What have you smoked lately? Q-view...

Just before Thanksgiving, wanted to smoke some snacks to take to my Mom's....did a Spiral ham, couple pound of mixed nuts, and I usually throw on some red taters just because. I rub a little EVOO on the taters, some seasoning, and pull them out when the main course is done. Sometimes they're not cooked all the way through, but can always be finished off when you decide how you want to cook them. I either chop and fry up, or finish off as a baked tater...red taters cook quicker... Good stuff.

Smoked pork tenderloin stuffed with wild rice and smoked Gouda from Marieke in thorp, WI.

Looks good Eyesman.. Have a pork shoulder in the smoker right now for a family event today. Pork is still a great/affordable meat choice in today's rising prices/inflation world. Pork Bellies were even back to $2.99lb at my local Costco this week. Still have bacon left from my last smoke but I was tempted to do another batch.  

Done up a batch of pulled pork. 

Smoked a 8lb Prime Rib and it turned out great. 5 hours in the smoker (130 degrees/medium rare) and then a few minutes under the broiler for a good sear. Perfect medium rare finish. 

Made some Canadian bacon today from a 9lb pork loin. Cold smoke for 5-6 hours and then finish in my smoker. Added a maple syrup glaze on this smoke. Great smoke flavor with some sweetness from the maple syrup. 

Not anything Herbal

Thanks KONA.  I'm cataloging all of this info.  for future reference.  The memory isn't what it used to be.  Again I appreciate any kind of help

They deleted a number of good bacon/smoke recipes from this forum and the general "Bacon" thread. Eyesman was spot on regarding many of his comments. I have been smoking bellies now for 4-5 years but I still play around with the recipe/process. Below is my brine and some thoughts on smoking. 

For the brine process I use 1TBSP of Tender quick (cure) and Brown sugar for 1lb of pork belly. Also add in some fresh rosemary, thyme and some garlic powder- Have also tried with some maple syrup but found that added too much sugar and would result in some burnt edges 

Apply brine to the bellies and place in the fridge. The salt will draw out the moisture in the belly and you should flip the bags every day. Cure process Is supposed to be at least 7-10 days. Remove the bellies from the bags and rinse off well. I will also let sit in cold water for 5-10 minutes to draw out any excess salt from the brine process. Pat dry and then let sit in fridge overnight.

I have tried all kinds of different smoke processes. You want to get the bacon up to 150 for a finish smoke. Bought a smoke tube that you can fill with pellets and get 4-5 hours of smoke (cold smoke). I love a heavier smoke flavor so I have cold smoked my last bellies over two days before the finish smoke. Have also smoked with apple chips at 130” for several hours to get more smoke flavor. Always finish off the bacon by using slivers or cherry/maple and setting my smoker to 200 degrees until the bellies hit 150..

Last thing is I now do all my bacon in the oven (like most restaurants). 375 to 400 degrees. Just gives a more consistent finish.

Tank you eyesman.  I have gone back many years on this thread and some others not on Lake Link to back up my due diligence.  I have been a chef my entire life and have had a decent career but I've never been into smoking much until my son got one this year.  Although I must say if you've ever had smoked morels you're in for a real treat. And it's a good way to store them after they've been completely dried.  Reconstitute them in wine to make whatever sauce you like.  Especially good in white wine and fish stock and cream over salmon, or port wine and fresh tarragon some demi-glace and cream over veal.  I would be more than happy to share recipes.  

bottom bouncer, there is a Lake-Likner Polski that has posted about bacon and photos of his products looks mighty impressive, maybe he will comment with more info from his experience. 

bottom bouncer, a year ago I purchased a Bradley 6 rack digital smoker. My primary use was for my venison processing such as summer sausage, hot sticks, ring bologna, kielbasa and venison bacon. After a dozen or so smokes I’ve gotten the learning curve figured out as to how the Bradley functions. I did both venison mixed with pork and beef mixed with pork for the sausage products with good results. I’ve also did a couple pork loins into Canadian bacon, a pork butt for pulled pork and a beef chuck for shredded beef. One of my next projects will be pork bellies for traditional bacon. I get my seasonings and supplies from P.S. Seasonings. I order on line. I have gotten both a dry rub and brine cure to make bacon. The Canadian bacon was made with the brine cure and turned out ok, a little salty and will need to rinse the meat before smoking next time to fix that. My pork belly attempt will be with the dry rub cure. Finding good quality meaty pork bellies will be necessary to get good results. As far as smoking there are so many different smokers out there to choose from. With any a good clean smoke gives the best results. By that I mean as the wood burns and produces smoke the source of the smoke must not burn to the point of ash as once it gets to ash it will produce an undesirable smoke flavor. The Bradley smoke generator uses wood pucks that auto feed onto a hot plate type burner, every 20 minutes a fresh puck is advanced and the spent puck is pushed off the burner into a water bowl to snuff it out. The pucks are charred but not burnt to ash thus producing a pleasant smoke. If a smoker used a smoke tube those can be rotated often enough to prevent them from burning to ash. Getting the pork bellies properly cured, rinsed and dried before starting the smoking process is as important as the smoking itself. After researching many smoking recipes I’ve settled on preheat the smoker to 120°F and then dry the bellies at that 1-2 hours, increase temp to 160-170°F and add smoke until internal temperature is 145-150°F. Reduce temperature to 120°F with smoke and hold until the bellies have the golden bloom that looks good, guessing 1-3 hours.  Cool, refrigerate and then slice. It’s gonna take some trial and error to get the time and temperature down to just right for the results I want. At no point in the smoking process should the fat or grease ever drip, if so the smoker is too hot. I plan on trying apple wood first and then a run with hickory to see what I like better. Hickory has the stronger flavor of the two, maple is an option also. 

Can someone help me out with a decent bacon recipe.  I've tried all the ones on the food chanel.  Would love to get something close to Nueske's.  [email protected].  Thanks in advance

Smoked ducks for Thanksgiving.  Apple wood, wine in the water pan.  

Smoked a couple of salmon on the Traeger.

Fishlovme, I at one time had a Brinkman barrel smoker and experienced the same issue you had, difficulty in regulating and maintaining temperature. I then built a double barrel homebuilt smoker that worked adequately for many years. I now have a Bradley cabinet type with a smoke generator. It does an excellent job with getting the smoke flavor I want but not so great of a job getting the smoked product to the proper finish temperature without drying it out or getting burnt ends. To overcome that fault I have been using the Bradley to get the smoke flavor and then move the product to the house oven to finish it. By doing so I have got the best results I’ve ever had. The house oven is very consistent with heat and doesn’t dry out or overheat parts of the product like the Bradley does. I’ve done summer sausage, hot sticks, venison bacon, kielbasa, pork butts for pulled pork and beef chuck for shredded beef this way all with excellent flavor and consistency.