Luke P
TVWBB All-Star
Prepped another belly to cure for the next 10 days. This time, I'm more prepared with a kitchen scale ($13 on amazon) and 2.5gal hefty ziploc bags (planned on doing larger pieces of belly, but ended up cutting smaller).
My 3 year old wanted to help me "cook". I got him his own gloves, a butter knife, and a seat at the butcher's block. This was the best part of the project! We got to talk about knife safety, food safety, and why we treat our food with respect because it was once a living animal. He asked great questions like, "Can the pig feel this?", "Did you already cut off the head?", "Why is the fat a different color than the meat?". He did a great job helping me trim the belly to size, and save the fat for lard and meat chunks for later use.
Belly skin down. Exact size of the cookie sheet.
Each belly piece weighed out and the corresponding Morton's Quick Tender weighed out appropriately.
The "experiment". This piece did not come from this belly. Since it was the smallest, I decided to try a seasoning of black pepper, chili powder, onion and garlic powder. All applied after the MTQ. No measurements on the rub, just seeing if it adds any desireable flavor.
All 4 pieces of belly laid out. The 2.5 gallon bags are overkill, but I'm already thinking of some valuable uses for bags this large. Double bag for brining large cuts, larger pieces of belly ect...
Bag of beautifully rich pork fat to render later for lard. My wife makes amazing pies, and lard will be well used.
So now we wait 10 days, flip each day, and smoke at 200-250 with apple wood til 160. I'll be sure to share the results then. Thanks for looking.
My 3 year old wanted to help me "cook". I got him his own gloves, a butter knife, and a seat at the butcher's block. This was the best part of the project! We got to talk about knife safety, food safety, and why we treat our food with respect because it was once a living animal. He asked great questions like, "Can the pig feel this?", "Did you already cut off the head?", "Why is the fat a different color than the meat?". He did a great job helping me trim the belly to size, and save the fat for lard and meat chunks for later use.
Belly skin down. Exact size of the cookie sheet.
Each belly piece weighed out and the corresponding Morton's Quick Tender weighed out appropriately.
The "experiment". This piece did not come from this belly. Since it was the smallest, I decided to try a seasoning of black pepper, chili powder, onion and garlic powder. All applied after the MTQ. No measurements on the rub, just seeing if it adds any desireable flavor.
All 4 pieces of belly laid out. The 2.5 gallon bags are overkill, but I'm already thinking of some valuable uses for bags this large. Double bag for brining large cuts, larger pieces of belly ect...
Bag of beautifully rich pork fat to render later for lard. My wife makes amazing pies, and lard will be well used.
So now we wait 10 days, flip each day, and smoke at 200-250 with apple wood til 160. I'll be sure to share the results then. Thanks for looking.
