Homemade Sausage Making

Yesterday I put a slab of butt bacon and a half dozen whitting filets in the smoker and got a maple fire going. About six hours in it started a light rain that was freezing on contact. The temperature inside the smoker was hovering around 35 degrees. The fire was still making smoke at midnight so I went to bed. They are all a nice beige color now it will be interesting to see the color change with some heat treatment.

I have never had butt bacon.....does it taste like belly or something different.

Ross, after my Cdn Bacon fiasco I will be interested in how you finish the butt, presumably in the oven.
Phil

I'd think after that amount of time the butt bacon would have some fine smoke penetration, tho everything might be frozen when you get out of bed. Maybe throw the slab into a 175° oven until the IT reaches around 130°, let it rest in the fridge over-night, bacon and eggs the next day? Hmm, maybe French toast and sliced bacon, done limber? RAY

ssorllih wrote:The temperature inside the smoker was hovering around 35 degrees. The fire was still making smoke at midnight so I went to bed.

Man, I've heard of cold smoking, but this is...
uh...
...innovative. That's it.

Hey! Come to think of it, there's a Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. We should obviously call the technique "Ross's Ice Shelf Smoking."

Pictures tomorrow! It was 7 hours in a 170 oven to hit 140 IT The whitting needed only an hour to be done. It is back in the smoker for cold storage. Getting down to 20°F tonight.

Hi Ross,
I was complaining about our temperatures for smoking, I just finished "Cold Smoking" 10 kg of Csabai with an outside temperature of 35C ( 94F).
Quite an adventure and some head scratching for me, they turned out very nice.
The same as your bacon will be.
One thing though, we gained experience!!!!!!!!
Cheers,
Jan.

I increased the salt on this slab and on the first slice it seems a little heavy, I used honey on this and it isn't enough different for me to choose this over molasses and sugar.

That Bacon looks tasty Ross!!

Just a bit North of you we got the snow...then the ice.


That's a thick layer of fat for a pork butt?

BobK, I grew up in Newtown, CT. Family moved from there in 1956. We had a small subsistence farm. Dad worked as a machinist.

Ross- Its a small world!!

I was one town down in Stepney... used to go to Newtown to the grocery store or just over the border to the package store on Route 25....Monroe was a dry town at the time.

I am now up in Torrington