Wade

Seasoning the smoker is more important for bare metal, previously painted self builds or uncoated steel smokers as it helps to seal the porous internal metal surfaces as well as burning off any manufacturing residue. With purchased ceramic or powder coated smokers you do not need to "season" the smokers in the same way but it is always a good idea to run the smoker empty for a few hours before using it in case there are any manufacturing residues on the inner surfaces. Most commercially bought smokers do not need "seasoning" but they they should be "cleaned" by being fired up empty for a couple of hours the first time they are used.

That is one big beast

My favourite for bacon is a commercial secret but if you ever found out that it was a combination of fresh ground black pepper, Szechuan pepper and dark muscavado sugar I would have to shoot you For each Kg of meat I add 10 g Black Pepper and 6 g of Szechuan pepper. Before adding it to the cure zap it in a spice/coffee grinder and then pass through a kitchen sieve to remove the larger fibrous bits of the szechuan. I use the sugar at 50% of the amount of salt. Dagnabbit ! - How did you get me to divulge that ???

Until relatively recently the maximum commercial level permitted was ~170 Ppm but this was later reduced to 150 Ppm. You will find that if we recalculate the Ppm you used based upon solid muscle meat (belly or loin for bacon) rather than meat with bone - it produces a Nitrite Ppm of 180. This is very close to the old commercial permitted maximum. I first noticed the high resulting Nitrite levels with Supracure when it is used as they recommend back in 2014 and contacted Weshenfelder at that time. They passed me on to a company called Moginita who actually manufacture the Supracure and I spoke with their technical director Fank Travers. During the conversation he agreed that the resulting Nitrite Ppm was higher than the permitted commercial maximum, but as Supracure is sold for the home curing market these commercial limits are not necessarily applicable. Here on the forum we will always recommend adhering the official limits Forum food safety advice Yes, the Nitrite implication in cancer has only be shown in rats and not in humans. This has been sufficient though for both the FSA, FDA and EU to limit our exposure to it.

I get my chilli seeds from one of two places. Nickys Seeds or Victoriana. In previous years I have started all of my chilli plants from seeds - most of which have come from Nicky's Nursery - however this year I bought them as seedlings from Victoriana. Some people do keep their chilli plants from one year to the next however the commercial chilli growers I have talked to all seem to start them fresh from seed each year. I was with a chilli grower today who was getting ready for their chilli festival in a couple of weeks and this was one of the questions I asked. He said that if you can keep them alive over winter (which isn't that easy) the chilli production yield is often lower. I usually dry and smoke all of my chillies that I have not used at the end of the season and then use them as mixed smoked chilli. There are two exceptions. Poblano chillies I smoke separately and produce Ancho chilli powder. My Jalepeno chillies I smoke to produce chapotle chilli. Both Jalepeno and Poblano chillies are good for stuffing and so are Hungarian Hot Wax. All of these grow well in the UK but you need to start them off early. There are many other chillies that stuff well - you are looking for chillies that are fairly mild with a reasonable size cavity. Your fruiting problem is most likely due to over watering. If they are kept too wet the flowers will drop without setting fruit. Alternatively it could be a pollination problem. They are pollinated by either insects or by air movement so if they are in a location where insects cannot get to them and there is no breeze for wind pollination very few of the flowers will set fruit.

Looking forward to seeing the photos

When keeping to the usage instructions that come with commercial ready-to-use cures from reputable sources you will be fine, however care needs to be taken when deviating from the published usage or when designing your own recipes and cures. Salt and sugar concentrations are something that most people are sensitive to and it is obvious by taste when it is used in excess. The Nitrite content of the cure is different though. For short term exposure only 4.6 grams of Nitrite is a potentially lethal dose for an average 10 stone adult and 3 grams for a 3 stone child. The more concerning issue is the longer term effect of exposure to lower concentration Nitrite as it is known to form Nitrosamines in the acid of the stomach - which has been implicated as a cause of cancer. I am not trying to scare monger here as most of us are exposed to naturally occurring Nitrites and Nitrates in our diets every day, but I think it is important for us to be aware of the amounts of Nitrites we are adding through our home cured products. Extensive research has been done in this area both in the USA and in Europe which has resulted in the maximum levels that are permitted in the foods that we buy. It is relatively simple to do the quick calculation of Nitrite content and this will ensure that we are not unwittingly exposing our loved ones and friends to potentially harmful produce.

Hi James. It is always a good idea to work through the maths when curing as Nitrite can be toxic when used above permitted levels. Having said that though there are safety margins inherent in the commercial calculations to ensure that when eaten in "normal" amounts the Nitrite falls well below toxic levels. When applying the math to your current cure we get: For each 1 Kg of pork hock Assuming that 40% is bone and skin this leaves 600 g of meat for the calculation You applied 5% by weight of Supracure (30 g) - which contains 0.6% Nitrite, 0.6% Nitrate and 98.8% Salt This contains a total of 0.18 g of Nitrite Using the formula to calculate the Ppm of Nitrite <weight of Nitrite in grams> / <weight of meat in grams> * 1,000,000 = Ppm 0.18 / 600 * 1,000,000 = 300 Ppm Nitrite This is twice the maximum limit allowed for commercial bacon production in the EU (150 Ppm). If you had gone with the 3% Supracure you would have ended up with 0.11 / 600 * 1,000,000 = 180 Ppm Nitrite Originally when I was only producing bacon for my own consumption I would aim for 170 Ppm however as I now sell it commercially I am required to conform to the 150 Ppm (Mg / Kg) limit. Although what you will end up with will have a high level of both Nitrite and Nitrite do not worry this time as the amounts that you are likely to be eating are highly unlikely to take you anywhere close to toxic amounts. It would be worth in future though to do the calculation for your own peace of mind. The effective range of Nitrite for spore control has been shown to be from 50 Ppm although higher levels will produce more colour and a deeper "bacon" flavour. I would suggest that the 150 Ppm is what you should be aiming for.

Beetroot is more commonly used when making a gravadlax but you can add grated or powdered beetroot with the salt/sugar cute. Use it sparingly though as it is used more for the attractive colouring rather than for the flavour. No you don't need to weigh the fish to apply a %age of the cure. When using fine salt, liberally sprinkle the cure mix over the split fish side and then lift up the side and gently shake. Whatever cure remains on the fish is sufficient.

It will have an effect as at the end of the cure the meat will have taken up about 10% water. It will not be bad but it will be more like the commercially cured bacon than the artisan style bacon you get with a dry cure. When immersion curing you need to calculate the contents of the brine based upon the total weight of the water and meat. That way once the brine has reached equilibrium with the meat it will all end up at the desired concentration. A simplistic example of the calculation below... They assume that you are using the Weschenfelder Supracure which is 0.6% Potassium Nitrate and 0.6% Sodium Nitrate in Sodium Chloride. 1 Kg (1,000 g) hock Assuming 30% is bone and 10% is skin = 40% of total weight that is not meat. Therefore 60% is meat Weight of meat for use in the calculation = 600 g Volume of water in brine = 2 litres = 2 Kg = 2,000 g Volume of water and meat for calculating brine = 2,600 g Using a cure calculator based upon a total weight of 2,600 g to give the required salt (3%) / sugar (1.5%) / Nitrite 150 mg/Kg (Ppm) Water 2,000 g Supracure 65 g Salt 13 g Sugar 39 g To be absolutely precise you should take the weight of the cure/salt/sugar into account in the overall calculation but it will not significantly affect the concentrations if you don't. Any flavourings that you want can be added to the brine without needing to take their weight into account in the calculations. You may want to consider moving to Cure #1 in future for your bacon as Supracure contains Nitrate as well as Nitrite. Nitrate has been shown to form Nitrosamines at high temperatures (e.g. when being fried) which has been linked to cancer in rats in some studies. Nitrate has been banned for use in bacon commercially in the USA although the EU position on its use is less clear due to the large number of "traditional" cured meat products that exist within the different countries.

Hi James - How are you curing the hocks? Immersion brine or dry cure? If you are using Supracure then I expect it is a dry cure. When calculating the amount of cure to use you need to take the weight of bone into account as the bone does not take up the cure to anywhere near the extend of the meat. To all intents and purposes you can exclude the weight of the bone from the calculation. The ham hock will be about 30%-50% bone weight (I cannot find an exact published ratio) and so you if you don't account for this you are going to end up with a much saltier product with a dry cure. If the skin is left on then you should also allow an additional 10% for that. You could overcome this by using an immersion brine of 3% salt which will mean that you will end up with a known salt concentration at equilibrium - although you will have increased the water content by ~10% When dry curing, as far as curing time goes (within reason) it is not possible to over cure. Because of the thickness of the meat on the hock then 10 days would be sufficient - however if you left it for 14 days that would not be a problem. You may not need 30 hours smoking but you will be able to adjust accordingly for your next batch.

When your gateway arrives could you do a quick review on it for us?

Yes, a cold/cool wind - especially if it intermittent - will wreck your temperature control and cause you to burn a lot more fuel. You should shelter your smoker from the wind if you can.

The place... not in the slightest - except for a few of the people

It isn't always a case of keeping the heat in... Sometimes it is to keep the effects of the sun out. On sunny days the effect on the smoker temperature can be quite marked Here is a log trace showing the temperature inside the smoker (top line) compared with the outside ambient temperature (bottom line) over the course of a day. For most of the day the smoker was in the shade but the inside temperature was still a degree or two higher than the outside. But the difference increases significantly when direct sunlight hits the smoker later in the afternoon.

The Smoke is now my go-to BBQ thermometer and has now eased my Mavericks into second place. It now also has a WiFi add-on interface http://www.thermoworks.com/Smoke

Rather than piece together old photos I will put together a new guide over the next couple of days if the weather stays fine. I can do this now I am retired -

Great to see you here Jim

No. The Thermapen is a flip out instant read thermometer. The data loggers are different beasts. I hope to do a review of a couple of them soon. The data logger I gave been using for a few years is the TCD ETI Data Logger TCD I do have a newer version from ETI that they have given me to review.

Great post Jim - Yes it is certainly an OCD version of the Minion - LOL One of the problems a lot of people have is that they are not patient enough when it comes to getting their smokers up to temperature. Let it take its time and it will reward you with much longer smokes. I usually allow an hour to get my ProQ up to temperature although it is usually ready within about 45 minutes. At a couple of the UK smokers meets I saw people starting to get concerned when they were not at cooking temperature within 20 minutes and were blowing on the coals or adding another half a lit chimney. They are then surprised when they then had a problem keeping the temperature at the required cooking temperature without overshooting. I have done some temperature logging trials with this method and it is amazing how long you can cook on a very small amount of fuel Callow using 2 Kg Heat beads - Over 8 hours of cooking time Weber Kettle using 1.5 Kg Heat Beads - 6-7 hours of cooking time

You do not need to clean the inside of the smoker after each smoke. Just brush off any loose flakes with a soft wire brush. Every few cooks you can dump half a chimney of lit coals into it after you have finished cooking and do a short seasoning burn and it will burn off most things. If, as sometimes happens after it has been left for a while, you take the lid off the smoker and you see white mould growing inside do not worry either. Just brush off anything that is loose and then get the smoker up to temperature. Anything inside will be dead long before cooking temperature is reached. Brush off the grates with a soft wire brush again before you start cooking. The firebox is slightly different. This does need to be emptied out after each smoke in case it gets wet. Water mixed with the ash can be very alkali and can reduce the life of some smokers by causing corrosion. This affects the cheaper smokers more as they are often not ceramic coated.

ThermoWorks and ETI are sister companies and carry very similar ranges. Most of my temperature loggers are from ETI and they work well. The Smoke I had to buy directly from Thermoworks though as ETI have decided not to stock it in the UK. I believe that you can get it through their eBay pages though but they are not in their UK catalogue. Yes, the Thermapen is my go-to instant read thermometer too.

I used to use a welding blanket on my Weber kettle in the winter and it worked well. In the summer I don't worry too much about insulation but if it is windy I will put wind breaks around the smoker.

Sometimes you just have to come to terms with things being scrapped. It is a pity when that happens. I hope that someone will give it a good home though.

Thanks Scott - good link. These thermometers are now really becoming affordable for most people.