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Making meals, with no idea of what I am doing


 
Geir Widar

Geir Widar

TVWBB Wizard
Beef Bacon, update

Lately this is actually quite normal. Just finished off a deep fried Snickers, I present the beef bacon attempt.

A friend of mine told me that you could get "beef bacon" in the US. Never heard of it, never tried, so I decided to give it a spin. I managed to order a beef belly, politely ignoring the bewildered looks in the eyes of the local butcher when I told him what I had in mind.

A fresh belly, cut in twain, looks like this, about five pounds:
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I cured the belly as usual for me, dry curing. I have done this for many years, and I am familiar with the routine.

I used the snake method on the WSM, and smoked the meat for about six hours. Temps stayed at around 150f, just like normal. The snake method is very nice to keep a low stable temp on the WSM!

The belly looks like this after the smoking process:

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And a closeup, if you can take it:

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Now the pieces stinks up my cellar. After a couple of days of rest, I will slice, and taste. Hopefully the meat is eatable.

Thank you for your time.
 
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looks EETABLE to ME Geir!
IF you don't like it, wrap it up, ship it to America via RAYMOND WISCONSIN and I'll photo me EETING it!
Looks GREAT!
I did ask Harry Hansen folks how they make their brisket bacon...
justy like you did:
Cure it like PORK belly, then smoke it low and slow like PORK belly.
 
I've heard of the minion method, start a small batch of coals in the middle of a bunch of unlit coals and the fire will gradually work its way out. What is the "snake method"? Haven't heard of that one before.
 
Eric Aarseth said:
I've heard of the minion method, start a small batch of coals in the middle of a bunch of unlit coals and the fire will gradually work its way out. What is the "snake method"? Haven't heard of that one before.
Click to expand...

It's quite simple. Arrange your coals along the inner circle of the charcoal ring, ignite in one end, add smoke wood on top, (not shown here), and enjoy stable temperatures in the range of 150f for hours.

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Cool deal. For the amount of briquettes shown, how long would that last with your damper only partially open? For extended cooks 12- 14 hours, do you add more briqs up front or add later?
 
Eric- with that name I have a feeling that we could communicate in Norwegian.. :)
Regarding your question, the temps was just below freezing today, and I tend to add a lot of smoke wood during these cooks, as the main goal are to add a lot of smoke flavor to the meat, but I think my best answer is that you could expect around ten hours from "the snake". If that is inadequate, just let the snake eat it's tail.. Easy. Add coals from the end, and let the circle go on.
 
Yes - Norwegian to the core. On my father's side, I believe the village my grandfather came from was pronounced Orsett. The original spelling might have been a capital O with a slash through it. My grandfather came over when he was 19. My mother's side of the family came over a generation earlier, about the 1880's and were some of the first settlers in northern North Dakota. Grew up on a very ethno-centric norwegian diet, to include my grandfathers' favorites: fish head soup and lutefisk. Lefse was made in the fall and would last the winter. Needless to say, when I discovered BBQ my eyes were opened quite wide. :wsm:
 
Geir that looks and sounds pretty darn good! I'm giving the snake idea a whirl next time I do up some jerky!!

Hope it turns out!!
 
Looks good to me...gonna have to add this one to the list. Also going to have to add the snake method. I've been thinking about ways to keep the temperature down and you just happened to post this. Thanks!:wsm:
 
If it was good? Yes and no.

As expected, it's different. I won't drop my home- made bacon and do this instead. "beef- bacon" is quite chewy, and a bit dryer than regular bacon. On the other side, it is nice, and it tastes more “bacon” than I thought it would.
The result might have been better if I had used another part of the cow, as a flat or a brisket, but I used belly.
Apart from the novelty factor, I think I will use this in soups. Pea soups, carrot and union soups and so on. For me, this is no substitute for the real thing.
A couple of pictures, after slicing.

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Presents to a couple of friends that like to try things they never have eaten before:

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I had to have a taste before I fried some of of it. It tasted good, and this meat/treatment can be used as dried/dured meat as well, but I'm sure it would be better if I tried with another cut of the cow.
 
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Looks great to me Geir, such lucky friends you have!

Did you slice it with the grain, possibly promoting the chew factor?
I did that with my pork butt bacon, wasn't paying attention, and it was more chewy than I would have liked.
 
No, I did not cut with the grain. Still, a bit chewy, but I'm picky. I've served the meat to to others, and they did not complain. I quess most of it comes from the fact that I used the belly. I let it rest for a week in the fridge before cutting, and the thin parts lost some moisture during the process. The thicker parts are less chewy than the thin parts.
This was not a tried and trusted cook, but more like "What happens if I treat cow belly like pork belly". To be honest, I'm glad that the end result is eatable. It could been much worse. :)
The "beef bacon" treatment is totally unheard of here in Norway, so this was the first time for me to taste it. And of course, make it as well.
 
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