calldoctoday said in Post your Walton’s Patriotic Meatgsitcs Shirt pics:

John Belvedere What a view, I read you better be on the lookout for the sharks up that way, they are on the warpath. Down this way too though, they about bit a young lady’s leg off just trying to get some scallops for dinner…

The other day at my normal off road beach a lifeguard got bit while in a training session.

“At the time of the attack, Gallo was treading in waist-deep water and playing the part of a victim in a lifeguard drill. He said when he felt a sharp pain in his hand, he at first did not know he had been bitten by a shark.”

I’ll start, I got my Patriotic Meatgsitcs shirt last Thursday just in time for the 4th. My wife and I went beach camping on Montauk beach Long Island. My son has a 35’ camper so it’s not really camping but it’s still ruffing it’s. No water hookup nor is there electricity. Thankfully it’s fully self contained. Anyway I digress, here is my picture wearing my Patriotic Meatgsitcs shirt.

Looking forward to others.

Ed Paone said in Tender Jerky:

The jerky looks great and the kitchen looks awesome. What did you use for a variable speed fan and where is it located in the smoker?
Thank you for the compliment. The fan I use is from Auber Instruments (https://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14_29&products_id=850). I have it place on the lower left side, just over the water pan. It really helps with preventing hotspots. I use a wicking towel in my water pan (thanks Jonathan for the idea) since the fan is placed by the water pan and near the towel it helps with increasing humidity when doing smoked sausage.

Mcjagger said in Tender Jerky:

sure wish I could find a Marinade Express Vacuum Tumbler somewhere

I was very lucky, I ordered mine on Sept. 2020 from Walton’s before everything became back ordered. I would keep checking the Marinade Express Pro website (https://marinadeexpress.com/product/marinade-express-pro/). Good luck in your quest to find one.

zbigjeff said in Tender Jerky:

John Belvedere Definitely like the thickness of your Jerry. Too many cut it way too thin. Way to go. Also liked that you did the math to figure out yield for future batches.

Thank you!

That’s some fine looking bacon. I also like the the detailed write up. What time is breakfast?

Dave in AZ said in Tender Jerky:

John Belvedere ok first, great job on the remodel! That kitchen looks great!
Jerky looks great too.
Is that a mailbox cold smoke generator?! AWESOME!
Yes, I did the mailbox mod on my 40” Masterbuilt smoker. I also added additional shelves and bought additional racks. I can do 12 racks of jerky now (about 10 lbs. of jerky). In addition to the mailbox mod I ripped out the Masterbuilt controller and added a PID controller. So when I start out 120 deg. Is a solid 120 (or any temp). With the PID the temps have no swing. I also added an internal variable speed fan to circulate the air so I have no hot spots when cooking or smoking. Thanks for looking.

Like I mentioned in another thread I’ve been negligent in posting as we did some major renovations in the old homestead. With all the work finally done I can now get back to business. I made some tender jerky today using Walton’s pepper and garlic jerky seasoning as the base and eye round as the protein. 18% low sodium soy sauce and 18% brown sugar. It was Vac tumbled for 1 hr. and rested under vacuum for 24 hrs. in the fridge. After the rest I released the vacuum then hand tossed the meat. I then vac tumbled again for 1 hr. with another 24 rest in the fridge. This morning while my smoker was coming up to temp I vac tumbled again for 20 min. Total weight of the meat was 5lbs. 5ozs. After all the tumbling and rest the weight of the meat was 7lbs. 8ozs. After smoking and drying the jerky the total weight of the finished product was 3l s. 14ozs. That in my book is a win. The jerky is nice and tender with great flavor. Below are some pics of the process and a during and after shot of the kitchen, one of many rooms remodeled.

bocephus said in Monthly Meatgistics Giveaway:

Jonathon Stop showing people where to enter, you are hurting my chances.
What he said

I ordered mine yesterday along with the”sample” Carolina Style BBQ Marinade. It’s been quite awhile since posting. We had some major renovations done to the house which took almost 7 months to complete. Luckily I have a freezer full of sausages, bacon and other products made prior to construction. Looking forward to start grinding, stuffing and smoking again.

@dennyo said in Bacons done:

John Belvedere John, what slicer do you have that you can slice bacon the whole width in one motion?

I just finished my 2nd batch of 25ish pounds of bacon and I have to cut them in half. 50 pounds of bacon in the last 5 weeks and I only have 5 pounds for my self lol.

DannyO, sport it took so long to get back on your question. I do the same thing Papa Sop does. I remove the plastic guard and hand feed being REAL careful. The slicer I have is the Walton’s 10” slicer.

Dr. Pain, I can not even imagine what you have gone through. I’m so glad that you have a brighter path forward. Hopefully your story will encourage others to get a colonoscopy even though they are feeling good. You are very blessed and a man of many riches having a wife that truly loves you. Get well soon my Meatgistics brother.

Thank you all for all your well wishes

Happy, Healthy and Safe New Years everyone. Unfortunately my wife and I are currently plowing our way through Covid. So far not to bad. Thanks for the shout out on the top posts. I’ve been very busy but one of my resolutions is to be way more active.

Congratulations on your beautiful daughter. A very early Christmas present.

So sorry to hear about Dr. Pain. My families prayers go out to him.

wdpd57 said in Dough hook?:

I’m just making fresh sausage at this point, usually 15 lb or less at a time. Thanks for the idea about the paddle, I thought it might be too much. I think I will try before investing in a meat mixer.

I’ve only KitchenAid for a few small batches. Any time I have a larger batch (10-20 lbs.) I use a meat mixer. If you break up your 15 lb. batch into 2-3 batches and mix them in your KitchenAid you will still need to mix them all together to make sure you have the proper disbursement of spices in the 15 lbs. if you are doing 15 lbs. at a time I would highly recommend a meat mixer. Small batch KitchenAid, Large batch meat mixer.

I have used my KitchenAid mixer a few times doing 5-8 lbs. of meat. The bowl on the mixer I have has a 6 qt. capacity. When I used it to mix meat I used the paddle not the dough hook and I’ve had good results. Like you stated in your question it was on a slow speed.

HerbcoFood said in Pork Belly Prices...:

My local Sam’s is about as clean as a dirty Wal-Mart, it’s also a pain in the butt to get to.

The one and only Sams Club on Long Island while close to me is also not very good. Costco and BJ’s are all over the place here. We have 3 Costcos within 10 miles of each other and the same with BJ’s. I’m a member of Costco & BJ’s. While both are very similar there are enough differences to warrant both memberships.

I was at a local Long Island NY Costco today. Pork bellies were $3.99 a lb. I much as I wanted to to pick up one I was buying a 19lb. Prime packer brisket at $4.99 a lb.Currently I have 1/2 a pork belly defrosting to make pork belly burnt ends this Sunday, stay tuned.