Makin Bacon....

[indaswamp]

Pulled the CB out of the brine this morning, soaked it for about an hour in col water, patted dry with paper towels and seasoned it up.

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• indaswamp
• May 9, 2017

Two on the left are straight maple, bottom right is maple BP, top right is ham seasoning similar to piri piri given to my by my buddy that works at the rural life museum in Baton Rouge. I have eaten his Canadian bacon made using this spice mix, this is my first shot at using it myself. Looking forward to the results.

On racks drying while I fire up the smoker. Going to smoke @ 275* with cherry wood to INT of 140*, rest and let it climb to 145*...

 

[SmokinAl]

Looks like a good start!

Al

 

[indaswamp]

1:10 into the cook. INT is @ 100*. another coat of maple on the straight maple loins and reload wood on the cast iron. Pics. when I pull them out of the smokehouse.

 

[indaswamp]

Oh. My. Damn!

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• indaswamp
• May 9, 2017

Straight Maple on the left, Maple/BP top right, Ham spice bottom right.

Sooooo Goooood!! I can not pick a favorite!

Cross cut view of ham spice

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• indaswamp
• May 9, 2017

Qview

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• indaswamp
• May 9, 2017

That brisket cook really seasoned my new smoker good!!!!

I will never be without CB in the freezer ever again. It's cheap meat to buy, easy to make and SO DAMN GOOD!

 

[shyzabrau]

Definitely need to do this soon.

 

[indaswamp]

Definitely need to do this soon.

Yes you do! Process is stupid simple, just attention to detail is all it takes. I used Dr, Blonder's cure calculator and the salt/ cure penetration is spot on. It was a 2.5 hour cook @275* and the ham is still moist. pulled @140 and temp rose to 145 and stabilized for about 20 minutes. Perfect. Late lunch was worth the wait! Ham sandwiches!!

 

[indaswamp]

Thanks for the point Shyz!

 

[shyzabrau]

I don't understand the brine followed by the soak. It seems like you intentionally overbrine it and then have to waste time fixing it. I understand that some meats have been traditionally heavily salted to preserve them and require soaking to make them edible again, but that's not the case here.

Can you help me understand the purpose of this sequence?

 

[indaswamp]

I don't understand the brine followed by the soak. It seems like you intentionally overbrine it and then have to waste time fixing it. I understand that some meats have been traditionally heavily salted to preserve them and require soaking to make them edible again, but that's not the case here.

Can you help me understand the purpose of this sequence?

It's just the nature of brining meats. The salt concentration is the highest on the outside and gets progressively less as you travel to the center of the meat. soaking in water helps to pull some salt out where it is highest around the outside layer of meat. You can also rest the meat to let it equalize, but equalization does occur with heat to some degree.

 

[indaswamp]

Think of equalibrium. Salt travels from high concentration to low concentration. By the time the salt concentration is correct in the middle, it is too high along the outside edge. The water soak pulls this high salt concentration around the outer edge down, again by equalibrium-high concentration going to low concentration....the high salt area leaches salt to the plain water, lowering the salt in that region.

Doing this accelerates the salt equalization in the meat.

 

[indaswamp]

I am so looking forward to the first garden tomatoes of the year!!!! BLT's!!!!

 

[shyzabrau]

I guess I was assuming that, after the prescribed time, equilibrium had been reached and the salt content was uniform throughout the meat. What you get for assuming...

Hopefully the soaking doesn't lower the concentration of the cure on the outside of the meat too much. Seems unpredictable.