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mindphlux posted:a note to those looking for smokers : I highly recommend this product: http://www.amazenproducts.com/  The A-MAZE-N Smoker. It slowly burns through the "maze" of pellets or sawdust, whichever you prefer (it's easy to make sawdust out of pellets as well...soak, fluff, dry) and in turn produces just the right amount of smoke, and not very much heat. You fill the sucker up, put it inside your smoker, light the end, and you get a solid 8 hours of smoke every time. They claim 11 hours, but I live in a pretty windy area, so I think that contributes to the quicker burn speed. It's far and away the best method for cold smoking, short of building a smokehouse. Edit: Shh... I use Traeger pellets instead of buying them from the mailorder site. They work perfectly, and I can pick them up at Ace Hardware or Academy Sports. PainBreak fucked around with this message at 00:45 on Sep 28, 2011 |
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Sep 28, 2011 00:43
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| # ¿ May 1, 2024 14:51 |
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O Canada! 6.5lbs of pork loin is dry curing in my refrigerator. By Thursday, it should be ready to smoke. The suspense is killing me.
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Oct 1, 2011 19:10
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PainBreak posted:O Canada! My Canadian Bacon just came off the smoker. I did a fry test, and holy crap. If you're the least bit comfortable running a smoker, this begins your foray into cured meat. It's on a whole 'nother level, my friends, and it's one of the easiest things I've ever made. "Basic Cure" from Charcuterie. Trim the pork loin. Roll it in cure. Bag it and put it in the fridge for 5 days, turning it over every day. Remove from bag, rinse, pat dry, then let air dry in the fridge for 12 hours. Hot smoke to 145F. Do it. Do it now.
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Oct 6, 2011 23:11
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A Rambling Vagrant posted:By God, I will. The loin, and the cure both came from Moody's Meat Market, just so ya know. 
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Oct 9, 2011 21:13
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Kenning posted:I get mine from an Asian supermarket. The Asian supermarket here smells like dead fish and rotten mangoes. 
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Nov 4, 2011 22:48
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Dominion posted:They probably sell both of those things, and many awesome things too. Oh, I still go there...but I would never purchase fresh meat from them. Their food safety practices are questionable at best. I've learned to be cautious with this place after picking up a nice tub of panang curry paste that had been expired for over two years. 
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Nov 5, 2011 18:25
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Jose posted:My dads birthday is coming up and my mum is pretty stuck. Discussed a smoker and I've found this http://www.forfoodsmokers.co.uk/acatalog/Brinkmann_Smoke_n_Grill.html which seems pretty similar to what I was linked earlier in the thread. Can anyone give me some advice/recommendations etc so I can let her know? That's a very entry-level smoker...it'll do the job, but if they're serious about smoking for long periods of time, there's a slight frustration factor with it. You can get 5-6 hours out of a properly stacked (minion-method) load of charcoal, so that puts you in a bit of an awkward situation smoking pork shoulder or brisket. At the 5 hour mark, I would usually foil all of my meat and bring it inside, pop it in a 250F oven, remove the charcoal pan, and sift it through a chimney starter to retain any lit coals. The ashes, I'd put in a metal ash container, reload the charcoal pan minion style, then pour the lit coals over the top, return the water pan, fill it back up, then unfoil the meat and put it back on the smoker. I got mine for free, and it was worth every penny, and not a cent more. The alternative is to buy a Weber Smokey Mountain (or if you can find a knockoff for cheaper, do it!) and enjoy 10+ hour smoke times at steady temperatures, with much easier access to refill the water pan / charcoal basket. Alternative #2 is to buy an electric smoker and an A-MAZE-N Pellet Smoker, and enjoy the most worry free, tasty, awesome bbq known to man. Also, you can cold smoke things like cheese, salmon, bacon, jerky, et cetera. I have both alternatives now. 
PainBreak fucked around with this message at 20:06 on Nov 7, 2011 |
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Nov 7, 2011 20:02
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mindphlux posted:this looks good, except I need to be able to set the humidity level, and I'm really tight on vertical space (the wine fridge is a 8 bottle horizontal one) What about a shallow pan, like a cookie sheet, filled with water? More surface area, more evaporation? You're fighting an uphill battle any way you go, since the cooling system is actively reducing your humidity as a function of its process...but I'm sure you'll find a way. Really, what you need is a larger fridge, and this humidifier: http://www.amazon.com/My-Fine-Ultrasonic-Humidifier-Mf-5k138p/dp/B004GB3BA0 
PainBreak fucked around with this message at 16:45 on Dec 8, 2011 |
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Dec 8, 2011 16:40
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icehewk posted:Does anything about this scream scam? They're asking $125. Doesn't really look like any I've ever seen, nor does it appear to have the pebbled finish. For $125 I'd just about have to pull the trigger. A BGE is enameled cast iron, and if that's what this is, I don't see how it could be much different. Aldi sells "fake" Le Creuset pans, for about 1/10th the price, and I can't imagine how they'd be much different than the super loving expensive kind. The whole idea behind a BGE is that it retains heat ridiculously well, due to the thick rear end cast iron. This allows for higher internal temperatures (if that's what you're going for), because you retain more of the heat from your fuel. vvv Replace everything about the BGE being cast iron with ceramic. It still applies. Unless the Chinese ceramic is made from lead. vvv PainBreak fucked around with this message at 19:47 on Dec 15, 2011 |
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Dec 15, 2011 18:31
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I don't think blanching it is going to be able to get that much extra salt out of it, but... I think you can salvage it by pretending it's a ham hock and using it for some extremely awesome ham & beans, or...red beans and rice, using it for the smoky and the salty components. Mmm, red beans and rice.
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Dec 25, 2011 18:31
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Cathab posted:Wait, so given that Nitrate is linked to some types of cancer, why would anyone bother using it if it literally just preserves colour? That seems like a stupid risk to take? It's a preservative. Also, don't worry. It gives you the good kind of cancer, not the bad kind.
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Jan 2, 2012 09:40
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Just reserved 25lbs of pork belly at my local meat market... Should be trimmed and ready to pick up on Monday.
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Jan 7, 2012 18:54
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Consider most of us in here would die for a piece of this: http://laquercia.us/cuts_specialties_guanciale_and_lardo_iberico_de_bellota_lardo
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Jan 31, 2012 08:22
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bunnielab posted:My bacon is too salty. Best of luck... I just put 20lbs of pork belly in to cure. Planning on hickory smoking it in ~7 days.
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Mar 29, 2012 04:49
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Aaaaaaand, it's bacon!
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Apr 5, 2012 07:31
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Happy Abobo posted:Ok, that gravlax picture got to me and I grabbed a hunk of salmon to try it. Since you don't actually cook the salmon, do I have to get salmon that's been pre-frozen, or will the curing process remove that necessity? To be honest, that photo is what prompted me to finally cure and smoke some salmon. Jealousy is a great motivator. 2 days curing, 1 day pellicle-ing, and now it's cold smoking. Should be ready at about 8PM. Edit: Fuuuuuuuuck. Never underestimate the Texas sun. I made really awesome hot smoked salmon, instead of what I wanted. Oh well, lemons into lemonade, looks like I'll be having soft scrambled eggs with cream cheese, smoked salmon, and capers for breakfast tomorrow. PainBreak fucked around with this message at 22:56 on Apr 29, 2012 |
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Apr 29, 2012 20:07
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Just took my Christmas bacon off the smoker, and fried up a couple of test pieces. Man, homemade bacon is great. Canadian Bacon is only at 145F, so it's still smoking away. Edit: done! 
PainBreak fucked around with this message at 06:05 on Dec 13, 2013 |
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Dec 13, 2013 05:23
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I wrapped some Christmas presents today...
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Dec 16, 2013 03:24
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| # ¿ May 1, 2024 14:51 |
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GrAviTy84 posted:it's a 4 lb chunk of bone in pork butt. Got it curing in salt/pink/sugar, ginger, coriander, arbol/california/ancho chiles, and dark rum. According to the blog you mentioned on the hotchats (on phone, so I don't have it bookmarked) they claimed their ham cured for a year in just...whatever the gently caress temperature it happened to be, sub zero or 100+, and it still came out awesome. How long do you think you'll need to age your 4lb ham, and at what point do you think it would start getting those wonderful crystals? I have a spare room with a closet that I'm considering turning into a ham closet, because that's really the best closet.
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Dec 31, 2013 06:40
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