Hello from Canada eh

[davedabutcher]

20 odd years ago my first career was as a butcher, I did a full apprenticeship and got the provincial certification. I was a computer hobbyist back then, being a butcher paid the bills. Eventually I figured out making a living as a butcher was not going to get easier as I got older so I turned my hobby into a career (while I still had all my digits :)  Things have come full circle now, I make a living doing the IT thing and "meat" has a become my hobby.

Amongst my toys I have a 30" MES that I have used to turn out some amazing product, I actually had a couple of friends almost come to blows over a pound of my side bacon once ...lol

Long term I'm working towards living a more self sustaining lifestyle where we produce most of what we eat on our own land. It feels like a pipe dream some days but it's good to have goals.

I'm looking forward to catching up and learning more about smoking and curing, hopefully I'll be able to contribute something meaningful to the conversations.

 

[mrmoomer]

Hi from a fellow Canadian! Ias bacon a hard meat to smoke?

 

[davedabutcher]

As far as cured meats go I think bacon is probably the easiest and safest to do. I've been doing a dry cure for side bacon and feel the texture and flavour is superior to a pumped or brine cure.

When I was working in the industry we would pump 20%+ brine into pork sides and then vacuum tumble them before smoking. It wasn't about quality then, they just wanted to increase the amount of finished product. (even it was crap)

 

[mrmoomer]

I will have to give it a try. Sure sounds like a tasty treat

 

[smokincanadian]

Great forum you found here, welcome from a fellow Canadian!

 

[davedabutcher]

@mrmoomer    Absolutely give it a try, you may never see bacon the same way again! Because you're going to fry the bacon after it comes out of the smoker it's hard to get yourself in trouble as long as you follow some basic guidelines. I haven't had the time to see the entire site yet but I'd be shocked if there weren't a bunch of proven bacon recipes here!!!

 

[davedabutcher]

@SmokinCanadian Thank you Sir. I'm looking forward to exchanging ideas and recipes!

 

[seenred]

Welcome to the forums, Dave!  This is the best place I know for sharing ideas on smoking, grilling, curing, etc.  There are plenty of friendly, knowledgeable folks here who really enjoy helping one another.  Looking forward to your input here, and just ask when you need anything...someone here will surely have the answer.

Red

 

[kathrynn]

to SMF!  We are so glad you joined us! 

We love to see pictures of what you are cooking (or what we call q-views here at SMF).  To "upload the q-views" just follow the directions here and it will be easier. If you are using a cell phone, an IPad or a kindle, go to the main SMF page and click the Mobile button. Will make the uploads a bit faster too.

If you didn't read the "Terms of Service" notes.....please do.  There are a few things that everyone should know about those pesky little rules before plunging into the forums and some guidelines of how to interact within the forums. Off site links are not allowed here at SMF per Jeff. Not that you have done anything wrong....just a little bit of FYI for new members!

If you need any help roaming around the forums....just holler!  Happy to help out!

Kat

 

[hambone1950]

:welcome1: ! We got bunches of Canadians these days. It's all good , man . We can always use a guy with a background in meat! See you around the forum. :grilling_smilie:

 

[s2k9k]

:welcome1: to SMF!!! We're happy you joined us! We have over 50,000 members now who just love to share what they know. You've come to the best place on the net to learn and share everything Q!!!

 

[disco]

Welcome, fellow Canadian.

It will be great to have someone with experience as a butcher on the forum.

I look forward to learning from your posts.

Disco

 

[davedabutcher]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone!! I've been reading a bunch of different threads and all I can say is WOW!! There are some seriously mad skills out there, with the technology as well as the meat.

I had no idea there were other people with such a passion for this stuff, my girlfriend thought I was a bit of freak ...lol  (probably still does :)

 

[richjt92]

DaveDaButcher,

Welcome...since you are a smoker and a butcher...I do have a question...

What is Back Bacon and how is it different for regular bacon??? Is it just from the different part of the pig or is it cured differently?

Gig 'Em Aggies...

Richjt92

 

[davedabutcher]

Hi Richjt92,

Back bacon is made with the pork loin, which is the same cut you would use for pork chops. If you split the torso of pig down the centre the two large muscles on either side of the spine would be the loins, the side or belly begins after the loin meat tails off. After a bit of de-boning and trimming you end up with back ribs and boneless pork loin from the loin piece, from the side you'd have pork belly and side ribs. One way or another it's all good in a smoker :)

Both the loin and the side can be cured and smoked into bacon. The loin can can also just be brined and rolled in cornmeal, we call that peameal bacon in Canada but I don't know if it's called that everywhere.

 

[gary s]

Welcome, great place for all kinds of information

Gary

 

[richjt92]

DaveDaButcher,

Thanks...I always wondered about that....is the taste significanlty different if the process of making the bacon the same?

Richjt92

 

[davedabutcher]

@Richjt92,

I had to think about this one because even though the process of making them are nearly identical I definitely prefer the taste of side bacon over back bacon. Probably not the healthiest choice but I think the reason why is that there's not enough fat in in back bacon to deliver the full bacon smell and flavour I expect. Peameal bacon is a different flavour all it's own because of the lack of smoke, fry some of that up and toss it on a bun with a fried egg and a fresh tomato slice...

It does come down to personal preference though, I've heard there are some people who actually don't like bacon fat!

DaveDaButcher

 

[richjt92]

DaveDaButcher,

Thanks!!! As a Mechancal Engineer...I can talk all about Fires, Heat transfer, the benefits of steel versus cast iron in smokers...but having expert butcher with many years of experience to ask some juvenile meat questions is a cool thing...

Cheers!!!

Richjt92