Long story short, I have about a 3lb piece of pork loin in a brine waiting to be transformed into back bacon. No pictures yet, because it just looks like a bag of meat in brown liquid at the moment.
The Brine:
32oz. Water
1 cup Morton's Tenderquick.
1/2 cup Molasses
1/4 cup BBQ rub. I used what I had left over from my last smoke, pretty basic SPOG with smoked paprika, nutmeg, allspice and cinnamon.
1TB red pepper flakes.
The plan:
I injected the loin and placed in the brine earlier this week and will smoke it this weekend, probably Sunday. I would like to cold smoke for 4 hours then very gently get the temp to 145˚. I want it cooked but I don't want any browning or drying out.
Only trouble is, I don't have a cold smoker.
Being the resourceful type, I made one out of a coffee can. Basically I removed the top and saved it. Then I used a punch type can opener to punch holes in the bottom and sides. On the test burn, I added 2 lit briquettes to the bottom of the can, placed the metal top I'd removed from the can on top of the briquettes, and filled the can with pecan chips on top of the lid. This worked astonishingly well. It generated very little heat, and produced quite a bit of clean, thin, blue smoke. For about an hour. Then the whole thing burst into flames. I think it would be fine if I added another can top on top of the chips to reduce the oxygen. However, being a bit of a hothead, I chucked the whole thing in the trash before I thought of that. It was no longer burning, don't worry. However, I did note that the briquettes burned for close to 4 hours. I may have to revisit that design.
But, here I was today with Canadian bacon almost ready to go and STILL no working cold smoker. So I did what any man of vision might do, I borrowed Todd's idea for the tube smoker. Now, I do feel a little guilty, and I do intend to order one from him as soon as our business starts up again. (about 95% of our business comes from Gov't employees and when they're out of work, so are we) But, like time, Canadian Bacon waits for no man.
So here it is. Total investment---$4.99 for the mesh. The rest I already had:
The mesh is a gutter guard. I believe it's aluminum.
I made the charcoal basket for the mini out of the same stuff and it's held up remarkably well.
The tube is about 12". Should have used shorter rivets, but those are what I had on hand.
I rolled the ends to hold the pellets and to reduce the chance of the sharp edges snagging my digits.
Left one end a little more open to facilitate loading.
As soon as I get my hands on some pellets, I'll do a test burn. I think there's a hardware store over in Alexandria that sells them. If I had more time, I'd order from Todd, but I don't.
Stay tuned.
The Brine:
32oz. Water
1 cup Morton's Tenderquick.
1/2 cup Molasses
1/4 cup BBQ rub. I used what I had left over from my last smoke, pretty basic SPOG with smoked paprika, nutmeg, allspice and cinnamon.
1TB red pepper flakes.
The plan:
I injected the loin and placed in the brine earlier this week and will smoke it this weekend, probably Sunday. I would like to cold smoke for 4 hours then very gently get the temp to 145˚. I want it cooked but I don't want any browning or drying out.
Only trouble is, I don't have a cold smoker.
Being the resourceful type, I made one out of a coffee can. Basically I removed the top and saved it. Then I used a punch type can opener to punch holes in the bottom and sides. On the test burn, I added 2 lit briquettes to the bottom of the can, placed the metal top I'd removed from the can on top of the briquettes, and filled the can with pecan chips on top of the lid. This worked astonishingly well. It generated very little heat, and produced quite a bit of clean, thin, blue smoke. For about an hour. Then the whole thing burst into flames. I think it would be fine if I added another can top on top of the chips to reduce the oxygen. However, being a bit of a hothead, I chucked the whole thing in the trash before I thought of that. It was no longer burning, don't worry. However, I did note that the briquettes burned for close to 4 hours. I may have to revisit that design.
But, here I was today with Canadian bacon almost ready to go and STILL no working cold smoker. So I did what any man of vision might do, I borrowed Todd's idea for the tube smoker. Now, I do feel a little guilty, and I do intend to order one from him as soon as our business starts up again. (about 95% of our business comes from Gov't employees and when they're out of work, so are we) But, like time, Canadian Bacon waits for no man.
So here it is. Total investment---$4.99 for the mesh. The rest I already had:
The mesh is a gutter guard. I believe it's aluminum.
I made the charcoal basket for the mini out of the same stuff and it's held up remarkably well.
The tube is about 12". Should have used shorter rivets, but those are what I had on hand.
I rolled the ends to hold the pellets and to reduce the chance of the sharp edges snagging my digits.
Left one end a little more open to facilitate loading.
As soon as I get my hands on some pellets, I'll do a test burn. I think there's a hardware store over in Alexandria that sells them. If I had more time, I'd order from Todd, but I don't.
Stay tuned.
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