Cured a whole belly....10 days til smoke!


 

Luke P

TVWBB All-Star
Cured my second belly. Posted in Photo gallery, but wanted to share some of it on here.

Pulled a full belly out of the freezer. This is how it was stored for space. I've got another one the same way. Let it thaw for about 4 days.
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Flattened it out when it thawed. This is obviously skin up....nipples and all.
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Skinned it before the cure, squared it up, and trimmed excess fat. This is them all covered in cure.
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Here's the piece I'm most excited about. Experimented with seasoning on this one. Garlic and Onion powder, black pepper, and chili powder. I used the littlest piece, so we'll see what it does. If it really blows my socks off I'll do more with the last belly.
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In the fridge to cure for 10 days. I'll be sure to post smoke pics, and let everyone know how it turns out.
 
Very Cool Luke! Is that about 12 - 14 lbs total before skinning?

Right on Jim. I don't have an official weight cause it was not bought at the store, but I thought to weigh out each piece after I had started trimming. Pieces individually came up to 13.8lbs.
 
Don't throw that skin out: Make Chicharrón ...and go buy another belly in a cpl weeks. You'll be surprised at how fast it goes once you start using it to cook!

Dwain, I thought about this after I was skinning/trimming. I've made one attempt at Cracklins with the skin, but just wasn't thinking clearly. I was on a timeline to finish. Wasteful of me.
 

 

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