Need Some Cold Smoke Direction

[azken]

I've picked up a pork belly and would like to brine it and then use the kettle to cold smoke it. I do need to buy a generator and pellets..thinking hickory. Questions are: how long should I allow for actual smoking time..hang it from a spit rod or just lay it on the grill..I'm holding off buying the generator until I can get an idea of how much time to allow for..suggetions for a non-elaborate generator..ambient temperature should be below what. I eventually want to venture into smoking butter, salmon, etc.

Never having done this before I'll appreciate any words/guidelines you can offer.

Thanks

[Joshw]

Well there are many ways to do this, but here is my suggestion.

Get an amaze n tray. A full tray will last you about 12 hours, which should be enough time to get a good smoke flavor. Traditionally cold smoked bacon can go 16 to 24 hours, but this is a personal preference. If you want to go longer, you could always refill the tray, and keep going.

In my experience the tray, will raise ambient temps around 20 degrees, but this could vary some from cooker to cooker, and even pellet to pellet. Best thing to do, would be fire it up, and monitor temps. Ideally, you want to stay below 100 degrees for cold smoking, but for bacon you can go up to 115.

There isn't a lot of hanging room in a kettle, so I would just lay it on the grate.

Good Luck!

[rexster314]

I guess you're talking about a Weber style kettle? If so, then pick up an AMAZEN smoker tray or tube.
Pick out your flavor of smoke you want and let it rip with the belly on one side of the grill and smoker appliance on the other side. Make sure it's vented to create a small draft to keep the AMAZEN smoker lit. I'm not so sure about smoking butter using this, the tube or tray puts out heat (it is smoldering) enough to melt the butter. I have a Smoking Gun and cheap foam ice chest that I would use for that.

[IamMadMan]

As Joshw indicated, the A-Maze-N pellet smoker is a great tool for cold smoking with pellets. It can also be used to cold smoke cheeses, butter, spices, and a multitude of other items. The best part of the A-Maze-N pellet smoker is that there are no hoses to clog, no wires to fool with, and you don't have keep reloading wood chips. A full load n the maze will run for 11 hours unattended.

However you mention a brine, I assume you are referencing a use of a cure? A dry cure will yield better flavor, as you are not diluting / washing out the natural flavors of the pork.

[azken]

Thanks all..great help..A-Maz-N is the generator I'm going to order..I am using my performer and was thinking if better to hang the meat rather that lay on the grill I would use the rotissiere spit to raise it up and hang..also when doing butter etc. I was thinking about putting the product into a basket on the the spit rod to raise it up to get closer to the exit vent to get further from the heat..what the heck it's only a pound of butter and a big mess if it doesn't work.

Also..IamMadMan would you give me a brief synopsis of dry cure?..I understand the benefits but would like to know the procedure you use.

Thanks again

[IamMadMan]

Originally Posted by azken

..IamMadMan would you give me a brief synopsis of dry cure?..I understand the benefits but would like to know the procedure you use.

Thanks again

Curing Pork Belly - Dry Cure #1













Links in Tutorial: Resources for tested recipes:

Wendliny Domowe - Meats and Sausage (Based on some of Marianski teachings/recipes):
http://www.meatsandsausages.com/
http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-making

Len Paoli's Recipe site
http://lpoli.50webs.com/Sausage%20recipes.htm

The Spicy Sausage
http://thespicysausage.com/sausagemakingrecipes.htm

Sausage Mania
http://www.sausagemania.com/tutorial.html

Let’s Make Sausage
http://www.lets-make-sausage.com/Sau...equipment.html

Sausage Making Org
http://forum.sausagemaking.org/

Northwest Smoking
http://web.archive.org/web/200102140...e/Sausage1.htm

Sausage Recipes from Stuffer's Supply Company in British Columbia, Canada
https://kickam2.com/sausage/sausrecp.pdf

Sausages West
http://sausageswest.com/7-recipe-index/
http://sausageswest.com/sausage-maki...e-close/index/

and so many more....

[sleebus.jones]

IamMadMan's process is very important as proper curing of meat keeps you from killing yourself and others due to the cold smoke process. Sorry to be blunt, but there's really no other way to put it.

Please take the time to really understand what you're getting into here. Hot smoking is easy and generally hard to make anyone sick from it. Cold smoking is a whole 'nother thing. When things go wrong, they usually go really, really wrong.

I'm not trying to stop you; I'm just making sure you're going into this with eyes wide open. :)