Works really good...

[dernektambura]

Well...I got, as a present, Amazen 5 x 8 smoker tray thing and I put it to work... Let me tell ya... it is really A (pardon my french) MAZIN'....
On short notice, after I got the "AMZ'n" thing, I got myself nice big slab of bacon @ Costco... "Adidas marble".... layer of fat followed by layer of meat times 3... beautiful as Trump would describe it... just to realise that skin was off after I unpacked it at home... sure enough, damage control mode kicked in... pulled out some collagen sheets, wrapped and dressed with butchers net... off to my 3x3x7 feet build smoke house... loaded AMZ'n tray with apple pelets from TSC and damn thing lasted for 11 hours.... nice thin blue smoke... My other two, DIY smoke generators are bound for retirement, this 40 bucks worthy tray is way to go... Bacon is chilling 'till tomorrow morning another smoke session...

 

[daveomak]

Are you making a Pancetta of sorts ??? Sure looks good.... I'm sticking around to watch what happens... I may have to try and duplicate whatever it is you are making...
Glad you like the Amazin tray... I've been using mine for 8 years and love it.... Then I made dust from pellets... In a small smoker, like the MES 30, the dust makes less smoke and is perfect and delivers perfect smoke... Amazing how it can be so versatile...

 

[dernektambura]

Yes Dave... making cold smoked and dry cured pancetta... honestly, I'm not sure how it's going to turn out since traditionally, pancetta calls for bacon with skin on... Standard SPG spices + cure#2.... collagen sheets and butcher net act as (sort of) casing so bacon doesn't "stretch while hanging... I'll probably end up with prolonged cold smoking... one thing I'm sure of: by using collagen sheets, panchetta colouring will be off... probably a bit lighter colour... not that deep red colour...

 

[daveomak]

I'm a big fan of collagen sheets.... Very uniform and simplify many aspects of this meat curing thing...
If I understand some stuff correctly, it's very important to keep the collagen sheets directly in contact with the meat during the process..... Therefore, I like the idea of stretch netting to be used in the process......

 

[dernektambura]

update on AMZN smoker tray and "skinless" bacon/smoked panchetta wrapped in collagen sheets...
Smoking tray is proving its name: AMAZING.... for the third day in a row, fully loaded it lasted for 11 hours... start the smoke and forget about it...
Here is some pics after 3 days of cold smoking... Collagen sheet stick to the meat and shrinks with meat... nice golden colour... surface meat portion getting darker shade colour.... still long way to go...
cold room temp @ 7.6C and RH @ 70% steady...

 

[daveomak]

Lookin' good !!!!!