Steve Harford

1 hour ago, Wade said:

I burned out several coffee grinders over the course of 6 months before I took the plunge and went for a professional grinder. I talked to a friend in a local restaurant and he recommended the Waring CD409. It is a little pricey at ~£158 but has already saved me money over the 2 years I have had it.

Peppercorns are no match for it and it turns cinnamon sticks into dust in a matter of seconds.

Wow. Great bit of kit ! I might find the price a little hard to justify though. Hmmmm thinking Chr****as wish list. 

19 minutes ago, Wade said:

Bacon is not all the same and it depends on how it is cured. For example the storage time for bacon is very different for immersion / pumped cured bacon as it is for dry cured bacon. Although immersion/pumped cured bacon increases the salt content of the meat and adds the nitrite it also increases water content as well - by up to 10-12%. This gives it a chilled unsliced shelf life of only a week. Dry curing bacon on the other hand will slightly reduce the water content of the bacon giving it a chilled unsliced shelf life of about 6 weeks.

The curing process will also have an effect on the safety of the smoking temperature as the higher the moisture content the more likely bacteria will grow. It is a balance though as the salt in the cure (regardless of the curing method) will have an inhibitory effect on bacterial growth.

Assuming you are using Nitrite in your cure then it is preferable to smoke your bacon at between 12-20 C. This is often easier to achieve overnight in the summer. It does not have to be done all at once either. If you are smoking for 24 hours or more, split the time down to 3 x 8 hour overnight smokes, returning it to the fridge during the day. This also helps the penetration of the smoke through the bacon.

If you do not use Nitrite you should keep the bacon chilled, as you would fresh meat.

The only reason I can think of for smoking at higher temperatures is to reduce water content. For example, when producing traditional smoked salmon this is often done at around 24-26 C. When curing salmon this way you are aiming to reduce the weight of the fish by about 18% through water loss.

Now that's what I call a great post and just what I was looking for. So it looks like I'm pretty safe after just 2 weeks as I did use an all in one cure containing nitrite. 

Interesting point about salmon the smoking temperature being allowable much higher, I have read that but I have always been even more reluctant to smoke it until the colder weather. I can see that the moisture content would be reduced by doing so at higher temperatures though. 

Brilliant! Cheers mate ??

44 minutes ago, Smokin Monkey said:

Wade will answer this one. You will be surprised at how long you can store it, and the difference between dry cure and wet cured.

44 minutes ago, Smokin Monkey said:

Wade will answer this one. You will be surprised at how long you can store it, and the difference between dry cure and wet cured.

Great. I should perhaps have mentioned. I used a dry cure. 

46 minutes ago, Smokin Monkey said:

Thanks for the tip.

The forum also looks good on the iPhone!

Indeed it does. Nicely laid out

Can anyone recommend a spice grinder which is man enough to grind black peppercorns? They just whizz around in mine without breaking down.  

If it will do green herbs as well, so much the better. 

Hi Wade. Had a lean week so far regarding smoking and BBQ ing but intend making up for it today with ribs and rotisserie chicken. 

For those of us on iPhones, which is what I use 95% of the time, quick and easy access to this site can be made by saving the home page to your home screen. 

HaHa ! I just read that through bleary Sunday morning eyes as ' bitten by the dog' !

The bug will get you worse though ! ?

I have read various opinions about being safe to cold smoke bacon up to 30degC but I've always been very cautious about this and won't to it above 15C. Not for any scientific reason, just a gut feeling. Am I being over cautious? 

I have cured some pork loins as bacon and the majority remains unsmoked after 2 weeks due to the weather turning too warm ( I will post separately about that). It is in the fridge and still looks and tastes good but I'm just wondering how long it can safely be left in that state?

Hi al

While the Weber kettle is hot today I am considering making some naan bread to go with a curry for tomorrow evening. 

Does anyone have a go to recipe they can share?

That looks amazing Cookie !

I'm going to be doing a rack of ribs ( Bookers) today and quite fancy a plum based glaze to finish. Does anyone have a simple recipe?

I did one smoke on mine about a week ago. Well half a smoke as it went out. I have 6 half loins hanging in the fridge which have been there since, as I feel the weather is too warm to smoke. So I will be slicing and packing most of it today then start another few for smoking when it's a bit cooler. Still tastes great though. 

That's what I will be trying with my next PP. 

looks great !

Pleased to be in at the start of a very promising looking forum. 

Best of luck guys. 

Oh, and I am a Builder/landscaper with my roots firmly in Herefordshire (with an occasional foray into darkest Worcestershire). Home of the best cider and beef.