Been trying for years to find beef bellies, to no avail, until a week and a half ago. Tried several meat processors in the area and most of them acted like I was speaking Hebrew when I asked about them. One that did talk to me entered into a very short conversation. He quoted me a price of $25/pound. Sorry, I didn't want them that badly to pay an extreme price like that. CPB offered them but when they opened their new corporate offices, they also opened a Mercato in the same building where they sold all the different cuts of meat as well as some cured items. One of those cured items was beef bacon and they couldn't keep the stuff on the shelves. It was flying out faster than they could make it so every bit of the bellies were allocated to the Mercato. Of course I was disappointed but understand the business rationale behind it. Finally and alas, Joe was able to work a miracle and procure an order for me....some how, some way. There were some issues with UPS and the delivery, but it finally got here. Decided to smoke a half belly last weekend for Tracy and I.
The bellies: they come two to a package, three packages to an order. Total weight was 56 pounds. They are shipped "bacon ready" which means they have already been trimmed.
The half belly
Seasoned with Montreal Steak Seasoning. That was my go-to on beef for a long time but since making my own rubs, I've not used it in a long time. Seemed nostalgic I guess
Onto the smoker at 8:15 in the morning. Smoke it like a brisket so I'm anticipating an 8 hour cook. Smoker is at 250 and running cherry wood.
At the 3 hour mark. Two pics, one from each side
Get some corn seasoned up with my homemade garlic and herb EVOO and SPG
At the 6 hour mark. Time to baste and wrap. Two pics again, one from each side.
Back onto the smoker along with the corn for another 2 hours
Total time was just over 8 hours. Done, rested, and ready to slice
Sliced...and a lot of fat to deal with. More on that shortly.
Plated with the corn and some of my wasabi horseradish slaw and out to the patio with the mandatory margarita (not pictured).
Nice smoke ring this time
Ok...now to the relevant info being that this is not a commonly seen cut here in SMF. I'll share what I learned. I knew going in that there would be a lot of fat to deal with. A lot of the fat did render out while cooking but there was still quite a bit left when done. My first thought when slicing was that it's not worth the time and effort for such a small yield of meat. That thought was dispelled in a hurry when I took the first bite. OMG!! It was amazing. Such a smooth silky texture and a deep, rich, decadent flavor. The closest thing I can compare it to is the Osso Bucco I did a while back. It was that rich and truly amazing. A huge shout out to
SmokinEdge
for all his help the past couple months. He's a walking encyclopedia on how a smoke ring is formed and in the beginning I was not getting it with this smoker. We kept going through info and exchanging ideas until we got it dialed in...or so it seems. I know the smoke ring doesn't bring anything to the table as far as flavor is concerned but when I spend all day cooking BBQ, I wanna see that smoke ring Thank you sir!! Another testament to the great people in this forum.
Well, as promised in the beginning, this was a long story but hopefully I was able to share some good info. If you ever get a chance to smoke one of these, go for it!! It's some spectacular eating.
I'm all done with this one....finally. Y'all take care and see ya soon. Still got a few more things in the queue I'd like to post sometime soon.
Robert
The bellies: they come two to a package, three packages to an order. Total weight was 56 pounds. They are shipped "bacon ready" which means they have already been trimmed.
The half belly
Seasoned with Montreal Steak Seasoning. That was my go-to on beef for a long time but since making my own rubs, I've not used it in a long time. Seemed nostalgic I guess
Onto the smoker at 8:15 in the morning. Smoke it like a brisket so I'm anticipating an 8 hour cook. Smoker is at 250 and running cherry wood.
At the 3 hour mark. Two pics, one from each side
Get some corn seasoned up with my homemade garlic and herb EVOO and SPG
At the 6 hour mark. Time to baste and wrap. Two pics again, one from each side.
Back onto the smoker along with the corn for another 2 hours
Total time was just over 8 hours. Done, rested, and ready to slice
Sliced...and a lot of fat to deal with. More on that shortly.
Plated with the corn and some of my wasabi horseradish slaw and out to the patio with the mandatory margarita (not pictured).
Nice smoke ring this time
Ok...now to the relevant info being that this is not a commonly seen cut here in SMF. I'll share what I learned. I knew going in that there would be a lot of fat to deal with. A lot of the fat did render out while cooking but there was still quite a bit left when done. My first thought when slicing was that it's not worth the time and effort for such a small yield of meat. That thought was dispelled in a hurry when I took the first bite. OMG!! It was amazing. Such a smooth silky texture and a deep, rich, decadent flavor. The closest thing I can compare it to is the Osso Bucco I did a while back. It was that rich and truly amazing. A huge shout out to
SmokinEdge
for all his help the past couple months. He's a walking encyclopedia on how a smoke ring is formed and in the beginning I was not getting it with this smoker. We kept going through info and exchanging ideas until we got it dialed in...or so it seems. I know the smoke ring doesn't bring anything to the table as far as flavor is concerned but when I spend all day cooking BBQ, I wanna see that smoke ring Thank you sir!! Another testament to the great people in this forum.Well, as promised in the beginning, this was a long story but hopefully I was able to share some good info. If you ever get a chance to smoke one of these, go for it!! It's some spectacular eating.
I'm all done with this one....finally. Y'all take care and see ya soon. Still got a few more things in the queue I'd like to post sometime soon.
Robert
