And the journey begins.

[Sailor]

I went to my local grocery store to see if I could order a belly.  The manager and assistant manager were off and the guy working looked to see if he could order it.  He said he sees pork belly in the order form but on the scale it reads "sliced" belly.  Well.....I don't want no sliced belly I says cause I am a makin BACON and I need a whole slab.  So I am wondering where I can find a belly.  I contact FBLR and he says they order it up for him (same chain different store) so I go to another store today and talk to the manager and he said he has some, just look on the top shelf and points.  All happy and excited, BACON fairies dancing in my head.  I go over to where he is pointing and I stand there with a stupid look on my face.  I yell back at him.....WHERE did you say?  He says you gots your hand on them.  DUH......the packages have cubed bellies.  WTF?  I says.....I need a slab to make BACON.  He said he used his last one to make cubes.  But he can order it and will be in next Thursday.  So I say can any store order a slab?  Yep he replies and they come 2 to a case with skin on.  I say can XXXXXX store (close to me) order?  Yep not a problem.  So off I go to the closest store and hope that a manager is in.  The assistant manage was in and so I ask to order a belly.  He says he never ordered one as no one has asked for them.  He thumbs though the book and finds it.  We get to talking about makin sausage and stuff and tells me about all of the dry sausage he makes at home.  We talk a bit more and now he is intrigued about BACON.  He says you need to make some pig rinds with the skin and I say yep but I don't have a clue how to do that yet and will worry about that when I get the bellies.  So I tell him about the Bradley and how the guys are all makin BACON and the different cures and recipes they use and I start to slobber thinking about BACON.  He says he should have it in Wednesday night truck and I can get it Thursday morning.  He says IF the warehouse has it.  So then I tell him that I will have to hand slice it when it is finished and he says "bring it to me and I will slice her up for you".  Whoot!  I made a buddy.  I am thinking that this guy is about to get some BACON for his trouble.  

So hopefully I will be getting some bellies this week and will be able to use my BACON mix that my Santa sent and be able to try out 10.5 Maple BACON.  

Will keep ya all informed of this little adventure.

[Tenpoint5]

Game On!!!! ;D ;D

[SamuelG]

The recipe by Tenpoint5 is great,  it just has a tendency to " disappear "!!
:-)
I'll be making more soon.

SamuelG

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[beefmann]

people like that are few and far between

[KyNola]

There you go Sailor!  I'm thinking that dude at the store knew if he offered to slice yours for you that he was going to get rewarded with some freshly smoked bacon plus he's going to ask you how to cure the bacon.

Will be watching with great interest.

The Bacon Channel has just gone live 24 hours a day!  Cool! :)

[Tenpoint5]

people like that are few and far between

Yep and a few delivered homemade sausages and other goodies gets you in on some real good deals. You also find out when to buy meats and when not to buy them cause they will be son sale next week. Take good care of your meat market guys and they will take good care of you.

[TestRocket]

The Bacon Channel has just gone live 24 hours a day!  Cool! :)

The Bacon Channel soon to come with smellovision! Well in Sailor's house that is!  ;D

[BuyLowSellHigh]

WTG Sailor!  Wish I had something like that local.

I'll be getting two 12-13 lb belly slabs Tuesday when I run up to Houston.  Just about out of the homemade stuff, so I need to get cranking.

[deb415611]

Cool Sailor!

[DTAggie]

I see a bacon for sausage trade coming up

[kelpiedg]

So from reading allot of these threads allot of you guys must live in big towns.  I have a buddy that owns a butcher shop cant sell me the meat due to he only cuts up ranchers meat but he does hook me up with ingredients from time to time.  Have a little grocery store that buys it's meat, ages it in the store then cuts what ever you ask for.  Kind of nice living in a small town in the middle of cow country. 

[classicrockgriller]

My market "Pork Belly" order went South.

They were suppose to come in while I was trekking across the South.

I go into the Store on Saturday and I have pkgs of pork skin waiting for me.

Not what I wanted. Back to the drawing board.

[Sailor]

My market "Pork Belly" order went South.

They were suppose to come in while I was trekking across the South.

I go into the Store on Saturday and I have pkgs of pork skin waiting for me.

Not what I wanted. Back to the drawing board.

Yep, I kinda have some concerns as to what I will get IF I get anything.  FLBR said that he has ordered from this chain and has gotten what he ordered so I have my fingers crossed that I will get a whole belly.  I am thinking I will take both of the bellies and hoping that I can freeze what I don't cure.

[Tenpoint5]

Yes Sailor the bellies freeze rather nicely for later curing. Make some Snack stixs and have a couple in your pocket in a baggy when you talk to him again and order your bellies. I always tell my guys that I have to keep them happy then they keep me happy and they do.

[squirtthecat]

Yep, I have a pile of them in my freezer...    Takes about 3 days to thaw one out - I just put it in one of the lettuce crisper drawers in case it dripped.