The ribs were pretty amazing. I didn't touch until about for hours in. Then I picked a rack up in the middle to see how close they were to done, and it broke in half. Held around 250 without much fuss. I used a simple rub. Garlic, onion, and chili powders, salt and pepper. No sauce, I like them dry. Did about four pounds of bacon and another rack (since I had it fired up for the bacon ) last week, and they were just as good. I didn't buy the Akorn stone deflector. A charcoal grate for a 22.5" Weber kettle fits perfectly, with a $3 16" pizza pan on it. Fifteen bucks or so is better than fifty. I'll study the cookbook when I get a few minutes. Thanks for the link.
I should have time to do a good show and tell. Fair warning...my bacon is "cheating" and if you are a true meat curing enthusiast you'll probably have a lot of bad things to say. But I don't care...and my bacon tastes Dammmm good and is done in 5 hours...not weeks.
Waiting patiently. I have an eleven pound belly in the freezer, but I don't know if I have time to catch up to the rest of the class. Plus, I got fish to catch.
Mix up some brine. Arrange the strips in the bowl in sort of a basket weave and dump brine in. Let it soak for about 3 hours. 1 cup salt 1 cup brown sugar 1 gallon water 1/8 cup garlic powder
Fill a small bowl with some holes drilled in the bottom with wood chips and cap tightly with foil...and poke 5 small holes in the foil. I used apple and cherry. Arrange the bacon on a rack to maximize surface area. Apply heat to bowl using the smallest possible flame on a plumbing torch. Wait an hour or so and bag it up and freeze it.
I was a little uncomfortable with cold smoking, but the way you're doing it seems okay. If you were trying to smoke the whole slab instead of strips, I'd be more concerned. Especially with no sodium nitrite in the mix. Ima try this next time.
Yeah....you have to do this on a cool day. It was still cool to the touch when I took it off. Doesn't need to be on there long to get a good hint of smoke.
My method so far has been to cut the belly up into pieces that will fit in a gallon size ziplock, rub with a cure mix, and forget about it in the fridge for a couple weeks. Then I take it out and soak it for a few minutes in cold water, rinse, and pat dry. Then it goes on at 220-240 with lots of smoke until it gets to 150 internal. What I can't use in a couple weeks goes in the freezer, which is usually nothing Not especially labor intensive, but it is a longer process.
I saw a video where someone cooked a runny egg inside a baguette slice on the griddle and topped with crumbled bacon. I know what's for breakfast tomorrow.
Tonight, after a long weekend of working on the new ATV building, I decided to fire up the pit with the re-pourposed shelving I found and do some butcher shop rib-eyes! The final pics didn't come out because battery went dead in camera. I think you can guess the out come…
