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BrewBQ (or Brew n Q) - for you Kelsey


joolbag

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I'm gonna have a proper read through it next brew day, which I'm planning to be on Saturday. Waiting around for the mash and boil etc. should give me a good chance to read a fair bit of it.

Next step is to order the meat slicer. I didn't slice all of this lot so I'll wait for that to arrive to finish it off. It's all in the freezer at the moment while we finish off the bought pack, so I'll just defrost as needed.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

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  • 2 weeks later...

Tested out the meat slicer yesterday on a small cut of the bacon and it worked really well, so I'm glad I picked that up. Man that stuff tastes bloody nice.

 

Just got home earlier with a 2.1kg pork loin and a 1.6kg piece of pork belly. The loin won't fit in my pot all at once so I will cut it in half, put one half in the freezer for later and cure the other half. Just making up the curing brine now so it can go in tomorrow. I scaled the volume and salt/sugar content of the brine down by about 20-25% this time too, since the pieces will only be about 1kg each. The belly is also in the freezer to be cured at a later date.

 

For this lot of bacon I'll be leaving it in the cure for 4 days instead of 2 days, and will probably flip it over after 2 days, as it didn't really absorb all the way through in 2 days last time. I have next week off work so I'm planning to smoke this lot on Wednesday.

 

The prices at the butcher were cheaper as well; $10/kg for the loin and $13/kg for the belly. At Coles where I got the first loin from it was $16/kg and the belly was $19/kg. I daresay I'll be using the butcher from now on. Might even try a few different ones to see how the meat varies.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

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The prices at the butcher were cheaper as well; $10/kg for the loin and $13/kg for the belly. At Coles where I got the first loin from it was $16/kg and the belly was $19/kg. I daresay I'll be using the butcher from now on. Might even try a few different ones to see how the meat varies.

 

Fair chance it is better meat too.

Dry brining works really well for belly bacon.

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Fair chance it is better meat too.

Dry brining works really well for belly bacon.

That was the main reason I decided to get it from the butcher this time' date=' but of course the cheaper price per kg is always good too. I'll have to grab some big ziplock bags to try the dry cure at some stage too. I do like the wet cure though, just submerge and leave for a few days, then the usual steps. Gonna grab some maple syrup for the other 1kg loin piece too...used the last lot up on ice cream and bacon/cheese grills [img']lol[/img]
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BBQ tomorrow and possibly a brew if the rain stays away. Or I could just use the indoor stove

 

My cousins are coming over (one is visiting from his adopted homeland of Vancouver) so I bought 4 racks of pork ribs from Aldi at $11.99/kg. They aren't the biggest or meatiest racks, but at that price it is hard to argue. I've had Aldi pork a few times and it's just as good as other butchers.

 

The rub will be basic, salt+pepper+garlic+cumin+paprika. I'll just throw it together. Maybe a slathering of mustard to get it to stick.

 

What I am most excited about is the sauce I am going to make. Done it once before, last BrewBQ in Lane Cove because we didn't have any pre-bought sauce. It's Aaron Franklin's Espresso BBQ Sauce Recipe and it is RIDICULOUS. https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/espresso-barbecue-sauce/14698/?utm_term=.15c19056cd59

 

I'll be cooking this in my big offset smoker because 4 racks don't fit that well in a Weber (one always gets scorched) and if it rains the big girl will hold heat a lot better than a flimsy Weber.

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That sauce looks great. I'll bookmark that for my next brisket cook.

Old mate is delivering some organic beef tomorrow.

$16.5 kg for anything. Getting brisket and whatever else he brings. last time the brisket was free and I got rib fillet, t-bone and burger patties.

 

 

This dude http://amazingribs.com has great info and recipes. His mac n cheese is great if you want to go full US bbq style.

 

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They look awesome. I'm taking the piece of loin out of the cure today, to let it dry overnight in the fridge before I smoke it tomorrow. I decided to only go to three days this time, because I figure it's better if it's a little undersalted (flavor) than too salty. I'm sure the cure will have penetrated properly this time though with the extra time. I also turned the loin over yesterday.

 

Sliced up the last block from last time just before as well, the meat slicer is excellent. Only takes a few minutes and I get nice uniform slices. It's in a vac sealed bag in the fridge and will be used up over the next week or two I imagine. That one is a bit under salted, but still tastes bloody nice.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

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  • 2 weeks later...

Got myself the Gas smoker Aldi had on sale last week.

 

Just ordered the book Ben10 recommended, now to get into this smoking business.

 

First up this weekend will be a 10 hour brisket. The will have to read about the bacon (mmmmmmm bacon)

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They look awesome. I'm taking the piece of loin out of the cure today' date=' to let it dry overnight in the fridge before I smoke it tomorrow. I decided to only go to three days this time, because I figure it's better if it's a little undersalted (flavor) than too salty. I'm sure the cure will have penetrated properly this time though with the extra time. I also turned the loin over yesterday.

[/quote']This one turned out a bit over salted, but it was only a 1kgish piece of loin and I only reduced the dry ingredients of the cure by 25% instead of closer to 50%. Will try the latter on the other piece when I cure it. 3 days is definitely the right time frame though, this time the whole piece was pink and was a bit firmer as well, making it easier to slice and work with. Still, it's fun experimenting and learning and gradually refining the recipe to get it as good as possible. And tasty lol

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

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Got the belly bacon just reaching temp now. Cold smoked for an hour.

Threw in some chillies and tomatoes as well. I used cherry pellets.

 

Mettwurst is almost ready to package and I have a brisket defrosting. I am going to dry cure (like the belly bacon) and turn it into Pastrami.

 

I have just ordered a big order of free range pig. Ribs, shoulder, leg and fillet.

I will of course smoke the ribs. The shoulder will be turned into chorizo, the leg ham and the fillet cured along the lines of lonza or coppa. Yum.

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Just boiling up the cure mix for that second half of the pork loin, which will go in tomorrow until Friday then be smoked on Saturday. This time I basically halved the ingredients of the cure so hopefully this time it won't be way over the top salty.

 

I gave some of the previous lot to the olds to try and they did enjoy it. Will see how this lot turns out; 75% was too salty but 50% might not be quite enough, I'll just play around with the ingredient amounts each time I make some until I hit the sweet spot I suppose.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

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  • 3 weeks later...

So finally smoked some home made bacon yesterday.

Was a hickory smoked maple bacon using pork belly.

Dry brined for 7 days turning every couple of days, then rinsed and put in fridge for 24 hours.

Smoked it last night at 115 deg till internal temp was 60.

Best bacon I've tasted :-)

[attachimg]926[/attachimg]

[attachimg]925[/attachimg]

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I did a belly over the weekend as well but I used my usual liquid cure for 3 days. It came out of the cure on Friday for an overnight rest in the fridge before being smoked on Saturday for a few hours.

 

I used hickory again, but I have a new packet of chips which are bigger than the other ones I had, which make it a lot easier to place them on the hot coals properly and they also burn a lot longer and give more smoke so I'll definitely be buying ones like that again.

 

I split this batch, kept about 60-65% of it for us at home here and the remainder I'm taking with me on the weekend to a birthday party for the morning's brekky cook up.

 

I need to find a pork leg roast soon too, so I can make a ham for Xmas day.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

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That's my plan as well.

 

Do a nice home-made glazed ham. Was a bit confused in the recipe book though as its says fresh ham' date=' I'm guessing this is just a leg roast and the curing/brining makes it ham.[/quote']It is yeah. Same as the belly is a belly roast and if you make shortcut bacon from loin you use a loin roast. It's the curing that turns it into bacon or ham etc.

 

Interesting side note, I ate a fingernail sized piece of raw bacon that fell off during slicing it up, and it tasted exactly like ham. It's funny because if you cook a slice of ham like bacon, it doesn't taste like cooked bacon.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Boiling up a brine to make my Xmas ham today. I'm basically using the same cure recipe as I do for my bacon, but slightly bigger amounts for the ingredients, more water to ensure the meat is covered, and the addition of pickling spice.

 

I only have a small ham of about 2.6kg in size and there's no bone in it either. I'll be leaving it in the brine for a week or so, maybe longer, then boiling it before drying and smoking it. Don't know whether I'll glaze it or not... will have a look at some recipes and techniques.

 

Hopefully it turns out well though.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

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Did my brine up yesterday for the Christmas Ham

Was a 3kg butt end of the leg (butcher reckons that end is tastier)

Don't know about a pickling spice?

My brine was out of that book mentioned earlier

4L water

350g salt

360g Brown Sugar

42g Pink salt.

Leaving in for 6 days then smoke for a few hours.

Cover with the glaze (cant remember the recipe off hand) then place in oven.

 

My old 10L pot I used to use for partials was just the perfect size. Water came up to the brim and just covered the pork.

 

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kelsey and Ben10, Santa is bringing me a copy of Charcuterie. Inspired by you guys and a close friend of mine who bought the book and has already made bacon twice!

 

I bought some artisan bacon from the deli, not the mass-produced crap, but how real bacon was and should be made. It’s phenomenal and looks so different in the packet compared to the mass-produced crap. Definitely going to get some pork loin and belly to cure and smoke my own. Oh, the stuff I bought was $7.99 for 200g! Didn’t mind paying for the quality over quantity. I think some home-cured and home-smoked bacon will be a lovely present for friends too!

 

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