Gave the BCS the day off

[Saber 4]

Broke out the 4 rack this morning and cold smoked some Chex Mix, one bag of traditional and one bag of cheddar cheese, gave them 2 hours of pecan. They came out real tasty and are in Ziploc bags to see how long they last as we try to let them sit and mellow a bit.



Then I switched gear and turned the element on and brought it up to 220 to do a 2 hour smoke on a couple of loins I've had curing for Canadian Bacon that I took out and rinsed, soaked and allowed to form pellicle in the fridge overnight.



Here they are out of the smoker at 140 cooling down to get wrapped up and in the fridge for slicing tomorrow or Thursday, the picture is not that good the one on the left has more color than it shows



After all of that I cleaned up the new 10 rack dehydrator we picked up at Bass Pro yesterday and loaded it up with a couple of trays of pineapple chunks, a rack of sliced Roma tomato's and a couple of racks of sliced bananas. Didn't think to take any pictures though so I guess it's unicorn bait. :)

[NorthShoreMN]

Looks very nice. Love Canadian bacon.
Let us know how that dehydrator works.

[Saber 4]

Looks very nice. Love Canadian bacon.
Let us know how that dehydrator works.

I think the dehydrator works better than I know how to use it yet, I should have followed the temp guide on the unit instead of listening to the sales guy who said to do fruit/vegetables at the closest to room temp as you can set the unit, after 14 hours and getting up every 2 hours last night to check on it I finally pulled everything. The tomatoes came out good, the pineapple was canned which the manual said would work but I think it was to wet compared to fresh, it's still a little soft inside and the bananas that I followed their instructions and soaked in the pineapple juice for 2 minutes are still soft in the middle. I think if I had set the temp higher it would have been alright. I can still use it all I just can't keep it for as long as if it dried better.

[Saber 4]

The CB turned out great, probably the best so far, here they are sliced up before packaging





Here it is all packaged up, I got 6 packs with 12 slices each and 2 with 11 slices each. I think I am going to like the re-sealable vacuum bags I picked up.



And last and certainly not least, it is really nice to have a talented quilter for a wife, here is the quilted knife roll she made for my fledgling butcher knife set.

[OU812]

Good lookin back bacon!!

When dehydrating fruit it takes me between 18 to 24 hr.....vegies, not so long

That's a mighty fine lookin knife roll, looks like ya need a couple more knifes to fill that bad boy up  ;D

Edit; I dehydrate vegies at 125-135 F and fruits at 135-145 F

[KyNola]

Not sure why the sales guy told you to dry fruits and vegetables at room temperature.  If you're going to do that you may as well throw it out on the counter and let it dry without use of a dehydrator.  Next time, set the temp higher in the dehydrator.

The CB looks great and you have one talented wife.  Very cool knife roll.

[Tenpoint5]

Nice job all the way around Saber!

[Saber 4]

Not sure why the sales guy told you to dry fruits and vegetables at room temperature.  If you're going to do that you may as well throw it out on the counter and let it dry without use of a dehydrator.  Next time, set the temp higher in the dehydrator.

The CB looks great and you have one talented wife.  Very cool knife roll.

His theory was that you want to dry them not cook them so I gave it a try, he has been consistent with the forum members on everything before so I took a chance and gave it a try, live and learn from this one. And thanks the wife is definitely talented and a keeper. :)