Pork Belly ordered, anyone got a peppered recipe...

smokesniffer · February 1

I just finished ordering a half a belly, around 9 pounds. I am getting them to take the skin off for me. Tried to find a black pepper recipe here, but no luck. When we travel into Calf. & Ar. alot of the grocery stores carry a peppered bacon. We don't have that up here, I want to try that recipe. Question is, does anyone have a recipe for that, or should I just add ground up black pepper to the marinate/brine. The last belly I did (my first one) I soaked the bellies for an hour in water, after it came out of the fridge. How would I add the pepper, just sprinkle it on when it is time to smoke?? Will it stick to the meat?? Any help would make this bacon lover very happy. Now I have to decide if I hot smoke it or try a cold smoke, or a bit of both. I know some of you really like the cold smoke. I could use my small egg for the smoke and funnel the smoke into my large egg. Just try to man up to the idea. Thanks for any suggestions.

billyray · February 1

I used the maple cure recipe from Ruhlman's Charcuterie and added crushed peppercorns. Really good.

smokesniffer · February 1

Billray, when do you add the pepper, with the brine or when you are smoking it?

billyray · February 1

I added it with the cure.

Richard Fl · February 1

Here are a few ways I have done them, Just cover to your hearts content with course pepper, restaurant grade is a good mesh.

Pork Belly
http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=1101545&catid=1

Pork Loin
http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=754371&catid=1

U_tarded · February 1

do like billy ray said and pepper the snot out of it in the cure. you can also apply a pepper crust before smoking. i added crushed red peppers to my last batch gave it a slight heat. big flavors in brine/cure equates to small changes in final product in my opinion.

Mighty_Quinn · February 1

I find that even a lot of black pepper in the cure only adds a subtle pepper flavor in final bacon..you rinse most of that pepper off when you rinse the belly well when pulling from the cure. If you want that punch of pepper flavor, add it before smoking. That will give you the look of the peppered store bought bacon to with the coarse pepper coating.

Cold smoke is the way to go if you can do it.... Overall better texture/taste to final bacon. Hot smoked is really good, better than most you've ever had, but the cold is definitely the way to go imo.

nolaegghead · February 1

powder some pepper and add it to the cure. Then add course ground pepper before you smoke

smokesniffer · February 1

Thanks y'all I will be adding the ground pepper after the brine.

@Nola, I believe you did a 4 hour cold smoke and then hot smoked it after. I like that idea. I will be putting the bellies in the large egg and will use my small to generate the smoke. Planning on getting a dryer vent for the the piping. Tell me how do you load up the small egg so that it is always smoking, What temps should I run the small egg at. If I was to cold smoke for 4 or so hours, would I be re-loading the small egg with wood chunks? Any clarification would be great. Thanks so much

Mighty_Quinn · February 1

I use the 2 egg setup for cold smoking too. What works for me it to keep fire in the small in the 275-300 range. I'll light it, get the temp stable and then drop on two decent sized chunks of whatever wood I'm using for smoke. That should give you many, many hours of smoke. Easy to add more chunks later if needed..

smokesniffer · February 1

Perfect Thanks so much. MQ.

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Pork Belly ordered, anyone got a peppered recipe...

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