Apart from talking politics, I love to talk about one of my state's greatest achievements and that is it's style of BBQ! Bon Appetite Magazine rated Franklin's Bar B Q of Austin Texas the best in the country last year! Owner and operator Aaron Franklin (who has also been a judge on the TV show BBQ Pitmasters) makes a "central Texas style" of BBQ. As a resident of Texas for my entire life I started cooking Q when I was very young and have spent the last 30 years practicing and perfecting the art of slow smoking meat (mostly beef but some pork and poultry) to the standards that Texans expect in their BBQ. Many people who live out side the state of Texas will never get to experience our BBQ and I would like to be a resource that folks on this forum can go to if they would like to try their hand at making it for themselves! Please feel free to ask any questions on the subject, from what kind of cooker to use to what cuts of meat and what seasonings to use. I'll open my book of secrets to you and have you making real Texas Q in no time!
I have just finished my very first smokehouse for cold smoking pork I will butcher myself. Do you have a good recipe for curing pork?
Man I'm sorry that I've never gotten back to you on this, I never got a message about a new post or anything and never thought to check and see if anyone had replied to the thread! I'm sure that you've already gotten the information that you needed by now but I'll throw my two cents in anyway. The only pork that I've cured is pork belly to make bacon and I use a dry cure. Ingredients: 1 pound of pork belly 1 1/2 teaspoons Morton's kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon curing salt 1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar 3 tablespoons Grade B maple syrup 1/4 cup water Procedure: 1. Cut the belly into 1 lb. slabs 2. Make a paste out of the combined ingredients and coat the pork belly liberally on all sides. 3. Put the meat into large zip lock bags and place them in a cold fridge for 7 days. 4. Flip and massage the bags daily to work the liquid in the bags thoroughly into the meat. 5. On day 7 remove the meat from the bags, rinse it in cold water and soak it in clean water for several hours to leach out excess saltiness, cutting small pieces off and frying it up to taste it's progress until you get the level of desired saltiness. 6. Once you have the taste that you want put the belly back into the fridge for one more day uncovered so that it will dry out. 7. Begin the smoking process on day 8. I actually smoked mine on an offset smoker for about three to four hours at 225 deg. with pecan smoke and I didn't use step 6. I just took it out and smoked it right after it had soaked in water long enough. It turned out great and I individually wrapped all of the one pound slabs, vacuum sealed them and froze them keeping only one pound at a time in the fridge for use. This recipe made some of the best bacon I've ever had!
