j biesinger
TVWBB Platinum Member
I splurged on a whole side of berkshire belly. At 6.99/lb, I think the whole thing cost me around $70.
It was a great side without a real thick end like I normally see. I did take off some of the thicker bits when I portioned it up.
You can read about the thick bits here
The main hunk was cured with the basic cure with dextrose, following the directions in Charcuterie.
Cured 6 days:
Cold smoked over apple. It was on the grill for maybe 3 hours with 2 cycles of chips in the smoke daddy.
I finished it a low oven (2 hours @ 250*) to an internal of 140*.
The smoke flavor was really intense and much cleaner than what I get out of the wsm. A few more tweaks to my technique and I think I'll be good with my technique.
The rest of the belly was cured similarly with the dextrose cure with the addition of black pepper, fresh rosemary and oregano.
after curing for six days, I hung the belly in my basement.
I tried some more bactoferm mold 600 on it, but I'm not expecting much, since it failed on my duck proscuitto and I left the activated mold out for a week, which I guess is a no no.
It was a great side without a real thick end like I normally see. I did take off some of the thicker bits when I portioned it up.
You can read about the thick bits here
The main hunk was cured with the basic cure with dextrose, following the directions in Charcuterie.
Cured 6 days:
Cold smoked over apple. It was on the grill for maybe 3 hours with 2 cycles of chips in the smoke daddy.
I finished it a low oven (2 hours @ 250*) to an internal of 140*.
The smoke flavor was really intense and much cleaner than what I get out of the wsm. A few more tweaks to my technique and I think I'll be good with my technique.
The rest of the belly was cured similarly with the dextrose cure with the addition of black pepper, fresh rosemary and oregano.
after curing for six days, I hung the belly in my basement.
I tried some more bactoferm mold 600 on it, but I'm not expecting much, since it failed on my duck proscuitto and I left the activated mold out for a week, which I guess is a no no.