Holiday meat platter 2022

[sudsandswine]

I personally don't eat a lot of sweets, and I think many people get overloaded with that sort of thing around this time of year, so a few years back I began packing up homemade bacon, sausage, and other meat products to hand out instead.

The 2022 edition features roasted garlic and jalapeno bratwurst, cheddar bratwurst, a roll of breakfast sausage, and a few different types of bacon. I got some Duroc bellies from a local shop for only $.50/lb more than the Costco bellies I'd bought in previous years, so I went with those instead. I also picked up a $.99/lb pork loin from Costco and made a batch of "Canadian bacon" (not pictured) using thirdeye's recipe, which has always been a big hit in previous years. The belly bacon I did is 2x bourbon maple syrup with red chili flakes and 1x porchetta seasoning mix (my personal favorite)







Happening right now with a smoke tube in my Hunsaker drum:



Some butts I got on sale @ $.99/lb, pretty good price for these days. I'll render the fat for lard.



A couple passes through the grinder




I roasted some garlic in the oven



I charred the jalapenos up with some leftover heat on the Primo and removed the skin



All stuffed up and into the fridge to air dry

 

[snadamo]

Awesome, suds!

 

[Stingerhook]

Nice work.

 

[Big George's BBQ]

That looks and sounds absolutely amazing

 

[sudsandswine]

Filled the pellet tube twice resulting in about 9 hours in the smoke. I don’t know if that’s long enough or not, but that’s all I will do. This is my first time making bacon using a cold smoke method. Prior to cold smoking I sat each belly on a wire tray in the fridge to air dry and develop a pellicle.



Christmas time is officially tamale season, so I prepped some chopped brisket point and misc end pieces I’ve saved and frozen from a couple recent brisket cooks.



I approach this as a fusion recipe and mix a traditional chile based sauce comprised of three different peppers and mix it with one of my favorite OG KC sauces - Jack Stack Spicy.



Tomorrow I will prep the masa and make the tamales using this chopped burnt end based filling

 

[LYU370]

Looks good to me. I've noticed if I cold smoke for too long the smoke is overwhelming. 8-10 was good, 14-18 was way too much.

 

[sudsandswine]

Due to concerns about the smoke tube snuffing out from lack of O2 I had the intake and exhaust fully open as well as the lid cracked a bit, so I’m hoping that it’s not “too much”. Guess we shall see tomorrow!

 

[LYU370]

I usually cold smoke in my FEC. I'll turn on the draft fan while the smoke tube is doing it's thing.

Waiting to hear the outcome. op2:

 

[TravelingJ]

Just let me know if you need more friends.

 

[Bluebird]

That looks great!

 

[cholloway]

Whats a fella gotta do to get on your Christmas list??? :wink:

Lotta love goin' in those gifts. :clap2: :thumb:

 

[halfcocked]

Looks fantastic but you wore me out just by reading. Sausage making is always exhausting to me. You the man.

 

[sudsandswine]

Looks fantastic but you wore me out just by reading. Sausage making is always exhausting to me. You the man.

It is indeed a lot of work, luckily I enjoy doing it!

 

[jkief]

Where’s the “hand out” line? I want to be first in that line!