Jacqui

Hi Gents...now that it's getting cooler thinking about smoking some bacon and salmon. With lockdown and lots of time at home I started a lot of small projects using my hand planes. I'm in the middle of planing up a stack of air dried oak posts that I got from my inlaws property in France. I know it's not treated, basically the trees came down in a storm and were milled and stack in the paddock the last 8yrs or so. I have tons of shavings that I was wondering if i put them in the blender to make small dust bits...do you think it'd be ok for smoking? regards Jacqui

The flavour was nice and it looked great... Not sure I liked it enough to warrant the extra cost of the meat though..

good advice . 1 of them I've taken it...the other I've used simple juniper and black treacle.....

Hi Guys, hope you all had a lovely festive season. Wade's recipe for the xmas gammon was lovely, enoyed by all. Visitors have all gone home and plenty of room in the fridge = time to make some more bacon. Got some nice wild boar loins from my butcher and was wondering if anyone has a cure recipe that would work well with the meat... Thanks Jacqui

Thanks Ice, I'll be crossing fingers for it to work. back up will be a turkey crown as well...

Hi Wade and Justin, I have a whole pork collar to use this cure recipe on but was planning to sous vide the joint. It's cylindrical in shape about 5inch in diameter and around 3kg. How long and what temp would you recommend in the water bath?

Wade, tried it on the belly i put into cure 2wks ago. I cut into 3 pieces, used your calculator. I think for sweet flavours we've settled on 2.75% salt plus whatever flavouring. Did a straight cure for 10 days, then rinsed and put 2 of them back in the bag with maple syrup. the last one I just eyeballed some fennel, pepper and brown sugar... left for another 4 days. the maple I just patted dry, the fennel had a quick rinse...all had a 9hr smoke on maplet dust... bloody awesome, even my wife who does not like fennel said it was 'not bad'...so, next belly i need to switch up and explore some other flavours i think.

Hi All, I picked this up on ebay for £15.99...tried it on the weekend and worked fine. Had a 9hr smoke and there was at least 2-3 more hours left if I wanted to let it go. Dont know how long it will last but it's a cheap way to explore your options. Cold smoke stainless steel Sparbrand BBQ smoking spiral cold smoke generator

super, thanks Wade

Hi Wade, i've got a whole belly cut in to 3 pcs curing at the moment using your calculator. I'd like to try the Molasses cure above but have a question. Do I rinse the joint after leaving it in Molasses before smoking or do I smoke with the molasses still on?

think I'd be shot if i asked for another freezer downstairs...

ordering the hygrometer to get humidity. not too bad down there, not wet but not dry either. material will get damp after a month or so. cant squeeze another fridge in, already got two freezers as I buy all my meat as whole animals. it was the best way to get really nice quality meat at overall decent price and also means we've had to learn how to use the cuts that are tougher harder to get. Lucky for me, the other buyers don't want their extras so the farmer always organizes for me to get extra trotters, jowls and offal...last year the kids were freaked cause we got 3 pcs of head ...

thanks Ice. we do use the carport but for some reason the previous owners made it ridiculously long and narrow so the car is probably 3mts back from the air brick but I will need to check this before it use it. So if I cure same as I have been (just switching up to Wade'c calculator) the temp at 10 degrees celcius or lower is ok to hang the meat? If so, would 2wks be too long? I'd like to have a few experiments to find out what process we prefer between cures, smoking and aging.

up to yesterday was holding steady at 10 degrees celcius. I'm hoping over the next month it drops to around 5 or lower.

Hi All, fridge space is getting tight and was wanting to take advantage of the cellar for hanging some joints to dry/mature. What would be the minimum I could get away with temp wise and still be safe? I have a spot that's right next to the airing bricks coming in from the carport and there is good airflow there but not sure what is the temp would be suitable after cold smoking. regards Jacqui