My take of Shotgun Shells using jalapeño popper brat seasoning.

1 1/2 pounds 80/20 ground beef
1.5 oz jolapeno popper brat seasoning
16 oz cream cheese (could use high temp cheese of choice)
2.5 oz water
1 package manicotti shells
1 pound bacon

Mix ground beef , water and jalapeño popper seasoning.
Mix in cream cheese.
Add mixture to piping bag with a large nozzle.
Pipe mixture into manicotti shells. Pipe half from one end and then fill from other end works well.
Wrap each shell with one slice of bacon. Try and cover the entire shell. Any exposed pasta will not soften during the smoke.
Smoke at 225-250 for 2 hours. Remove and enjoy.

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I just read every post on the f***m with the word Salmon in it, and every post with Lox. Several folks said they made cold smoked salmon without giving many details. And most were in a winter climate I think.

I’d like to make lox. Looked at a few recipes on google, seems super simple. The only recipe post that I found here was embedded in What Did Everyone Cook Today? thread, by Surg on Jun12, 2021:
“This is the recipe I use:
GRAVLOX
One 2-pound salmon filet (skin-on) I USED SKIN OFF
3 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch fresh dill (chopped) I USED 1Tbsp dried dill from jar.
Cake over fish
Seal in vac bag for three days turning each day
Then remove from bag, rinse and enjoy.”
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This looks great, and may be what I’m after. I will definitely try it. But I am wondering is there a way for me to do this with a bit of smoke, a cold smoked salmon, in 80f plus Phoenix weather? Could I make this, dry in fridge, cool in freezer then throw in smoker with cold smoke? Liquid smoke in brine?

I saw a few references to cold smoking in winter temps like Alaska, but I can’t do that in Phoenix. I might be able to get 60 f at 0300. How much difference is there between cold smoked and lox, is it worth trying for the smoked?

Right now my plan is to either pipe cold smoke from my Bellas CSG into smokin it smoker, with a bunch of ice inside it on trays. Or get an old cooler, fill with ice, salmon on rack above, and pipe cold smoke in there, and let that be my permanent cold smoker.

Any info from folks who have done similar ir other methods to make cold smoked salmon, or variations of this cured, uncooked salmon that can be done in Phoenix (never cold out I mean!) Would be much appreciated, Thanks!

For those following the Bread Pudding recipe I shared and wondered about the bread, I made this bread to go with some Hot Links I made so I could make a Hot Link poboy, one of my favorite beside a good ol’ shrimp and oyster poboy. This one is for you Chef

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So here is the recipe:

Ingredients

2 cups water (between 95-105 degrees) 2 Tablespoon of sugar 2 Tablespoons active dry yeast 2 Tablespoons regular olive oil 5 to 6 cups of a mix of bread and AP flour 1 tablespoon table salt

Process:

In the bowl of a stand mixer combine 1 tablespoon of sugar, sprinkle the yeast, and give a little stir. Set the bowl aside and let it sit for 15 minutes, until frothy and bubbling.

Add the remaining tablespoon of sugar, olive oil, 5 cups flour, and salt. Use the dough hook and mix. Use a spatula to bring the ingredients away from the wall once in a while until you have a cohesive ball. Mix the dough for 8-10 minutes. The dough should form a ball and pull away from the sides of the bowl. If the ball is sticking too much and does not form a night shaggy bag, add more flour, a few tablespoons at a time. Make sure to stop the process a couple of times, take the ball off the hook and restart the process.

Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead by hand for a minute or two. Form into a ball and return to the mixing bowl with a small dash of olive oil. Move the ball around to cover all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let the dough rise in a warm draft free area (I use my cold oven at times) for 1 to 1 1/2 hours

After the first rise, deflate the dough and divide it into four equal pieces. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes, then shape each piece into a ball and cover with greased plastic wrap.

Roll each piece of dough into a 16" x 3" log. Place on two parchment-lined baking sheets, putting two on each pan. Flatten the logs slightly. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let them rise for 1 hour.

While the loaves are rising, place racks in the center and upper third of your oven and preheat to 375°F.

Place the risen loaves in the oven and bake them for 30 minutes, or until they’re deep golden brown. As a note, I always toss about 1/4 cup of cold water at the bottom of my oven to create steam and don’t open the oven until it is time to rotate the baking sheets (top to bottom, bottom to top).

Remove the bread from the oven and cool it on a rack

Enjoy!!!

Per the request of mrobisr

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups buttermilk
1 stick butter
4 tsp baking powder
4 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Combine all of the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
Next, add the buttermilk and mix all of the ingredients together until a moist dough is formed.
Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl, and then pour it into an 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish (make sure that your pan is not too small or shallow so that the butter doesn’t drip out of the pan while it’s baking).
Place the dough right on top of the melted butter and use a spatula to spread it evenly across the pan until it touches the sides.
Cut the unbaked dough (it should be swimming in butter at this point) into 9 evenish squares.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top.

So, we are currently interviewing for a social media assistant at Walton’s and part of that persons job will be keeping up with Meatgistics community. I am thinking that we take Chef and others suggestions and make this person’s job partly putting together a Meatgistics Cookbook. It would be pre-order and probably be the top 20 or so recipes submitted to this category a year.

Along with that comes a tougher conundrum that seems to have people fairly evenly split. Do we allow replies to this category’s posts, or make it so the only post will be the initial user recipe post?

When we get the person in and start looking at this we will be looking for some more feedback from people.

Denny O’s. Brisket into Pastrami
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Denny O’s. Curing Brine for Corned Beef

1 gallon of pure clean quality water
1 cup non-iodized kosher or canning salt
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar (or 2 cups brown and omit the white sugar)
1/2 cup corned beef spices
2 tablespoons crushed juniper berries
1 tablespoon of Cure #1 (Prague powder, DQ curing salt or other, not Morton’s Quick Cure or Insta Cure)
Dissolve all and mix in food-safe container, stir until clear, then chill.

Denny O’s. Corned Beef Spice Mix

2 tablespoons black peppercorns
2 tablespoons mustard seeds
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
2 tablespoons hot red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons allspice berries
1 tablespoon ground mace
2 small cinnamon sticks, crushed or broken into pieces
2 to 4 bay leaves, crumbled
2 tablespoons whole cloves
1 tablespoon ground ginger.
Combine peppercorns, mustard seeds and coriander seeds in a small dry pan. Place over medium heat and stir until fragrant, being careful not to burn them; keep lid handy in case seeds pop. Crack peppercorns and seeds in mortar and pestle or with the side of a knife on cutting board.
Combine with other spices, mix. Store in tightly sealed plastic or glass container.

Neatly trim a brisket flat removing the fats down leaving at most to 1/8" to at most 1/4" of fat from a 10 pound brisket. Submerge it in the above brine. Place a 1/2 filled gallon Ziploc bag on the top to keep the brisket submerged. Add meat. Do not add different species of meats, but you can add pieces of the same species in the same brine bucket.

Refrigerate 1 to 21 days, depending on thickness of meat. I usually do a 21 day brine.

When the meat is 1 to 2 inches thick, figure it will take a brine of 1-10 days in the brine bucket.
When it is 2 - 4 inches, 5 - 15 days, may require injecting to cure from the inside-out as well as from the outside-in.
When it is 4 inches and larger, 15 - 21 days and should require injecting.

Injecting - use a 4 oz manual injection pump with the broadcast needle or equivalent.
Brine can become frothy (ropy). It has both salt and sugar in it. It also is inputting curing ingredients into the meat and oozing out blood and plasma. Just dump the brine and make up fresh and continue curing should that happen. Make sure you keep it reasonably between 37° - 40° F.

Weigh down the meat into curing the brine with half-filled Ziploc bags of water on top.
Flip once every day, end for end and inside to outside to achieve a uniform penetration into the meat.

No further mixing or stirring of the brine is required let it cure until it is done. Meats will come out of the brine with a distinct normal grayish look.

Note: Cure #1 (Prague powder, DQ curing salt, Insta Cure#1 or other, not Morton’s Tender Quick)
Side note: It needs to have the sodium nitrite level at a maximum of 6.25%.

I use this as reference: Computing equivalency, for 100 gallons of curing brine, you add 24 lbs. of curing salt to 100 gallons of water and mix.

That is .24 lbs, or 3.84 oz. of curing salt to 1 gallon of water maximum.

My recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of curing salt to 1 gallon of water. A level tablespoon is .88 of an ounce. Heaping is approx. 1 ounce. Either is fine. Neither comes close to the maximum amount allowed, but just enough to do the job. Curing at Maximum, plus with injection, requires 48 hours of cure time maximum. This process uses less than one third the curing salts and a longer curing time to tenderize and flavor the meat.

You must cover the product until it floats off the bottom of the container, then weight it down to stay submersed in the brine, leaving no area to be exposed to air.

At minimum the cure takes ¼”/day plus a min of 2 more days (cure penetrates both sides), a 2” thick brisket takes 4 days plus 2 = 6day minimum cure time

When the curing time is completed Take out the beautifully cured “corned beef” (because that’s what it is at this point), and wash off all of the brine and spice. Then, put it in some clean water to soak for an hour to soak out any of the extra salt and rinse it once again. Lightly pat it with a paper towel, but not too dry. With the corned beef being damp proceed to the next step, the Pastrami rub.

Note: I will do a double batch of the brine in a 5 gallon food safe bucket with a lid for 2-10 pound ish brisket flats.
You will loose approxmately 40% of the weight during the smoking process depending on the cut of meat

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Denny O’s. Pastrami Rub

1/3 cup Butchers Course Ground Black Pepper
1/3 cup Juniper Berries (crushed)
1/4 cup Coriander Seed Course Ground
1/4 cup Mustard Seed (brown or yellow I use a combo) Course Ground

Coat the rub heavily all over the corned beef brisket at about 4 to 5 tablespoons per square foot in a large deep nonreactive pan and cover with plastic wrap. The rub may want to stick to the plastic wrap that is why I use it in a deep pan.

Smoking Corned Beef into Pastrami

Pull it out of the refrigerator on the day of the smoke an hour or more before putting it in the smoker.
When you have the smoker running a constant temp of 225 degrees F (I prefer cherry wood), lay the corned beef on the rack. Figure about 1.5 hours per pound of meat. This is no longer a brisket because it has been corned, so easy on the smoke but go to your liking. Spritz the corned beef every 45 minutes or so never allowing it to dry out on the surface. Insert the temperature probe in a couple of spots and smoke till reaching “the dreaded stall phase” @ about 150 to 155 degrees F.

This is when the steaming process begins. Remove it add an 1/8 to a 1/4 cup of surgery moisture like apple juice or your liking into a double wrap of foil and return it to the smoker or an oven. (The oven is fine to use at this time as there is no more smoke that will be adsorbed and the moisture is in the double foil wrap. Smoker/oven temp is still 225. Reinsert the temp probes and continue the low and slow temp of 225 and let the meat go to 203 degrees internal or it feels like cool peanut butter through most of it. Don’t Over Cook It!!

When in the ballpark of 203 degrees +/- you are done, remove it out of the smoker/oven leaving it foiled. Set it in a dry cooler wrapped in heavy bath towels and close the lid for 2 to 10 hours. After that time set in a pan, still in foil and refrigerate until it is well chilled. After it has chilled remove from foil and slice.

Slicing, Slicing is crucial to maximize the tenderness of your final product. Look at the meat and see which way the grain is running. Cut it into thin slices of a 1/16th" up to a 3/16" crossed grain and at an angle from the top to bottom of the slicing stroke if you can. Do not slice length wise!
Steam to reheat until just warmed. Layer the pastrami on grilled rye bread with Dijon mustard (if you need pronounced flavors) add provolone or Swiss cheese and homemade kraut if it will please you. Yum!!

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3/14/2022 edit, Left is corned beef and on the right is pastrami.

Best of Luck!
Denny O.

I just finished my big brisket smoke for the year. This year getting good briskets in my area was difficult. No prime and the choice were small. I did 4 briskets that equaled 52 pounds. I usually have 3 briskets that go close to 60 pounds before trimming.
I trim my briskets out so that most of the hard fat is removed and the fat cap is trimmed to ¼ to ½ inch. I pay attention to the end of the flat when I buy the brisket and when I trim out the brisket. I will trim a thin end off rather than end up with this part of the brisket getting burnt to the point you can’t use it. This is a good video by Franklin BBQ on trimming brisket: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaMgt1Altys .
I get my briskets rubbed at least 2 days before I put them in the smoker. I have used mustard or Worcestershire sauce to wet the surface of the briskets before I hit them with the dry rub but don’t do it this way any more. I will say that should you use the mustard or Worcestershire sauce use just enough to wet the surface You don’t want to end up with the brisket looking like it had been dunked in a vat of mustard. When I do my dry rub now I start with the fat cap down and hit the surfaces of the brisket that are exposed with a liberal coating of dry rub. I then go do something else for 20 or 30 minutes. This lets the salt in the rub work. The salt brings out the surface moisture in the brisket and this soaks into the rub and holds it in place when I turn the brisket fat cap up. I repeat the dry rub and wait on all of the new exposed surfaces and then put the brisket into large zip lock bags. They have 2 and 2 ½ gallon zip locks now. The bagged briskets now go back into the fridge until I am ready to smoke them.
I make the rub using a recipe from “Smoke and Spice” by Cheryl and Bill Jamison. I highly recommend this book. The rub is called Wild Willy’s Number One-derful Rub. This is good basic rub and can be easily modified to suit your taste. This is the recipe I use including notes and changes I have made over the years.
Wild Willy’s Number One-derful rub
¾ cup smoked paprika
¼ cup freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup course salt, either kosher or sea salt
¼ cup sugar (I use Turbanado, or brown sugar)
2 tbls. chili powder
2 tbls. garlic powder
2 tbls. Onion powder
2 tsp. Cayenne
2 tsp. Ground Rosemary
This is a great dry rub for steaks, ribs, brisket, and pork.
I have a CookShack SM066 smoker. I have been using these smokers for going on 20 years. I say this simply to make the point that the following is what works in my smoker and may not work the same way in whatever smoker you are using. These smokers were designed and built as Brisket ovens. They are wood stingy and cook very moist. I do 4 briskets using 8 to 10 oz. of wood. I use wood chunks and will do a mix of whatever I have on hand. Hickory or Pecan mixed with apple or cherry. I figure on a 24 hour smoke time and several hours extra to let the briskets “rest”. I do not worry about the stall and I do not wrap my briskets to get them over the stall. I start out with cold briskets and a cold smoker I want to get as much smoke on the briskets as I can before they hit 160 degrees internal temp. I do my briskets fat cap up. I use a leave in probe style thermometer and set the alarm temp for 190 degrees. I set the smoker temp at 175 degrees and come in the house. I will check the smoker several times over the next couple of hours and if the smoker is not producing good smoke after a couple of hours and I haven’t hit the 160 degrees internal temp I will add another chunk of wood and turn the smoker temp up to 225 degrees. I like my sleep so just before I go to bed I turn the smoker temp down to 195 degrees and go to bed. The next morning I turn the smoker temp back up to 225 degrees and wait for the thermometer alarm to go off. I do not cook brisket by time or internal temperature but by feel. When the alarm goes off I take a toothpick or skewer out to the smoker and probe the brisket. When the probe goes into the brisket and feels like you were probing a warm stick of butter the brisket is done. I have over the years had briskets that probed done at 190 degrees. Most of them probed done at 205 degrees and some big briskets went to 215 degrees before they were done. Since I am doing several briskets they usually get done at different times. I take them out as they get done and put them into disposable aluminum pans and cover them with foil. They then go into a warmed insulated cooler. I warm the cooler with hot water in a pan when I know the briskets are getting close. I will leave the briskets in the cooler for a minimum of 2 hours and they will stay hot up to 8 hours in the cooler. I can’t prove it by any scientific method but I think the time in the cooler actually makes the briskets better. Better flavor and more tender for sure and may enhance the moistness of the meat.
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Brunswick Stew

This is my version of Brunswick Stew adapted from Wiley’s BBQ in Savannah, GA. It’s an easy sweet and tangy stew. I use stock instead of broth and a pint of home canned tomato juice with a small can of tomato paste instead of tomato sauce. The biggest challenge with this is remembering to set aside about of pound each of the brisket, pork and chicken before it disappears. I vacuum pack the smoked meat and freeze it until I have all 3. I also use rotisserie chicken instead of smoked if I have the other two meats and want to make it.

Ingredients:
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup chopped sweet onion
• 2 (14.75 oz) cans of creamed sweet corn
• 2 cups smoked Brisket
• 2 cups pulled or smoked pork
• 2 cups pulled or smoked chicken
• 3 cups beef stock or broth
• 3 cups chicken stock or broth
• 1 (14.5 oz) can petite diced tomatoes
• 1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
• 4 cups of ketchup
• 2 tablespoons of hot sauce
• 3 to 4 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
• Juice of 1 fresh squeezed lemon

In a heavy stock pot over a medium high heat melt the butter and sauté the onion until tender.

Add the beef and chicken stock, brisket, pork, chicken, and canned corn. Stir well.

Add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, ketchup, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, and lemon juice. Stir until all ingredients are well incorporated.

Bring everything to a boil while stirring regularly. Turn down to low and simmer for an hour or two.

It can be served immediately, but like many soups or stews, the flavors meld and taste even better the next day. It will stay in an airtight container for about 5 days refrigerated. This freezes well for future use.
Brunswick Stew has as many versions as chili. Have fun with it, add your own twist and enjoy. It also is great served in a bread bowl.
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I am a frequent user of the H-unit Summer Sausage recipe. I want to add a little sweetness to the taste. Can I add sugar cure or just some kind of sugar to the recipe? What kind of sugar and how much to change the taste. I know it’s trial and error to find the taste I want. But I may get closer and avoid pitfalls by asking questions. Thanks

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So here it is! At the request of many including Chef I am giving away my secret Jambalaya recipe. This is the easy quick and dirty one and not the more lengthy traditional one. ENJOY!!!

Ingredients:

Diced Onions (2 onions) Diced Celery (equivalency in portion amount to onions to form the “trinity”) Diced Bell Pepper (equivalency in portion amount to onions to form the “trinity”) 2 lbs of pork butt (untrimmed… you need the fat!!) cut in 1" cubes 2 lbs of chicken thighs (skinned and deboned) cut in 1" cubes 1.5 lbs of smoked Andouille Sausage sliced 1/4" thick 1 lbs of tasso in small 1/4" cubes Enough Pork or chicken stock (or combo) to cover the meat. I normally make mine and keep it unseasoned Vegetable oil Hickory liquid smoke Browning liquid You favorite Cajun dry seasoning Salt to taste Enough cooked/cold “salted” rice to mix in ( I believe it was a 2lbs bag or about 6 cups of dry jasmine rice)

Cooking instructions

In a storage container liberally season your pork and chicken with your favorite cajun seasonings. Let it sit overnight. The next day, add oil in a large pot and brown your chicken and pork. Add your “trinity” and sweat until the onions are translucent Add your sliced andouille and cubed tasso and cook for a couple of minutes Add your pork/chicken stock to cover the meat Add the Hickory liquid smoke (about 1-2oz) and the browning sauce (3 +/- oz). I normally go with smells for the amount of liquid smoke and look for the browning sauce. Bring the mixture to a boil and reduce the fire to a low simmer and cook covered for 3-4hrs While the meat mixture is cooking, cook approximately 6 cups of dry rice OR enough to mix in. If you have too much liquid you will need more rice. If you prefer a more meaty jambalaya then let the liquid evaporate and adjust your rice accordingly.

Once everything is ready, it is ready to assemble! I normally take my mixture and refrigerate overnight. The next day or so I reheat the meat mixture and once boiling hot I turn the fire off and add enough cold rice to still see a little bit of liquid. Let the hot liquid absorb and adjust your rice based on how sloppy you like yours. This is where you adjust your seasoning with your Cajun seasoning and salt to taste.

Serve either as is or with some Tabasco.

Does anyone have a pickled squirrel recipe?

As promised here is a simple way to recreate your typical Cajun Boudin. Although I am Canadian by birth I’ve lived in South Louisiana for 26+ years and have sampled 100s of boudins and this is my oldest son and I’s recreation of this local sausage. We opted to make it simple enough that my brothers in Canada could recreate using their local ingredients, so as a fact, anyone on the board should be able reproduce. I will put the recipe up and will have notes below

Main ingredients:

5 lbs of pork shoulder (deboned and cut into 1-1.5" cubes) 1lbs of chicken liver whole (drained but not washed) 2 medium onions large dice (trinity) 2 bell pepper large dice (trinity) 2 stalk of celery large dice (trinity) 8 good fresh cloves of garlic smashed and chopped 1 fresh Jalapeno chili diced small 1 fresh Serano chili diced small 8 green onion white part only (reserve the green part for later)

Seasoning:

60 grams of salt (and more to taste at the end) 20 grams of black pepper 3 grams of ground thyme 15 grams of paprika 5 grams of cayenne

Other ingredients:

6 cups of cooked long grain rice (~1060 grams) I prefer the Mahatma extra long grain rice 1/2 a bunch of fresh parsley chopped (~1/4 cup) 8 green onion (green tops only) 32-35mm fresh hog casing cleaned and rinced

Technique:

Cut and combine all the main ingredients and all seasonings and marinate 24hrs. Do not add the “other ingredients yet”. Put the marinated meat mixture in a pot large enough and add enough water to cover (I sometimes use some pork stock from my sous vide cooks) Bring to a boil and simmer for 3.5-4hrs (until meat falls apart) Drain and reserve the beautiful stock (keep it very hot) Put your meat/veggy mixture in your stand mixer with the paddle attachment and shred all the mix Mix your meat/veggy mixture with the “Other Ingredients” (rice, parsley and green tops) Progressively add your very HOT stock until you get a wet but not too wet mixture. (see notes)
{This is the trick: Too wet and it is sloppy and too dry and you won’t be happy with the results. } Since everything is already cooked, taste to adjust the seasoning. Stuff the mixture HOT in the cleaned and soaked casing (this help start the process of setting the casing. Make links of any desire lengths Allow to dry on a cooling rack in the fridge overnight to set the casing (see notes) Cook and enjoy!! (see notes)

Boudin is normally on the salty side (as it should) so don’t worry. If you taste it and you think it is definitely on the verge of being too salty then you did it right because the rice will absorb the extra and the end product will be just fine. When it is time to adjust seasoning, this is where I add my favorite Cajun Seasoning to add a little kick and dimension to my boudin. Be careful if you do add Cajun Seasoning because some Cajun Seasoning are just flavored salt. The one I use is not salt forward so it turns out just right.

Notes:

Pork: I’ve use shoulder and picnic to make boudin all depending on what is the cheapest Liver: Chicken livers are definitely more tame than pork liver but I have used both and enjoyed both. DO NOT OMIT from the recipe!! The “Trinity” should be an equal mix (roughly) so if you have smaller onions or bell peppers, just make sure the end mix is 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 of each of the 3 vegs Stock: When mixing the stock with the mixture of meat/veggy/rice, make sure you add all the fat first DO NOT SKIM THE FAT, then add as much watery stock as needed to make a good wet mix. Mixture variations: Some people put the meat mixture through the grinder… I don’t! If you like a boudin with less of a strand texture then you can cut smaller cubes or put it through a large grinder plate.
Some people like more rice in their boudin… and I like more meaty boudin, so you can adjust the rice quantity in the recipe accordingly! Links: Boudin is very wet so the casings don’t dry very well, For best results keep them linked for cooking purpose (otherwise the stuffing will come out the ends. If you want to cut your links (to vac seal them) then I would suggest parboiling them in water and then putting them in the fridge overnight. You can then safely cut into links Cooking: Because the boudin is already cooked you are just looking to heat the mix and set the casings.
Fresh, you can boil them (as chained links); you can steam them; you smoke them, you can bake them (on a rack). I prefer letting them set overnight in the fridge on a cooling rack and then cook them as above. Storing/Freezing: Since this makes quite a few links you can easily freeze those bad boys. I normally vac seal them (gentle mode) and when I am ready to eat them I just put them in a pot of boiling water (in the bag) for about 10 minutes from thawed or 30 minutes from frozen.

I think I have covered all grounds and answered all the questions I would have, looking at the recipe. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out.

Enjoy! and Bon Appetite!

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So I love the sweet chili snack stick seasoning-wondering if anyone has a recipe for sweet chili brats? I’ve tried using snack stick seasoning for brats-never has worked out. Any suggestions?

Sorry I have been on the naughty list. frown Please forgive me.
So here’s the short version.

Ok, been busy with a work for hire project. I’ve had some meat in the basement fridge for a bit the first one is 26.5 pounds of pork bellies. I try to purchase the heaviest weights of heritage pork bellies that I can find with the rines removed and a uniform thickness.

Brined for 2 to 3 weeks in a soft solution of ;
1 cup kosher salt (Not less than a 1/2 cup)
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 heaping tablespoon #1 pink cure (Do Not Confuse Pink Salt with this!!!)
1 gallon water.

I use a 5 gal bucket that is food grade and it has never been used for anything else but food in it. For 4 t0 6 bellies I need 2-5 gal buckets and a double batch of brine. I can fit/hang 5 racks into my smaller smoker at one time.

I make a double batch of brine and set the bellies in rotate every day or two, Fill a gallon ziplock with the brine and lay on top to keep the bellies submerged into the brine. Keep these in a cold place that maintains a 33 to 39 degree temp for the duration of 2 to 3 weeks, (you can do less time but,). My basement fridge.

Removed from the brine and rinsed off underwater

Laid out uncovered in the fridge to dry for 1 to 2 days (or hung in the smoker).

Hang in the smoker and using the “A-maze-N” full of my choice pellets, cold smoke for a day till gone and then the next day cold smoke them all over again.
The third day fire up the smoker @ 150 for 1 hr, @160 for an hr, @ 170 for an hr then @ 180 till the internal temp is 145 to 150. Shut off the smoker and let them rest. (Side note here I’m doing them during the cold weather months with no worries of heat and freezing).

After a day or two rest slice then to your desired thickness. Slice and portion into bags then vac, then freeze!

Excellent smokey bacon!

You will find if you slice this bacon thick or thicker than the store bought, it will;
Taste better
Splatter less (Barely a need for a splatter screen)
Needs to have a lower fry temp (keep the burner on a lower temp!!)
Cook it to a tid bit lesser done, but still to your liking.

Biggest reason, it is not injected with solution and you know exactly what is in it!
Heritage breed pork that is just salt and sugar.
The curing salt is at a level of less than 1/3 of the norm and still extremely lesser than the commercial processors that you get at the stores, plus there is nothing injected into it!

Let me know If I may be of any other help on this.

Lately I’ve been making this for others as well as myself. This last batch has been all spoken for.

But I’d rather be on the lake with my mind on God than in a church with my mind on fishin’ Denny Orfield

Bacon Smoked Dec 21.jpg Bacon Sliced Dec 21.jpg 1596.jpg 1580.jpg

Hi, I am looking for info and feedback from folks who have made pepperoni with their own known spices, not a purchased blend. I am preparing to make my first fermented semi-dry pepperoni, and want to use my own spices. I will be using methodology and recipes from Marianski’s book Art of Making Fermented Sausages, and their Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages. They list a good looking recipe, but google gives me recipes listing 5 to 10 other spices, mostly in 20 or so fairly weak looking "make pepperoni " pages that all look like 1st time producers blogging it. There are many comments listing tons of spices with things like “make it to your own taste!” but little if any indication that anyone actually ever tried these spices and systematically reported on how they taste in finished product… the top 20 or 30 Google results have all looked like low info BS 😞

I used search and read every thread on here about pepperoni, 22 title threads, many hundreds of posts. Most of them were for pepperoni snack sticks and all of them appeared to use a seasoning blend from Walton’s.

The Marianski’s recipe for fast fermented uses
Black pepper
Anise (or fennel)
Paprika
Cayenne pepper
F-LC fast fermented semidry (OR T-SPX slow fermented dry.)

Some pages I don’t see proof of production
on, and don’t really believe have made what they are writing about, list these other spices:
Coriander
Allspice
Nutmeg
Cinnamon
Cloves
Mustard seed
Garlic
Red wine.
–the Spruce Eats, bogus instructions, no culture, cure accelerator left overnight, saltpeter, incorrect temp/humidity to achieve USFDA pathogen targets… they talk about not infecting yourself with trichinonsis by handling raw pork, then ignore all pathogens and raw meat hanging 5 months issues.
–tasteOfArtisan dot com. This guy has a great page, says everything right, references Marianski’s books. Best page I’ve found, and he obviously makes it. He lists allspice with Marianski’s ingredients… I smell it, and just don’t recognize the scent and flavor of allspice with Hormel or Galliano pepperoni I buy?

Anyhoo, those are the main references I have, looking for taste and spice recipe feedback from folks who have made or eaten known spice recipes.
Thanks!!

As requested I am adding the sous vide recipes here for everyone’s future reference.

Lemon Vodka:

Peel 8 - 10 lemons with a potato peeler. Make sure that your peels have no pith (white part) on them. They should be all yellow. Prep you bag by adding the lemon peels and the vodka. Seal it up. If you do not have a sous vide rack (designed to keep the bags submerged), then add a heavy spoon to bag, then seal it up. If you do not have a chamber vacuum, use a large zip lock bag and use the water displacement method for removing as much air as you can. Set sous vide up to 135 degrees and run the vodka for 3 hours. Take out and cool strain with a fine strainer and add it back into the bottle
Great for so many uses. I love it with Sprite and in Bloody Mary’s too.

Jalapeño vodka is exactly the same.

Cut 8-10 Jalapeno’s into rings with seeds if you really want heat, otherwise half them and remove the seeds. All other steps are the same.
vodkas.jpg

To figure out the amount of cure, salt and sugar I use this cure calculator
http://www.diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html
You just enter the weight of the meat and the calculator gives you the correct amount of cure needed. I usually buy a whole pork belly (around 11-12 lbs. and I cut it in 1/2. I weigh each piece and then use the calculator. I change the amount of salt on the calculator from 2% to 3% (personal preference) . I also change the amount of sugar from 1% to 3% (again personal preference). When I get the amount of sugar needed I weigh 1/2 of the amount needed and use regular sugar and the remaining 1/2 of the sugar weight I use maple sugar (not maple syrup). Once I have all the ingredients weighed I mix them throughly. I then lightly coat the pork belly with maple syrup and I then evenly apply the cure mixture to both side of the pork belly including the sides. It should be noted that the pork belly I use does not have the skin on. If the pork belly you use has the skin on then I would put the majority of the mixture on the skin side and just lightly coat the skin side as the cure has a hard time penetrating the skin. Once I have coated the pork belly with the cure mixture I apply a heavy dose of coarse black pepper and then another coating of maple syrup to the pork belly. Once the pork belly is fully coated in place it into a large zip lock bag and I then place that bag into another zip lock bag to prevent any leakage if the first bag should leak.
The bags are then placed into the fridge in a tray for 14 days. Most web sites state 7-10 days but I do it for 14. I flip the bags every 3 days making sure that whatever liquid is in the bag stays around the meat.
After 14 days I remove the pork belly from the bag and thoroughly rinse off the cure mixture. Once the cure is rinsed off I pat it dry and apply a coat of black pepper. I then place the pork belly on a wire rack in a tray and then I put it back into the fridge over night to dry.
The next day I start my smoker at 100 degrees and hang my pork belly in the smoker to dry for an hour. After the hour has passed I bump up the temperature to 130 with what ever wood I want to use. I use a mix of apple and hickory. After 2 hours I bump up the temperature to 160 and let the pork belly cook until the internal temperature of the pork belly is 145.
When the pork belly reaches 145 degrees I remove it from the smoker and place it on a wire rack to cool down at room temperature. Once the pork belly is cool I wrap it in plastic wrap and place it back in the fridge for a day or two to let the smoke do it’s thing. Something of note if the pork belly you used has the skin on it now is the time to remove it. It’s much easier to cut the skin off when the pork belly is warm then it is when cold.
After it’s been in the fridge for the day or two I slice it up and package it into 1lb. batches.

I ran into my retired German butcher this weekend. He used to make the best smoked venison summer sausage. He told me that his “secret seasoning” was Flavormost. Waltonsinc has it in a case of 5-5lb bags for about $54. Does anyone have any experience with this seasoning to be able to give me an idea of how much Flavormost might go into 25 lbs or even 100 lbs of summer sausage? I am trying to get an idea how far 25# of this seasoning would go before I drop an order for it. Thanks a lot!

I read a post today of someone making fresh sausage of chicken with roasted red peppers. It looked good, but I’m not a fan of chicken sausage usually. I got thinking what I DO like for spicy chicken mixes, and thought of Korean bulgogi using chicken. Seemed like it might make a good sausage, lot of garlic, Korean red pepper flakes, onions or onion powder, maybe that red spicy pepper paste? Could even use rice for filler.

Of course, daiji-gogi is the pork version which would also be awesome! So I searched f***m for any posts, just found 4 but none on sausage. I really want to try these two, but figured I’d see if anyone has done it and their comments first!
Thx

New to the site. Hopefully I am posting in the correct category.
I am looking for a good recipe to make cured CHICKEN HAM deli meat. I have some chicken quarters in the freezer that need to be used up before I have to feed them to the dogs. As I mentioned, I would like to make chicken roll deli meat from them. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!