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

[Luke P]

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.

Flattened it out when it thawed. This is obviously skin up....nipples and all.

Skinned it before the cure, squared it up, and trimmed excess fat. This is them all covered in cure.

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.

In the fridge to cure for 10 days. I'll be sure to post smoke pics, and let everyone know how it turns out.

 

[Jim Lampe]

Very Cool Luke! Is that about 12 - 14 lbs total before skinning?

 

[Dwain Pannell]

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!

 

[Luke P]

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.

 

[Luke P]

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.