Rafter W Bacon
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RafterW That is a good price, while at Costco last week, I saw it was $4.49/lb.
HerbcoFood most lockers around here are right around $6/lb! I found a wholesaler who has it at $3.99/lb skin on and $4.09 skinless. It took me most of Friday afternoon, calling around to local farms and lockers but was worth the time invested. I’ll have lots of packages for gifts this year and plenty to store back for our use. Usually I end up giving too much away and not keeping enough back…not this year!
Matt W.
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HerbcoFood most lockers around here are right around $6/lb! I found a wholesaler who has it at $3.99/lb skin on and $4.09 skinless. It took me most of Friday afternoon, calling around to local farms and lockers but was worth the time invested. I’ll have lots of packages for gifts this year and plenty to store back for our use. Usually I end up giving too much away and not keeping enough back…not this year!
RafterW I am the opposite, I don’t give enough away.
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Just ordered 3 whole bellies this morning (~ 42 lbs…should be good for a while). Picking up Wednesday. Skin off @ $4.09/lb! Best deal I’ve come across in a while. I’ll post up my method, photos and recipe in this thread for those who are interested.
RafterW Sounds like a good price, I am on the lookout for some and costco has had the best price. I am going to try it for the first time.
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RafterW That is a good price, while at Costco last week, I saw it was $4.49/lb.
HerbcoFood - I was at Costco this weekend, the bellies I saw were nearly all fat, hardly any meat on them. I Passed this time.
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I actually have a catering for pork belly burnt ends coming up, so I called my distributor this morning to get pricing. $2.75/lb, so I ordered some extra to have some to use for makin’ bacon.
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Bellies $3.45 lb. at US Foods/ Chiefs Choice here skin off. They looked pretty good as well, good meat to fat ratio.
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Midwest_kc johnsbrewhouse you guys have got the hook ups!
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HerbcoFood - I was at Costco this weekend, the bellies I saw were nearly all fat, hardly any meat on them. I Passed this time.
lkrfletcher I didn’t look at them, I just checked out the price since pork belly is a huge topic on here.
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Midwest_kc johnsbrewhouse you guys have got the hook ups!
RafterW How far are you from Oklahoma City, they have a US Foods/Chiefs store there. It looks like you are probably 100 miles away and might not be worth the trip for the price savings. I drive 18 miles to shop there.
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OKC is about 3 hours johnsbrewhouse, I’m less than an hour from Wichita. Good to know for when I travel through though. Thank you.
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Just ordered 3 whole bellies this morning (~ 42 lbs…should be good for a while). Picking up Wednesday. Skin off @ $4.09/lb! Best deal I’ve come across in a while. I’ll post up my method, photos and recipe in this thread for those who are interested.
RafterW
$2.04lb a week ago. Yes, still kicking myself. -
Just ordered 3 whole bellies this morning (~ 42 lbs…should be good for a while). Picking up Wednesday. Skin off @ $4.09/lb! Best deal I’ve come across in a while. I’ll post up my method, photos and recipe in this thread for those who are interested.
RafterW I’m ready. Already got you bookmarked.
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I actually have a catering for pork belly burnt ends coming up, so I called my distributor this morning to get pricing. $2.75/lb, so I ordered some extra to have some to use for makin’ bacon.
Midwest_kc I would love to find them for that price. The last I saw they were 6.49 a lb. I just can’t do that.
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Midwest_kc I would love to find them for that price. The last I saw they were 6.49 a lb. I just can’t do that.
cdavis ouch! Yeah, I wouldn’t be interested at that price either. My Costco had them for $3.99/lb not too long ago when I was pricing things out for that catering.
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cdavis ouch! Yeah, I wouldn’t be interested at that price either. My Costco had them for $3.99/lb not too long ago when I was pricing things out for that catering.
Midwest_kc I might could live with that.
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Picked up the bellies bright and early this morning before work. Total weight was closer to 35 lbs. They were all right around 11.5 lbs. Good looking slabs though. I think I’m going to cure two of the three this week and hold one until spring or if I run out, whichever is first…Likely the latter!
Matt W.
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Picked up the bellies bright and early this morning before work. Total weight was closer to 35 lbs. They were all right around 11.5 lbs. Good looking slabs though. I think I’m going to cure two of the three this week and hold one until spring or if I run out, whichever is first…Likely the latter!
RafterW sounds like a good plan. Good luck
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Lay out what you are going to need, not pictured is my knife. Get a sharp knife. I like the Waltons boning knife. It’s great for trimming silver skin and can cut the slabs down, no problem.
Next up, you need to mix up your cure. I like the cure in this charcuterie book. It’s very informative. Note there are two cure recipes. One for granulated sugar, one for dextrose. It’s best to use the weight rather than the volumetric measurements, for accuracy. I mix up a pound and store it in a container for later use. Makes things quicker next time around.
Portion up your subprimals next, based on how many different version you want to make and what bags you have. 2 gallon freezer bags will fit 1/2 a belly. 1/4 bellies will fit in 1 gallon bags.
Put your portioned subprimals in each bag and weigh them individually. I use grams.
Add 2.5% cure mixture to the bag, based off of meatblock weight of each bag.
At this point you can add whatever. I added about 1/4 cup maple syrup to a few. For a more savory flavor I added fresh cracked black pepper, crushed garlic and bay leaf.
I’ll freshly grind black pepper to rub on some of these before they hit the smoker.
Place in fridge for 5-7 days. Could even be longer if you’ve got thick slabs. Flip and give each bag a good shake daily. Press a finger in the meat each day to see how the firmness changes. You’ll end up with a firm piece of meat by the end. If it’s still pretty squishy at the end of 7 days, keep going for upto two more days. I find most of my commercially raised bellies take 6 to 7 days.
Matt W.
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You may find that some
Recipes say to trim the bellies square, I prefer to leave mine how they come. I trim off the ends after they cure and smoke. The ends make great lardons when cubed, excellent in salads, soups/stews and side dishes. -
Lay out what you are going to need, not pictured is my knife. Get a sharp knife. I like the Waltons boning knife. It’s great for trimming silver skin and can cut the slabs down, no problem.
Next up, you need to mix up your cure. I like the cure in this charcuterie book. It’s very informative. Note there are two cure recipes. One for granulated sugar, one for dextrose. It’s best to use the weight rather than the volumetric measurements, for accuracy. I mix up a pound and store it in a container for later use. Makes things quicker next time around.
Portion up your subprimals next, based on how many different version you want to make and what bags you have. 2 gallon freezer bags will fit 1/2 a belly. 1/4 bellies will fit in 1 gallon bags.
Put your portioned subprimals in each bag and weigh them individually. I use grams.
Add 2.5% cure mixture to the bag, based off of meatblock weight of each bag.
At this point you can add whatever. I added about 1/4 cup maple syrup to a few. For a more savory flavor I added fresh cracked black pepper, crushed garlic and bay leaf.
I’ll freshly grind black pepper to rub on some of these before they hit the smoker.
Place in fridge for 5-7 days. Could even be longer if you’ve got thick slabs. Flip and give each bag a good shake daily. Press a finger in the meat each day to see how the firmness changes. You’ll end up with a firm piece of meat by the end. If it’s still pretty squishy at the end of 7 days, keep going for upto two more days. I find most of my commercially raised bellies take 6 to 7 days.
RafterW great post thank you very much.
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