Fire in the Hole! (and by fire, I mean Bacon and by hole I mean the fridge)

The Cen-Tex Smoker · November 2012

Lardons baked with Salt Lick Sauce.......burnt ends on steroids. Wow.

The Cen-Tex Smoker · November 2012

Village Idiot said:

And I miss him.

I've tried to make bacon, but every belly I've found has been 100% fat. I will try Michaocana Grocery (Mexican) and Ranch 99 (Asian). If I don't find a good one there, I'll take out a loan and buy one at Central Market.

Then, I'll pester MQ and CT for the recipe.
:x

CM was $3.49 per lb. not too bad

Village Idiot · November 2012

Little Steven said:

Village Idiot said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

..............oh well, I think we all know who the king really is
Ah shucks. Thanks, CT ! :P
You aren't even close to the hosers I know Gary

For that, I am going to have you arrested in Salado for being too short to impersonate a Texan.

The Cen-Tex Smoker · November 2012

lardons with salt lick sauce :)

Little Steven · November 2012

I'll be the one wearing the 40 litre hat. Yeeeheeee

Village Idiot · November 2012

Little Steven said:

I'll be the one wearing the 40 litre hat. Yeeeheeee

That's a 10.566882 gallon hat. You'll be a dead giveaway ! REAL Texans wear 10 gallon hats.

DawgDays · November 2012

While on the subject of pork belly:

I actually found some "pork side" at Whole Foods today. It looked exactly like a pork belly and I assumed it's the same thing, or maybe at least cut near it. I couldn't resist the impulse buy. It's a bit fattier than the beauty that CT cured, but I'm going to give this recipe a shot:

http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_recipes&func=detail&id=1354

Little Steven · November 2012

I look like Babba Louie with the big hat

nolaegghead · November 2012

Nice looking bacon, C-T. But to everyone else, as the Wolf said in Pulp fiction - "lets not start suckin' each other's d*cks yet, gentlemen". Big green dave might pop up with a bacon recipe that actually uses something insurmountable like the liposuction throw-away from Paula Dean's weight reduction therapy. (I think I just made myself a little sick).

lakewade · November 2012

Looks good Cen-Tex. I will be trying that soon.

Little Steven · November 2012

nolaegghead said:

Nice looking bacon, C-T. But to everyone else, as the Wolf said in Pulp fiction - "lets not start suckin' each other's d*cks yet, gentlemen". Big green dave might pop up with a bacon recipe that actually uses something insurmountable like the liposuction throw-away from Paula Dean's weight reduction therapy. (I think I just made myself a little sick).

Awesome...just awesome

nolaegghead · November 2012

Little Steven said:

nolaegghead said:

Nice looking bacon, C-T. But to everyone else, as the Wolf said in Pulp fiction - "lets not start suckin' each other's d*cks yet, gentlemen". Big green dave might pop up with a bacon recipe that actually uses something insurmountable like the liposuction throw-away from Paula Dean's weight reduction therapy. (I think I just made myself a little sick).

Awesome...just awesome

danke - hey, did you order your polyscience head?

Little Steven · November 2012

I really hope so. I sent the link to the Princess. There will be no more Pandora or Tiffany til that happens.

The Cen-Tex Smoker · November 2012

lakewade said:

Looks good Cen-Tex. I will be trying that soon.

I just bought 10 lbs of belly at whole foods today. I'm doing 5lbs of sweet and 5 lbs of savory. It's great looking belly. More fat as mentioned above. Yum

Little Steven · November 2012

Dying to get my sous vide. Saw a 36 hour sous vide chunk of belly grilled and covered with fresh herbs. Can't wait

The Cen-Tex Smoker · November 2012

Little Steven said:

Dying to get my sous vide. Saw a 36 hour sous vide chunk of belly grilled and covered with fresh herbs. Can't wait

Yep, I am going to cut off a chunk of belly and sous vide it.

DawgDays · November 2012

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

lakewade said:

Looks good Cen-Tex. I will be trying that soon.

I just bought 10 lbs of belly at whole foods today. I'm doing 5lbs of sweet and 5 lbs of savory. It's great looking belly. More fat as mentioned above. Yum

You mean sweet cure and salty cure or do you intend to cook them fresh?

The Cen-Tex Smoker · November 2012

DawgDays said:

lakewade said:

Looks good Cen-Tex. I will be trying that soon.

cured for 7 days each. a little maple sugar or syrup on the sweet and garlic, herbs and pepper on the rsavoy I just bought 10 lbs of belly at whole foods today. I'm doing 5lbs of sweet and 5 lbs of savory. It's great looking belly. More fat as mentioned above. Yum
You mean sweet cure and salty cure or do you intend to cook them fresh?

Mighty_Quinn · November 2012

The Ruhlman maple bacon recipe is the bomb...use maple sugar instead of brown sugar and make sure its the real deal with the syrup...if you can find it, use maple wood for smoke. I have another day or two on that and pancetta (still have to hang it to dry).

The Cen-Tex Smoker · November 2012

Mighty_Quinn said:

The Ruhlman maple bacon recipe is the bomb...use maple sugar instead of brown sugar and make sure its the real deal with the syrup...if you can find it, use maple wood for smoke. I have another day or two on that and pancetta (still have to hang it to dry).

Thanks for the tips. I'm going back for the rest of that belly in the morning and doing the pancetta too. I had to Blanche out a lot of the salt from this last batch. Do you find you need to do that too? Crazy salty until, I blanched it. And I'm a salt freak so when I say too salty, it was over the top .

erniemcclain · November 2012

To quote that great american spokesman homer simpson...Mmmm Bacon.

nolaegghead · November 2012

I cut up and ate some of my duck prosciutto today. Salty. But really, really tasty.

Did the sous vide turkey to completion. This is what's going down at thanksgiving. It was unreal good. I'll start a thread on that project.

nolaegghead · November 2012

Steven - any comments on this: http://bacontoday.com/the-people-of-canada-choose-bacon-over-sex/

Mighty_Quinn · November 2012

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

Mighty_Quinn said:

The Ruhlman maple bacon recipe is the bomb...use maple sugar instead of brown sugar and make sure its the real deal with the syrup...if you can find it, use maple wood for smoke. I have another day or two on that and pancetta (still have to hang it to dry).

Thanks for the tips. I'm going back for the rest of that belly in the morning and doing the pancetta too. I had to Blanche out a lot of the salt from this last batch. Do you find you need to do that too? Crazy salty until, I blanched it. And I'm a salt freak so when I say too salty, it was over the top .

I haven't had a batch that I've thought was too salty. I would maybe try using less of the cure mixture or take the belly out of the cure a day or two sooner. The first suggestion is based on you saying you used the salt box method described in the book...I wonder if that is getting too much salt in the bag with the belly. I follow the individual smaller scaled recipes and add a specific amount to the bag...I don't pour a larger amount of cure mixture into a dish press the belly into it to coat. I'm sure a precise amount of salt goes into each of my batches.

Mighty_Quinn · November 2012

That smaller scaled cure recipe I use is the one for maple smoked bacon on page 83...

Little Steven · November 2012

nolaegghead said:

Steven - any comments on this: http://bacontoday.com/the-people-of-canada-choose-bacon-over-sex/

Well Nola, many of us have sex with bacon

michigan_jason · November 2012

Little Steven said:

nolaegghead said:

Steven - any comments on this: http://bacontoday.com/the-people-of-canada-choose-bacon-over-sex/

Well Nola, many of us have sex with bacon

This is true :)

Griffin · November 2012

I'll try looking again at CM, but I've never seen it there before. Or do you have to ask for it?

The Cen-Tex Smoker · November 2012

Griffin said:

I'll try looking again at CM, but I've never seen it there before. Or do you have to ask for it?

Actually, I just got a gorgeous belly yesterday at whole foods

You have to ask at both places- they are in the back. The whole foods belly blows away the CM belly I got. It was 14lbs! but they cut it down for me

Griffin · November 2012

Ok, good to know. I'll ask next time. I don't have that book with me. What's the brine time? I'd like to take some down to the ranch for thanksgiving if there 's enough time (I'll be leaving next Tuesday)

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Fire in the Hole! (and by fire, I mean Bacon and by hole I mean the fridge)

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