilled bratwurst or we cook thick smoked pork chops in the same dutch oven with the sauerkraut (no bacon or hock needed in this case)

During holidays and as an occasional (expensive) meal sauerkraut is served as a side to roast goose or roast duck. For these my wife makes "Klo