Ordering Porkbelly for my slab bacon

Rick · Post by **Rick** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 17:18

Hello to all,
Two questions for those of you who do a lot of bacon smoking.

I'm going to give my local slaughter house a call and order a pork belly or two. For slab bacon, do I ask for rind off or just get the belly with the rind on and trim it off myself after the finished process?

Second, once I get my bellies, I like to square them up before starting my process. In the past I've noticed that the side view of the trimmed bellies also shows a lot more fat than meat. Almost like side pork rather than good bacon making product.

It always seems the store bought stuff has a higher meat to fat ratio than what I'm getting in my bellies.

So should I be ordering just "pork bellies" or is there some "secret words" I use to be sure I get a nice lean meaty belly, and not one from some 350# old sow?

Thank you!

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 19:25

This will come down to preferrences. I like fat bacon with just a little lean. I rather like the skin/rind left in place it supports the slab when it is hanging on the hooks.

Post by **redzed** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 19:45

First of all you will probably be shocked at the price. It seems that pork bellies are becoming the most expensive cut off the pig. As Ross says it is a matter of preference as far as the skin. If you are buying it with the skin it should be a bit cheaper. Like Ross, I like to cure it with the skin and then remove it before slicing. We use the rind to cover cabbage rolls when baking them. Imparts a wonderful flavour. You will most likely be buying the belly off an average market size hog around 160 lbs dressed. I don't think that any decent butcher will try to sell you anything else unless you asked for it.

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 20:53

I have had very pleasing results with a slab cut from the skin side of a large butt. That will have approximately the same fat to lean ratio as a belly and I have sometimes managed to get one to yield four pounds.

crustyo44 · Post by **crustyo44** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 21:00

Rick,
Personally I am considering now buying only half or whole pigs. Pork bellies are the same here in Australia, overpriced due to certain TV Chefs.
I prefer rindless bellies myself. When you start making sausages Sow meat is better than anything else in my opinion, darker colour and a better taste in the finished product.
When I buy pork bellies, it is always a hit/miss situation with the fat content.
Regards,
Jan.

JerBear · Post by **JerBear** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 22:30

I normally get mine rind off (that's just how they come) but if I had the choice I'd get rind on and unsquared. Go through the cure and smoking with rind and cure intact then used the skin and trim from squaring for bean flavorings and such.

Rick · Post by **Rick** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 23:09

Okay then, it sounds as though its split even for leaving the rind off or on. I can agree though that the price of pork bellies has gone through the roof.

I just checked the case price of butts at Sam's Club yesterday and they were $1.38 per pound. I even thought of doing some Canadian bacon until I seen pork tenderloin at $4.49 per pound. With winter coming on here in Michigan, pretty soon I'll be able to put my brine meat in the garage to cure without taking up space in the fridge.

Thanks for the help to my questions.

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 05:30

Jan, Funny you should say about sow belly as the preferred source for bacon. My Dad used to refer to bacon as sow belly. We didn't have a smokehouse when I was a kid but Dad certainly grew up with one.

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 05:34

Don't rule out butts for almost any smoked product. As I stated I have had good results with a skin side slab cured as bacon and the rest when cured and rolled makes a very nice breakfast bacon and better for my taste than smoked loin.

crustyo44 · Post by **crustyo44** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 21:01

Hi,
I always prefer pork fore-quarter than hind legs. As of late I had a couple of hindlegs with barely any fat at all on them but plenty of water/fluid in them.
Fore quarter has nearly always the right fat mix and as Ross says, if you are so inclined, certain cuts make a good bacon substitute. Butts are better than loin any day in my humble opinion.
Regards,
Jan.

sawhorseray · Post by **sawhorseray** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 21:45

I can usually find pork butts for $1.49lb, the everyday price at Safeway is $1.79lb. I just called a place that I have to order a pork belly a day in advance, then drive 25 miles each way into Sacramento and back, $2.59lb with skin on. The other place I called was the same drive and cost $4.75lb, skin off. Driving a 4-WD 3/4 ton pick-up with gas at $4.19 a gallon makes shopping locally a lot more attractive. For now I'm well stocked with Canadian bacon that I made last week. I do have a hankering to cure and smoke some ham for sandwiches soon. I'm thinking pork butt, de-boned and tied, with the thick layer of top fat trimmed off and saved to mix with wild hog meat for sausage in the spring, would make wonderful ham. I saw the pics of the butts Ross smoked a couple weeks back and thought they looked as nice as any ham I'd ever laid eyes on. Makes me think thoughts. RAY

Post by **redzed** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 22:01

Toda, I'm actually smoking a couple of small hams cut out of two picnics. I bought four of them, averaging 9-10lbs, hock on, for .99lb. I processed two and threw the other two into the freezer. In addition to the two small hams, I cut off the hocks for headcheese, got about 6 lbs of nice dark meat for sausage, and left a lot of meat on the bones and will also be smoking these today to be used in bean or lentil soups. So for less than twenty bucks that the two processed picnics cost me, I'm getting a good bang for the buck. (Even Ross would be hard pressed to do better). Will post some pics of the hams tomorrow. Now I gotta go and plant daffodils and tulips since it stopped raining.

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Tue Oct 30, 2012 01:18

Pork butts are just fine if you aren't trying to feed a small army. I think that they are ideal for a small family.

Rick · Post by **Rick** » Tue Oct 30, 2012 23:02

Redzed,
I'm interested in your picnics and how you do them. Is that the cut you purchased in the store, picnics? Did you wet cure them? I'm interested in learning your process as to how much brine was injected vs. green weight, how long they were smoked and what temps you used. I'd sure like some shaved ham sammy's for lunch sandwiches.

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Wed Oct 31, 2012 00:14

Rick , I bought a whole fresh picnic and asked the butchers to saw it into 1 inch slabs leaving the hock intact. Then I mixed salt ,cure #1 and sugar with some molassas and a bit of water. I cleaned all of the saw dust from the meat and distributed the cure mix over all of the both sides of all the meat. The cure mix was 1.5 % by weight for the salt .25% for the cure#1 and 1% for the sugar and about .15% for the molassas and a few tablespoons of water. I overhauled the meat every other day for ten days and then cold smoked them for about 8 hours with smouldering apple wood. The next day i baked them in a 170°F oven until they reached 145°F rearranging them on the tray a couple of times. I use the same cure schedule for the rolled shoulder butts and roll and tie them before smoking and baking at the same low temperature.
Stanley Marianski notes in his writing that cold smoking and kitchen oven precooking after cold smoking is quite satisfactory.

Ordering Porkbelly for my slab bacon

Ordering Porkbelly for my slab bacon

Smoked Picnics