Smoked Bacon, Worlds Best Ham, Ribs, Pork Butt 2016 (big photos)

For ease of reading and commenting, and to avoid being obnoxious for mobile users, I'm putting all the photos in this thread in spoilers cause they're BIG BIG BIG.

I picked up two of the best pork bellys I've ever seen from the Butcher at the end of July. These two were already skinned. All together they were about 40-45 bucks a piece, 25 pounds combined weight.

Raw belly below

Here they are all sliced up into manageable sized portions. I made some smaller than others in order to give a few away to friends and family. They will all be stuffed into gallon sized ziplock bags to brine so I sized them appropriately, they're long and they zig-zag fold into the bags when you stuff em. I could easily cut a whole belly in half and smoke both halfs no problem if only I had a reliable container that large to brine in.

Sliced belly below


I made a double-batch of brine (one batch per belly) the night before I cut the belly:

-1 Gallon Water
-1 Cup Packed light brown sugar
-1 POUND kosher salt (3 cups, if Daimond crystal. 1 3/4 cups, if using Morton's, volume isn't accurate just weigh it)
-3 Tbs. coarse ground pepper
-1 tsp fennel seed
-1 tsp caraway seed
-1 tsp rosemary
-1 tsp thyme
-1 clove minced garlic

Heat it all up to dissolve the salt and sugar, you don't need to boil it, then pull it off the stove and let it cool. I like to put 3 cups short of a gallon in each batch, then dump a shitload of ice cubes into the pot after I take it off the stove to cool it quick. I put it in the frig over night so its close to 40 degrees when I start bagging the bacon the next day.

Each bag got a bay leaf and two crushed cloves of garlic that I smashed and threw in unpeeled.

Bagged brine and bacon below



After 12-14 days in the brine I took them out of the frig in 3 different batches to smoke. They get patted dry, laid out in a pan to catch liquid drips, and placed on top of a cooling rack elevated in front of a fan. I let them reach room temp, then they get tossed into the smoker straight on the rack on medium to low heat locations in the smoker. I let them go for a few hours till they start looking dry, and rotate/flip them to let everything smoke evenly. They get 8-10 hours of smoke at 170-200 degrees.

Delicious bacon below


Its delicious.

I bought a half a pig from a friend who raises them himself, they've been fed truck loads of apples, its the best damn meat I've ever had.
Here is the piggie.


The Brine, the ham spent over a week in this brine before going in the smoker.

2 cups kosher salt
2 cups sugar
6 bay leaves
1/2 cup fennel seeds
1/2 cup mustard seeds
2 tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes
1 bunch rosemary
20 garlic cloves CRUSHED
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
4 ribs celery, coarsely chopped
2 gallons water
1 (6 to 8-pound) bone-in fresh ham
Paste:
8 sprigs rosemary, picked and leaves finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, smashed
Large pinch crushed red pepper flakes
Kosher salt
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds red bliss potatoes, cut in 1/2
Olive oil
Salt
2 cups chicken stock

Read more at: Brined Fresh Ham Recipe : Anne Burrell : Food Network

Click to expand...

Brine below


After brining for more than a week, I pulled the ham out and patted it dry, let it come up to room temp, and preheated the smoker. I smoked it for a total of 12 hours, but after 6-8 hours I pulled it out and glazed it using a honey pomegranate Dijon mustard glaze, then shoved it back in the smoker.

Ingredients:
1 cup honey
3 cups pomegranate juice
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
Source

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The ham was pulled out of the smoker after 12 hours at 175-225 and put in the oven with a can of crushed pineapple on top to caramelize as the inside of the ham got up to 165 degrees. I took it out and let it sit, put it in the frig over night, then sliced it the next day. Its the best thing I've ever had. Perfect texture, juicy, soooo tasty.

Ham below


I used the ham shank and remaining meat to make a split pea soup, its incredible.

Split pea soup with ham below

Pork butt and Ribs - a few duplicate pics in the two different spoilers.

Rubbed both of them with my pork rub, smoked them for 12 hours at 175-225 with oak. I was taking the pork butt out of the smoker after the first 8 hours to mop with my BBQ sauce, pick-a-peppa sauce, vinegar, and kitchen bouquet.

Pork butt below


The ribs need to be finished in the oven, I cut them up and froze them in 3rds so I can reheat with my BBQ sauce.

Ribs below


I also did beans. Browned some pork picnic roast cuts that were on sale for 99 cents, threw them in the bottom of the bean pot with a diced onion and a cup of my BBQ sauce. I tossed 1 and a half baked bean cans over all that, and smoked it. Came out delicious.

Beans below


And if anyone is wondering what the smoker looks like, see pics below from previous smoking sessions.

Fuck that looks delicious!!!

3rd batch of bacon sliced and fried.

Looks like cancer in the making

Delicious, delicious cancer.