Yes, I read through that last night. I tried cold smoking the bellies Saturday using A-maze-n and CookinPellets Perfect Mix blend. I lit it up, and ran it sitting on the rails without the smoke box or drip pan. I "had to" run out to join some buddies on a deer hunt. I kept in contact with my son to keep checking for smoke and the internal temp from my Maverick. Well it kept going out. He had to relight it using a torch a couple of times until I got back. When I got home it was just about out again so I really blasted it with the torch and let it flame for a good 5+ minutes. I had constant smoke from then on and an IT around 85 deg. My goal was to smoke for approx. 8 hours but since it kept going out, I had it in there for 12 hours. I bagged them in zip-locks and had them sitting in the fridge since late 11:30pm Sat night. Today my meat slicer will be delivered, so I pulled two out of four bags to check on them. To be honest...They smell way too smokey and kind of sooty. Not a clean smoke. I got nervous I ruined about 10+ lbs of belly so I soaked the two slabs in cold water, flushing and rinsing as best I could. I took a knife and scraped the fat sides, shaving off just the surface to attempt to get any off flavor out. I'll probably do the same with the other two slabs. I'm afraid this batch may be ruined.
Update: After trimming the exposed surface I wrapped it in saran and put back in the fridge for 1 week. Sliced up one section and fried it up and it was very good! I ate about 1/2 lb before slicing all the rest and bagging. Sure glad I didn't give up on it and throw it away.
