Thanks Rob! You will never find me cold or hot smoking uncured sausage or any kind of uncured minced meat. But...ham hocks are neither. That's why I'm being such a pest here. And I am not talking about cold smoking, but hot smoking. So the question remains - why is it not ok to hot smoke uncured ham...

Thanks - I really appreciate the advice, but am still a bit confused. What is the line between smoking and BBQing? When I smoke a pork but "low and slow" I am sure it takes quite a while before the center of it gets above 140F. I have never monitored that temp rise so don't know how long that takes....

Hey CW - My question is, if I am eventually bringing them up to temps above 140F - in effect hot smoking them so they are fully cooked - am I running the danger of botulism?

I've smoked a lot of hocks, with and without cure. The way I like best is simply to smoke them as-is - no cure, rub, brining or anything. I use a water smoker, and smoke them till they are fully cooked and pretty dark. I smoke the feet, too. They make great beans. They come out so good this way that...

<t>I just got back from a week in central Michigan, where I saw pickled bologna in half gallon jars at Kroger. Right next to the pickled pigs feet. Wanted to buy some, but wouldn't have had time to finish it.<br/> <br/> Lotta sausage around there that I don't see in CA. Drove through some small town...

Hi 86 - I unwittingly conducted an experiment. With the same 10 lb batch of 70% rather lean pork butt plus 30% back fat I made 2 recipes - one with wine (linguica) and one without (andouille). The linguica came out crumbly and dry, and the andouille came out just right. There were obviously other di...

D'oh! Trying again.



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First try at posting a picture. Andouille and tuscan salami:

El D - have you tried fish sauce? It's a great interchangeable substitute for soy sauce, and I believe it is gluten free. What I like about it, besides the flavor, is that it doesn't darken up everything it touches, as does soy sauce. Great for marinades, stir fries, etc. it smells fishy straight fr...

Thanks CW and Wally - I've got to save my pennies to build that drying chamber I'm hankering after. I've got an environment that stays pretty right during the winter for smaller diameter stuff, but not during summer by your advice. Appreciate your words of wisdom.

Hey CW - With sopresatta, how much leeway do we have on drying temp? I see that 57F is ideal. Would a temp range of 60 - 65F be out of bounds?

Thanks for your speedy reply. Yeah, I've looked at those brown crocks - lovely, but not in my price range. I've got some stoneware crocks that have work fine for me for years, but this airlock thingy appeals to me in a Science Fair sort of way. :razz: So thanks for the info. Gonna give this $2 gizmo...

Nice, Keymaster! Couple questions:

- Where'd you get the airlock and the lid it fits into?
- Why use the airlock at all? I'm not familiar with this method.

Thanks!

My priest is Korean. Like most Koreans, his family would never consider a meal at home without kimchi, and they make many varieties of it, always bringing some whenever they come over. It is the National Dish! I made it some years ago and it came out fine, but it's hard to get motivated to make any ...

Hey NorCal - Agreed! With the bacon, since I am essentially cooking it with the hot smoke, just as I would a pork butt where I would not use cure at all, the concern is not with too little nitrate/nitrite, as the cure in this case is only for color and flavor. Whether there is too much in it is anot...