Hey... AZRP ! I found pork bellies

EmandM'sDad

Randy, try here.

https://www.dartagnan.com

They're pretty pricy but a friend buys from them a lot and swears by their quality

mad max beyond eggdome

did you try eastern market at all?

EmandM'sDad

No, i really hadn't tried yet. I'm thinking this will be a good fall project. i hear bacon freezes really well prior to slicing. On my way out now I'll stop at Eastern markret if I see a parking spot!!

AZRP

Where are the bellies, I'm not finding them. -RP

fug

'round DC I've bought pork belly at Gladhill Meats in Damascus, MD - farm country. I cured the belly according to the bacon recipe in Ruhlman's 'Charcuterie' (cure, salt, brown sugar, maple syrup) and hot smoked it on the Egg with hickory. It was fantastic.

AZRP

That's exactly what I want to do, great book huh. -RP

fug

AZRP,

The book is awesome. If you haven't already, you should take several hours and read this entire 97-page thread on eGullet about preparing various cured items from the book - I found it very informative. I'm trying to get the guts up to try duck confit someday.

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=79195&hl=

When I made the bacon about a month ago, I bought a 5# belly and cut in half. I cured 2.5# using a bit more than half the recipe from the book (I figured it would be tough for me and my family to eat 5#s without ending up in the hospital) and saved the other half of the belly in the freezer - I'm going to cure the second half next week. I cured the belly for six days and then hot smoked it on the Egg at about 180-200 with a pretty heavy smoke - about 5 big hickory chunks mixed with the lump. I thought the smoke might be too strong (it had a strong smoke smell even when double wrapped in plastic wrap) because my wife made me take it down to the "beer fridge". No problem. After sitting a day or two wrapped up it mellowed nicely. Starting the next day and continuing for the next two weeks we sliced it up for breakfast - the end pieces were a little salty due to the penetration of the cure, but starting about 1/4" from each end we were in bacon heaven. So, about 95% of the belly was probably the best bacon I've ever had. I was surprised at how easy it was to make.

fug

AZRP

Thanks, I've got it bookmarked. I've made Canadian bacon, and cured smoked sausage, and am anxious to try bacon. Learned a lot from the book. Probably the point it drove home to me most is that I have been way over cooking sausage. Next time I cook brats, I'm going to pull them at 150 and see how they are. -RP

EmandM'sDad

Randy, Here's the correct link
https://www.dartagnan.com/search.asp?criteria=662

BlueSmoke

Pork belly is a staple in Oriental cuisine: if there's an oriental market nearby (as there was to me 5 years ago in Colorado) you can find uncured pork belly for roughly the price of cured bacon in a supermarket.
HTH

Ken