Are you talking about a hog casing? Yes, I guess you could and then put it in the smoker or oven. hmmm yeh we could do that. We fought with those casings making Andouille..lol. I ordered some of the kind that are ready to go..lol My husband thought we would save the extra money, until we worked with them. It was hilarious. I kept breaking them with nails. So, now he thinks we should go ahead and buy the other kind. Now, they are on backorder.
@tacmotusn, I did like you did on my 5 pounder I took out today and smoked it. Thank you. It really makes it tastes better. I also tied this one up with twine. It looks better than all laid out..lol
We sliced 7 pounds of bacon and 5 pounds of pepperoni. I threw in a picture of my sweet little Cajun.
I have a new camera, and it is still in the shipping box. Oh well, I forgot, that is the way it is. Beyond that, I managed to get all my spices and tenderquick in order, and obtained 4.68LB of lean ground beef .... 2 pkgs of 85/15 and 1 pkg of 93/7 meat to fat. I doubled the seasoning mix for 2 lb. Really blended all well, then packed it down tight in bottom of medium mixing bowl and covered with a plate and saran wrap. It went in cold frig at 630pm. Thursday afternoon about 4 pm I will start the smoker process. @pearlselby thanks for the recipe and the post.
All went well and the Pepperoni came out pretty darn good. My taste testers all enjoyed it. I am going to play with the recipe just a little, because as a foodie, it is what I do. In my opinion I thought the texture was a bit dry and granular. I believe this was due to the fat content. Most all that I have read indicates for sausages, that a 20% fat content is desired. The recipe called for LEAN ground beef. I do not consider 80/20 ground beef to be lean ground beef. That alone may be the problem (if there is a problem). Also most recipes for pepperoni I found in hindsight use a mix of beef and pork. So, bottom line next time I make it, I will do two things slightly different. I will use 80/20 ground beef, and 1/2 ground pork. Otherwise I will follow the recipe to the letter, and see how this turns out. I had pics taken when I sliced it all up and packaged it, but they haven't linked me the pics as promised.
@tacmotusn, I am glad it was ok. I like the idea of mixing beef and pork in it. I think I will do the same and add more fat next time. When I made the pepperoni, it was my first too. I am going to try your chorizo sausage recipe! Anything you do to the pepperoni next time that makes it better, pass on please. Thank you very much, @tacmotusn.
another source for cured meats and sausage recipes Awesome Meat Curing recipe site link | Survival Forums
I've been drooling over this thread for over a month now. I purchased several pork bellies a few months ago, brought them home and vacuum sealed them with the idea of making my own bacon when I got the time free. Well, it's time to start makin' bacon. I found a Michael Symon recipe from Food Network ( Homemade Bacon : Michael Symon : Food Network ) that I will use for my 1st batch. Wish me luck! Kajun
No pics now, ganado. I cut the little (2.5 lb) pork belly into 2 pieces and put into zip lock bags. All they look like now are 2 pieces of meat with some kind of marinade, in bags. When they come out, I'll try and get pics and after they come out of the smoker and I slice one, I'll try for more pics. Hopefully Santa will bring me a nice, shiny, new cell phone with a decent camera! Heaux, heaux, heaux, ya'll. Kajun
Tac's Modified Buckboard bacon recipe. 1st off, I like things simple. 2nd I like Canadian bacon (USA version) better than regular bacon. . ingredients: boneless pork loins or sirloins. 1 TBS Morton Tenderquick per pound of meat. coarse grind black pepper, granulated garlic powder, 2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar (for a 3-4lb roast), 2 ounces sipping bourbon . directions: spread 1/2 of the tenderquick on each side of the pork roast. sprinkle a good coat of black pepper on one side of the roast, then the same with granulated garlic, then 1/2 of the brown sugar. flip the roast over and repeat. place seasoned roast in a large ziploc bag, 1 gallon or 2 gallon. wisk up counter spilled excess seasoning and put in bag as well. pour bourbon in bag, remove all the air from bag you can and seal. refrigerate in cold frig 34-38F, turning and kneading daily, for 7 days. rinse cure from roast.(don't go crazy with it. quickly rinse off most of the cure. no need to soak in clean water.) . at this point some of you may want to let a pellicle form on your roast before you smoke it. do what you feel is best. my smoker is slow to come up to temp so I seem to get a pellicle on the exterior of the roast during that period. . My smoker has one temp only unless I do not have it fully closed up, 225F to 250F. a 3 lb roast takes me 4 hrs to reach 150F internal temp (the goal). a 4 lb roast takes 4.5 hrs. I turn the roasts just past the 1/2 way point. . This is my recipe for bacon from now on, and I am sticking to it. It is the best I have ever tasted. jmho ..... enjoy
OK, my pork belly has cured for 9 days now. Using the Michael Symon recipe, the curing part is over. I removed the belly from the zip lock bags, rinsed them good and put them on a rack and then back inside the ice box. They will sit for 48 hours, then into the smoker. Right now they don't look much changed. Kajun
Bacon is done! Yahoo!! Two pics, the whole slab and then sliced. I started off with 2.5 lbs of pork belly and ended up with 1.8 lbs sliced, smoked bacon. Since this was my first try, I'm going to figure this was an average recovery. When fried, it is tasty, tasty, TASTY! Both Sweetie and Bunny loved it, but they said it maybe cured a bit too long because it had an "unidentifiable" flavor to it. No unpleasant, just "different" than store bought bacon. I'm not sure if this was from the length of curing or the amount of cure or what. I kind of suspect it may just be the natural flavor change from sitting (ageing) in the fridge for 9 days curing, then another day to develop the pellicle. Anywho, it was really good! Next time I think I'm going to do tacmo's modified bacon recipe using a boneless pork loin and compare the 2. I can pretty much guarantee than the measly 1.8 lbs sliced (now down to prolly about 1 lb! LOL) I ended up with won't last to do a direct comparison. Great ideas here, folks!! Kajun
Thank you @TXKajun!!!!!! Beautiful. Do exactly what @tacmotusn says. I followed his recipe on my second try and it was perfect!!! You will be pleasantly surprised at the difference.