2 weeks of dry bine in the fridge. You only really need a week, but i have a spare fridge in the basement for stuff like this, so the longer the better i guess. 400g salt 200g sugar 60g pink salt 15g garlic 15g pepper 5g pepper flakes is my recipe for the brine. Take 3% of the weight of the pork belly and that is how much of the cure you use. example 3167g of pork belly would use 95g of cure. Spread it around evenly over the belly on both sides. Throw it in a vac bag, seal it up. Every couple of days turn over the belly in the fridge to make sure the cure/brine evenly soaks through.
Looks awesome. I'm actually curing some bellies as we speak. Doing a coffee molasses cure with some fresh roasted coffee from a small single origin roaster here in town. Also, are you using pink salt #1 or #2, only because 3% seems really high. Most recipes I've tried in the past only recommend 0.25 - 0.50% tops.
I've always used the Ruhlman method when calculating salt levels on mine, but if it's working for you and it's not overly salty, keep on doing what's working for you.
Sorry less salt, more cure. But that still doesn't make sense, because you would still have less overall. But i have been told that this is the perfect level of saltyness. But i do wash all the extra cure off before i smoke it.
Ah i see the confusion. You are using 2% salt 0.25% of pink salt. I am using 3% of the cure i made. So i have 695g of total weight of cure. so for 3167g i use 95g of cure. which would be 55g of salt and 8g of pink. Your method would be 63g of salt and 8g of pink. So basically the same.
Math... How DOES it work??? That now makes a lot more sense. I don't measure out the rest of my cure to the percentage/gram other than kosher salt/curing salt. Just go with whatever I 'feel' would be a good amount. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't. For example, I had the idea once to try and make a "hop bacon" and crushed up some hop pellets from a home-brewer friend of mine. Turns out that unless you're using them in their intended application, it just makes the bacon taste like dirt. Do not recommend.
Time for the annual Kentucky derby party. This was at about the halfway mark first thing thing morning as I did an overnight cold smoke at 200° then cranked it up to 250 and now just waiting for the 195-203 range.
Never seen one done below 200 before, usually in the 201-203 range. But you have done way more then i ever have. Just interesting to see what other people do.
Do you wrap at all? Looks like not. Did a 10 hour pork shoulder smoke for a family dinner last night. It came out REALLY well. 225 until internal temp reached 160, then wrapped it and bumped the temp to 275. The wrap was for the last 3 hours with some hot honey and butter until internal temps hit 205. Let it rest for an hour and it was divine. None left. Everyone, even my picky sister, went back for seconds and thirds. None left. Also made some smoked baked beans at the same time. Great night.
It's more of a 'feel' thing than an exact temperature. Some briskets are 'done' at 195, some not until above 200. I also tend to do a long hold prior to serving which gives you a lot more wiggle room when it comes to your actual finishing temp. These for example were finally pulled off at around 11:30, and they're now sitting in a 150 warming oven until we have to pull them out, slice them, then serve for dinner right after the race ends. I DO wrap, but I wait until a lot higher than what's considered traditional. I usually wait until they're up to about 180-185 in the flat, just because I like the extra exposure time to really set the bark in. Then, I pull them, wrap them in foil with a 1/4 cup of tallow, then back on until they finish in the aforementioned 195-203 range.
I do by feel too. My temp probe goes in like butter, just never seen it get that low. Good to know for the future that is can be they low. Yea I always try and let rest at 150 for as long as possible. The longer it rests the better it is I find
I will say, at least in my experience, it's only when I'm doing Prime briskets that I find it's 'done' at a lower temp. Assuming it has to do with the higher level of intramuscular fat, but who knows.
So… I got a bit drunk last night. As a result I thought I’d experiment a bit with the smoker. I had a small bit of uncooked brisket in the freezer from a previous slab that was just too big that I thought I’d try making into jerkey at some point with the dehydrator. Instead last night I thought I’d throw it on the smoker and try and make a slab of bark. Mission accomplished! It’s got incredible flavour, great crunchy bark, and a soft but not fatty interior. It’s a new favorite for sure.
Made a knock-off copy of the Leroy and Lewis half chicken recipe that's one of the first Michelin star BBQ restaurants in Texas. This didn't suck and the family has already asked when I'm making it again.
My BGE platesetter finally gave up the ghost. Had a good ~25 year run. Based on the cracked black edge, I was probably on borrowed time for a while. Thankfully I was just doing a bacon explosion and truly need indirect heat.