3rd Smoke - 1st Brisket - loads of questions

[DivotMaker]

Tony, I knew Brian and Martin would come through for you!  Sorry for over-reacting a bit, but I wanted the curing experts to look at it.  Sure got a pretty "faux" smoke ring out of it! 

Hard to find #1 curing salt locally, unless maybe you ask a butcher to sell you a little bag (don't need much).  I ordered a bag from Amazon about 1 1/2 years ago, and still have most of it! 

[TmanEater]

Thanks Tony, I would much rather have over-reacting going on then to do something that jeopardizes anyone that would eat something I made. I still want to learn more about these cures and the science of curing and brining meats. I found it interesting reading about Brian's (Pork Belly) dry curing in his basement (http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=1793.msg10716#msg10716). I have been food poisoned (subway seafood sandwich near 10pm) many years ago and felt like I was on my death bed. So, I'm definitely one that appreciates food safety and preservation done correctly. I found the following webpage (http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/seasoningflavoring/a/nitrates.htm) to be a interesting read when trying to learn more about the sodium nitrates and nitrites which have been the topic of this whole Morton Tender Quick spin-off discussion. I'm so glad this forum has so many experts in various areas that are willing to help educate and inspire us newbies to learning the art of great food preparation and mastery. Kudos to you, Brian, and Martin for helping me out on this one! I was happy with the pretty "faux" smoke ring as well!

Going back to the brisket now. When I was following your post (http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=2160.0) I read about you saving the point for burnt ends. I gave up this go around on that concept but I'm still interested in it for my next brisket attempt. I've never had burnt ends before but keep hearing about them being oh so good. Smokey D's BBQ in Des Moines, IA is the best BBQ I've ever had and I still haven't tried their burnt ends (mainly because I love their brisket so much I get it when we pass through town). Do you have more details on how you specifically process the burnt ends? I was reading one article that talked about melting 8 oz of the fat trimmings and some drippings and sauce in a frying pan. More work than I wanted to tackle on this first go around so I just sliced the point and the flat in about 1/4" slices and put them in foodsaver bags.

I better stop writing this post now. It's bringing me back to the brisket samples I tried earlier today and my mouth is starting to water up. I think this smoker could be the best Christmas present I ever received!

[DivotMaker]

Good to hear, Tony.  Gotta try burnt ends!  They're like little morsels of meat candy - SO good!  You can make them from pork butt, too!

I recommend following Pork Belly and Martin (Digging Dog Farm), and ND Koze (Gregg) for the sausage/curing lessons - these guys really know their stuff!  Like Brian said - curing salts are NOT something to "wing it" with!  You got lucky, this time, with the amount.  Had this been another curing salt, it could have been bad.  Great topic, so I hope you spend some time learning it, and then teach us all something!

[NDKoze]

Not really worthy of a new post, but here is a couple of pics of some fresh pork loins (18lbs.) soon to become Canadian Bacon, 100lbs. of Fry (Ring) sausage, and 30lbs. of Summer Sausage that we made this weekend.

We butchered a 475lb. hog and ground about 360 lb. of pork/venison this weekend. 200lb. Of Snack Stix and 25lbs. for Venison Bacon packaged and in the freezer to be made later.

[DivotMaker]

You had me at 475 lb hog...