Brisket, Boston Butts, Jalapeno Poppers, Meat Grinding and Sausage Making

[AZ2FL]

Friday:
I trimmed up a 13lb choice packer brisket and a 9lb Boston butt for a Saturday smoke. Trim was saved for use later in the day for sausage making.

I pulled out the meat grinder and ground up a 16lb select packer brisket, three whole (25lbs)Boston butts and a 20lb boneless beef chuck roll. I ground just over 60lbs of meat Friday morning.

Ground Packer brisket was made into jalapeno summer sausage with high temp pepper jack cheese.
Ground pork was made into fresh pan sausage, brats, hot Italian sausage, chorizo, smoked links with #1 cure.
Chuck roll was ground into burgers. I did save three pounds of whole meat to make poor man burnt ends next week.

Saturday:
Brisket and BB were loaded in the 18" WSM at 7:00AM. Brisket was probe tender at 2:30PM and BB bone pulled out of meat at 4:30pm. Pit temp was 280-300 degrees. BB was on the bottom rack and was basted by the brisket. Both items were foiled 12:30pm. After the brisket was resting in the cooler, I smoked up a batch of jalapeno poppers. 

Brisket, BB and poppers were served at my neighbor's small house party.   I very rarely ever eat my own BBQ after cooking and drinking beer all day. I did eat one slice of brisket and a bite of pulled pork. Both were moist and tasty. 

Being in Florida we get pop up showers from time to time, so I had to break out the umbrella midmorning.

Summer sausage and smoked links were smoked in my homemade smoker (aka sausage coffin). Pit temp was 110 degrees to start and finished at 190-200. I know it's not a Weber, but I've been thinking about using a Weber lid vent to control air flow.

Cheers

[JEBIV]

that is a serious weekend of meat looks awesome !!!!

[bamakettles]

My goodness....you sir are extremely adventurous!  That's a couple of busy days for sure.  Cool post....

[aaronw915]

That is a badass combo of grinding and smoking of meats.


Sent from my iPhone using Weber Kettle Club

[1911Ron]

Awesome!

[michaelmilitello]

Wow!  Awesome weekend of cooking. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Foster Dahlet]

Holy cow that's a great weekend of cooking! 

Sent from my LM-X420 using Weber Kettle Club mobile app

[AZ2FL]

Thanks guys for the kind words.

About every three or four months, I'll grind up 30-50 pounds of meat for burgers and sausage. During deer season I make over 100 pounds venison summer sausage. I also wet cure my own bacon, Canadian bacon and buckboard bacon several times a year. During winter months in Florida, when the temps dip into the 40s I'll cold smoke 30-40lbs of cheese.

It takes more time to vacuum seal ground meat and sausage then it does to grind and stuff. Does anybody have any experience with vacuum chamber sealers?  My wife and I have been eyeing a Vac Master VP215 for about a year now. Any other suggestions?  Our budget is $1,000-$1,200

Smoked brisket was seasoned with 50/50 salt and fresh cracked black pepper, it was not injected, brined or broth added to foil at crutch.

WSM 18" water pan setup was a little different this time. Over the last 19 years I've used the water pan with water and water pan with sand. This time I used two standard fire bricks in the water pan (no water) and covered with foil. This worked really well, moving forward I'll continue to use fire bricks. It's less hassle than sand and I thought yielded the same results as sand.

Cheers

[bbqking01]

Got any tips on making bacon out of pork belly?


Sent from my iPhone using Weber Kettle Club

[WNC]

Wow, super impressive!


Sent from my iPhone using Weber Kettle Club

[AZ2FL]

Got any tips on making bacon out of pork belly?


Sent from my iPhone using Weber Kettle Club

Bacon can be dry or wet cured. About 90% of the time I wet brine pork bellies. Dry cure takes up less refrigerator space.

Brining solution and curing:

Here is my basic wet brine for bacon. (Thanks, Pops6927) Skinless Pork bellies can be purchased at Sam's Club or your local butcher.
Per one gallon of solution
* one-gallon cold distilled water
* ¾ cup sea salt
* ¾ cup white sugar
* ¾ cup brown sugar
*1 tablespoon (one ounce) No. 1 pink curing salt, also called Prague #1 powder (NOT pink Himalayan table salt)
Mix well until sugar and salt are dissolve.

Place pork bellies in a five-gallon food grade bucket, submerge and cover with brine solution. Weight down with a plate or plastic bag filled with water. I typically use two gallons of solution per five-gallon bucket.
Cure pork bellies for 13-15 days in refrigerator.
Discard brine and rinse pork thoroughly. Pat dry, place on wire rack and return to refrigerator for 1 or 2 days to help form a pellicle and dry the meat out.

Cold Smoking:

Remove from refrigerator.

Dry meat with a fan for an even better pellicle. This can also be done in a smoker at pit temp of 90-100 degrees.
Once meat surface is dry, you can proceed with smoking pork bellies. Do not add smoke until the surface is dry. Wet surface will yield a bitter acidic taste profile.

I've used everything from a homemade venturi smoker generator (pain in the backside), SmokeHouse Products Big chief electric smoker, curb find master built 30" electric smoker MES30, 22" WSM & 22" Kettle with 4" homemade charcoal basket. What I've found that works the best for cold smoking is A-Maze-N with premium pellets. Do not use charcoal flavored pellets.

Place meat in smoker along with A-Maze-N and smoke for 6-8 hours. You are not cooking the meat, just cold smoking. I like the outdoor air temp in the 40-50 degree range.

Resting and Slicing:

Let bacon rest on wire racks in the refrigerator for one to three days before slicing. Just be forewarned that your refrigerator and everything it in will smell like a smokehouse.  I have a second refrigerator in the garage so it's not an issue. Several large boxes of baking soda work well to help reduce the smoke smell.

Freeze bacon for 30-45 minutes before slicing, this makes it much easier to slice.
If you don't have a deli-meat slicer, a sharp brisket knife works the best. I used a brisket knife for years before I purchased a deli meat-slicer.

This is how I make bacon and it works for me. Once you make your own bacon, you'll never buy commercial bacon again.