.... didn’t see that... sorry... It came out really fantastic. ... I found a recipe on the internet last year... I mirrored... basically you put the ham on its side. Put a little honey & a nice rub in each slice. Kinda of like a papers in a book. Then flip it over & do the other side the same way. This year I used pineapple juice, brown sugar, honey and that same rub for my basting... about every 30 minutes after hour 2 1/2 hours... I smoked it at 180 for about 2 hours then took it up to 225 for the remainder... the basting fluid really sets as the “glaze”....
Not sure how close I'll have the phone today,but I'll try to remember pictures later. Enjoy your Christmas everyone!
Christmas breakfast, something new. I love me some sausage gravy, wondered if I could get a mild smoke into it. There was some extra room, so I've never complained about "pork with pork" so on went some apple sausage. Finished in the kitchen of course. I over browned it a touch, but it did end up with a nice smoke. Gonna be a bad day for the pig. Ham for dinner. Merry Christmas everyone.
Unbelievable. My wife did an excellent job. Not much for pictures I was to busy shoveling it in my mouth.
First try at homemade bacon! This recipe used cracked pepper, maple syrup, brown sugar and salt as the seasonings. Made a paste rub and cured the pork belly for 7 days in the fridge. Smoked for 5 hours on the cold smoke setting using Hickory mixed with Alder pellets. Did not want it to be overpoweringly smoky It seems to be the real deal by looking at it. Tomorrows breakfast will be the test. All night I will dream of bacon...bacon...bacon...
Looks like great bacon to me... bear 1998 makes some very fine bacon, and he's very generous with it!
Thank you Midwinter for telling me about bear 1998. I will message him and compare notes. My breakfast review of my bacon was mixed (to me anyway, others loved it). It was chewier than I am used to, kind of like bacon jerky. This may be because this block was from the meatier end of the belly and was cut thick. The other end and center may be different. Slightly salty for my taste and very hickory smokey. Flavor was mapley sweet with hints of cracked pepper. I will slice the rest (center and other end) very thin to make it not so chewy. Next time I will reduce the salt and smoke by about 20%. Mix of Hickory and Alder chips seems about right with no bitterness. The rest of the meaty end, I will save to chop fine for baked potatoes and clam chowder and such. All in all, not a bulls eye, but certainly not a failure either!
My limited experience with smoking meat has taught me it is much like burning wood for heat......it is a lifelong journey of learning, tweaking, relearning, forgetting, etc etc
That looks delicious metalcuttr, how did you wait until morning to fry some of that bacon! bear 1998 will hook you up, his bacon is incredible!!
I did indeed message bear 1998 ( that "Baron of Bacon, the "Count of Charcuterie") and he kindly messaged back with a wealth of information to improve and fine tune my own bacon! He seems like a great guy and is truly a "Genius of Gammon" !! Bought a slicer yesterday and will go out for more pork bellies today. Can't wait to put his bacon wisdom to work. BLT sandwiches tonight! YUM.
