# Pop's Original Bacon-On-A-Stick Wet Brine Method!



## pops6927 (Jul 3, 2010)

For the 4th I'm doing spares in my smokehouse, 4 racks of them.  I'm going to put rub on and smoke them using the 3-2-1 method.  However, 1 of them I'm doing a little different...

I'm pickling the rack in salt/sugar/curing salt wet cure for 3 days, the same I use for bacon!  When separated into ribs, they should taste like bacon on a stick!  Dunno if we'll like them but now's the best time to try, I've got 3 traditional spares to fall back on if we don't!

Here they are in a bucket with a gal. ziploc bag half-full of water holding them down in the brine:








They're all going in the smoker in the morning about 7, be done by 1 for the party at my son's house at 3.  I'll post pics of the finished products and let you know how they go over with the families (my harshest critics, but tempered if they get to eat all they want, lol!)


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## smokednarwhal (Jul 3, 2010)

Interesting idea, I'm looking forward to the results.


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## smokingd (Jul 4, 2010)

I will be following this to the end.  I have been wanting to try this.  Look forward to your results


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## sumosmoke (Jul 4, 2010)

Definitely something different that where I'm anxious to see the outcome. Nice looking start to everything, Pops!


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## Bearcarver (Jul 4, 2010)

This is gonna be great!

Keep it comin' Pops!

Bear


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## pops6927 (Jul 4, 2010)

They went in at 7am, good thing the house oven has 2 grates, lol!  Smoked from 7am to 10am with a mix of hickory and mesquite chunks; rubbed the 3 regular spares with rub and just a light sprinkle on the pickled one.  Pulled them at 10 am and wrapped in foil with a douse of apple juice on each one and put back in the smokehouse, reversing their layer (top ones on the lower rack, bottom ones on the higher rack) so they all get even cooking temps overall.  Some pics:







Regular rack of spares with rub (a few drip marks from ones above, just extra flavor!) getting foiled and juiced.







Pickled spare w/a few drip marks too!







Back in the Smokehouse foiled and on racks (good thing the wife isn't making her baked beans this year, oldest son is.. I'd have to prop up the pan with bricks or something!).







I foiled my drip pans then laid large sheets over them to catch the drippings where the drippans wouldn't, angling sheets down into pans.  Its working great, keeping any drips out of the pan or off the floor that could cause mold.  I'm happy to report even in 100°+ heat with 90%+ humidity for the last 2 weeks or more (gulf stream humid, dripping weather coming up from the south instead of dome of high pressure from the west that usually brings us dry, desert heat) plus anything from the spring also, I've had no mold problems inside the smokehouse whatsoever.   I have sprayed it inside a couple times with 1/2 clorox - 1/2 water mixture just to be sure.  I'm more and more impressed with this smokehouse the more I use it!).

Anyways, I digress... let cook for 2 hours in foil, then unwrap and finish for an hour!  I don't think I'll mop with any BBQ sauce, I'll serve with it on the side instead.  The rub brings more than enough flavor.


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## pops6927 (Jul 4, 2010)

Out of the foil and my wife kindly convinced me ("... uh.. Yes Dear..") that she would like me to put sauce on them so a layer of sauce was added.  They are ready to go back in for the last hour:







The bottom one being the pickled rack.  Another view:


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## sumosmoke (Jul 4, 2010)

Delicious, untrimmed, beautiful looking ribs, Pops!!


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## markf (Jul 4, 2010)

Looks beautiful but I'm dying here, does it taste like bacon?


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## bobbygee (Jul 4, 2010)

Those are meat-alicous looking ribs!


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## pops6927 (Jul 4, 2010)

MarkF said:


> Looks beautiful but I'm dying here, does it taste like bacon?


yessssssss  bacon-on-a-stick it is!

In the smokehouse:







I wanted to see if they were being enveloped by the smoke or was it being drafted away from the upper rack as the top vent is even with it... the envelope is good!

I tried to carve for display but people risked their fingers grabbing for the ribs as I sliced them off... finally I finished all four racks, the pickled one in the front row (what's left of them) and that's all that was left when I got a chance to stop, one took a whole brisket to knaw on!.  CARNIVORES!  They all loved both, extra kudos on the pickled ones!






 

They were more than half gone before I got a chance to wipe off my hands and snap a picture, and after that it was downhill all the way!  Oldest son has placed a permanent request that at least one rack be pickled from now on and hands -off until he gets to them!


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## markf (Jul 4, 2010)

Bacon on a stick will be a must try soon. Any chance you might share your cure? I made belly bacon once so far with a dry cure.


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## meateater (Jul 4, 2010)

Alright, this I have to try.


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## pops6927 (Jul 4, 2010)

Sure, I've published it on here many times.  It's:

1 gallon water

1 cup brown sugar*

1 cup white sugar*

1 cup salt

1 tbsp. instacure #1
 stir thoroughly

* you can substitute Splenda® or equiv. for sugar and brown sugar one for one

I use this in all pickles; ham, bacon, turkey, chicken, offals, corned beef, etc.  (For dried beef I double the salt).  I will use this also to pump with too as well as soak.

Speaking of dried beef, here is some pics from a post I did on this about a year or so ago, using sucralose products vs. sugar:







Picture above is some brine I made up for dried beef showing 1/2 cups for sugar and brown sugar and 1 full cup for salt, plus 1/2 tbsp of cure, then into 1/2 gal water:







then pumped the eye of round so it will cure from the inside out as well as the outside in:







Then soaked for a week (of course in the fridge):







Then smoked (this was on my Cabela's electric):







sliced thin for dried beef on toast with gravy! (SOS)







Makes great stuff, and easy to make with no complicated ingredients!  You can get instacure #1 at Butcher Packer (known as 'DQ cure #1'):

http://www.butcher-packer.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=237_12&products_id=56
 


MarkF said:


> Bacon on a stick will be a must try soon. Any chance you might share your cure? I made belly bacon once so far with a dry cure.


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## DanMcG (Jul 5, 2010)

Looks like a winner Pops! I'll have to give it a try.


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## Bearcarver (Jul 5, 2010)

All looks GREAT Pops!

I gotta try that bacon on a stick! I guess I can dry cure it with my TQ, just like I do my bacon, right?

I can see why it all disappeared so fast!

Bear


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## pops6927 (Jul 5, 2010)

Bearcarver said:


> All looks GREAT Pops!
> 
> I gotta try that bacon on a stick! I guess I can dry cure it with my TQ, just like I do my bacon, right?
> 
> ...


Sure, should be the same, just don't want to cure it quite as long as it's thinner in most spots; the thicker brisket end is mostly bone anyways.  You can smoke it; I'm going to take the brisket from it and cook it up on the grill... like burnt ends...!


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## johnnybigsmoke (Jul 7, 2010)

My... Dear... God... What have you done??? Bacon on a stick??? UNBELIEVABLE!!!

I wish I could nominate you for a Nobel Peace Prize for Deliciousness!!!

It's a beautiful thing, my friend... Thanks for sharing!!!
 

Cheers,

Johnny K.


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## wildflower (Jul 7, 2010)

Here they are in a bucket with a gal. ziploc bag half-full of water holding them down in the brine:

so you don't put them in a ziplock bag, there in a pan with the ziplock holding them down  do you turn them every day??  I have got to try this but am not sure what or how to do it


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## pops6927 (Jul 7, 2010)

wildflower said:


> Here they are in a bucket with a gal. ziploc bag half-full of water holding them down in the brine:
> 
> so you don't put them in a ziplock bag, there in a pan with the ziplock holding them down  do you turn them every day??  I have got to try this but am not sure what or how to do it


Just put the meat in a bucket, cover with brine.  It will float, so you weight it down with something.  I use a ziploc bag as it's sanitary and fill it half full of water, squeezing out most the air from it.  Then put it in the fridge and let it soak.  You don't need to turn it or anything.  I pickled a ham for Easter and put it in a big bucket with brine and a half full ziploc of water on top of it for a month earlier this spring; just left it in the fridge to do it's thing, never touched it until I took it out and smoked it; couldn't be simpler!  Just like pickling eggs - put 'em in and let 'em pickle.


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## wildflower (Jul 7, 2010)

OK, I'm going nuts now wanting to try this and you do BACON the same way  
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






   yes, I know you use port belly for that but it's about the same


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## pineywoods (Jul 7, 2010)

Awesome looking bacon on a stick Pops looks like another one I gotta try!!!


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## erain (Jul 7, 2010)

love cured ribs myself...  i do babybacks with tenderquick instead of a brine and they also turn out great that way too. nice job Pops!!! great pics too.


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## Bearcarver (Jul 7, 2010)

erain said:


> love cured ribs myself...  i do babybacks with tenderquick instead of a brine and they also turn out great that way too. nice job Pops!!! great pics too.


erain,

If you have a post on that, could you link it?

I only use TQ. It would make it easier on an old guy to see how you did it (amount & time).
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Bear


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## ronp (Jul 7, 2010)

I do them too Bear I just use 1 tbs per pound and rub and let sit in the fridge overnight. or for about 4-6 hours. Rince and smoke.


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## Bearcarver (Jul 7, 2010)

Thanks Ron,

So we use the same amount of TQ per pound as with any other solid meat, but only give it 4 hours to overnight, instead of a number of days.

I wasn't sure about that, because there is probably only about 30% meat & 70% bone.

This is indeed on my short list!

Sounds good to me,

Bear


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## ronp (Jul 7, 2010)

Glad to help man.


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## venture (Jul 8, 2010)

As always I hate to post after Pops and Ron, cause they have already said anything that needs to be said.

One little trick I use on brines is to clean out a veggie crisper on the bottom of the fridge.  Saves room in the fridge when brining.  Those with dedicated fridges don't have to worry about that kind of thing.  LOL


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## johnnybigsmoke (Jan 11, 2011)

Hey Pops,

i had a question about your brine... Every brine I've used in the past requires boiling. Is it the same with this one or can I use it as soon as all the ingredients are dissolved?

I'm really looking forward to the bacon on a stick; can't believe I waited so long to try this!!! I appreciate the help!

Cheers,

Johnny K.


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## smokermark (Feb 15, 2011)

Those are some fantastic ribs right there. Just plain beautiful and the beef looks delicious too. Enjoyed your post. Thanks for sharing!


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## SmokinAl (Feb 16, 2011)

Everything looked delicious. Thanks Pops for such a great post! I've got to try the bacon on a stick.


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## disco (Oct 27, 2013)

I just made my own version of this. It came out great!

Thanks for the inspiration, Pops!

Disco


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## worktogthr (Jan 26, 2015)

I know this is a really old thread, but I just picked up a couple of small whole belly pieces with the rib meat and bone attached to the belly meat.  Would bacon on a stick work for this or would the belly meat dry out on a longer hotter smoke?


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## Bearcarver (Jan 26, 2015)

worktogthr said:


> I know this is a really old thread, but I just picked up a couple of small whole belly pieces with the rib meat and bone attached to the belly meat.  Would bacon on a stick work for this or would the belly meat dry out on a longer hotter smoke?


There's no reason for the Belly meat to dry out before actual ribs done this way, because the meat is thicker. Ribs have less meat because of the rib bones inside the meat. Also it's not a "Longer" hot smoke-----It's only 5 or 6 hours.

Also since you're going to hot smoke you don't have to worry about completely curing.

I checked with Pops first, and followed his example years ago & did mine by Dry Curing with TQ:

*Bacon-On-A-Stick    *   

I learned a lot from "Pops" too.

Bear


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## worktogthr (Jan 27, 2015)

Bearcarver said:


> There's no reason for the Belly meat to dry out before actual ribs done this way, because the meat is thicker. Ribs have less meat because of the rib bones inside the meat. Also it's not a "Longer" hot smoke-----It's only 5 or 6 hours.
> 
> Also since you're going to hot smoke you don't have to worry about completely curing.
> 
> ...



So would I cook them like ribs?  Until they are the tenderness I'm looking for?  I will probably use Pop's brine.  So should the whole two weeks in the brine work?  Thanks again Bear!


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## Bearcarver (Jan 27, 2015)

worktogthr said:


> So would I cook them like ribs? Until they are the tenderness I'm looking for? I will probably use Pop's brine. So should the whole two weeks in the brine work? Thanks again Bear!


If you're using Pops Brining method, follow how he did it (I think he cured for 3 days on these).

Then use the 3-2-1 smoking method he used.

If you use my TQ Dry curing method, follow my curing & smoking method.

Just don't mix the two, and don't forget since you're hot smoking just like regular uncured ribs, you don't have to worry about completely curing.

Pops can correct me if I'm wrong on any of this. He's still Da Man!!

Bear


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## worktogthr (Jan 28, 2015)

Bearcarver said:


> If you're using Pops Brining method, follow how he did it (I think he cured for 3 days on these).
> Then use the 3-2-1 smoking method he used.
> 
> If you use my TQ Dry curing method, follow my curing & smoking method.
> ...



Here is the cut of belly I purchased...













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__ worktogthr
__ Jan 28, 2015


















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__ worktogthr
__ Jan 28, 2015






Could I use this for extra meaty bacon on a stick?  Would I have to trim some of the fat on top?  I would assume it will be a longer smoke than just spares due to the thickness of the meat.  Depending on your answers, I will make a batch of pops brine and throw them in today so I can get them out on Saturday and let them dry in the fridge to smoke them on Super Bowl sunday. Thanks again for all the help!


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## Bearcarver (Jan 28, 2015)

worktogthr said:


> Here is the cut of belly I purchased...
> 
> Could I use this for extra meaty bacon on a stick? Would I have to trim some of the fat on top? I would assume it will be a longer smoke than just spares due to the thickness of the meat. Depending on your answers, I will make a batch of pops brine and throw them in today so I can get them out on Saturday and let them dry in the fridge to smoke them on Super Bowl sunday. Thanks again for all the help!


If that's thicker than a regular rack of Spare Ribs, it could take longer. I would find the thickest spot & put a meat probe in it. Then I would get it to at least 145° while in the first stage of the 3-2-1, before foiling it. Then just continue with the rest (-2-1).

If it takes 3.5 to get to 145°, then you'll end up doing 3.5-2-1.

Then I would slice between the rib bones, and where there is no bones, just slice in whatever thickness & width makes you happy.

I wouldn't trim all the fat off----Leave on as much as you're not afraid to eat. I love a little Bacon Fat, but I don't have a Cholesterol problem.

Bear


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## worktogthr (Jan 28, 2015)

Bearcarver said:


> If that's thicker than a regular rack of Spare Ribs, it could take longer. I would find the thickest spot & put a meat probe in it. Then I would get it to at least 145° while in the first stage of the 3-2-1, before foiling it. Then just continue with the rest (-2-1).
> If it takes 3.5 to get to 145°, then you'll end up doing 3.5-2-1.
> 
> Then I would slice between the rib bones, and where there is no bones, just slice in whatever thickness & width makes you happy.
> ...



Excellent!  Sounds like a plan.  I will cure for three days, rinse, dry, sprinkle with a little CBP, garlic powder and onionnpowder and dry overnight in the fridge.  I'll smoke on Sunday with a probe in and foil them
At 145 with some apple juice.  I don't have any cholesterol issues either and on Super Bowl sunday, the more bacon fat the better haha.  I'll leave the bellies as is.  Thank you again and I'll be sure to share the results.


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