Ground bacon and smoked cheese.

[viper125]

Well the wife broke out her cheese stash today. Not bad really she says she picks a few up every time she goes. At 1.49 for an 8 oz block I don't blame her. Well she had 14 that wasn't cut yet so 7 lbs of cheese gave me two racks full. They I added three shelf's of ground deer and pork smoked hickory mix. Thanks to U812 sending me two packs. So her is some pics.
Well mixed it in the Kirby mixer. 5 lbs venison and 5 lbs pork. Mixer handled it with no problem. I added a 1/2 a cup of water to dissolve the spices and cure in it didn't call for. First I blended the meat and partially emulsified. Then opened and poured in the mixture and finished emulsifying.



Got me a box. Didn't see any use of cutting it down and using several so I foiled. Then added a layer to it.





Foiled again and added another



Then added one more of what was left. Approx 2lbs this time and 4 lbs the last two.



Lots of Bacon



And the 7lbs of cheese



Cheese is done and cooling.



Now so is the bacon



Had to cut a piece off the end. Well you know!!! Very nice and smooth.




Then into the fridge over night to set. Well will slice in the morning and I'll try to post. Cheese is wrapped and in the bottom veggy drawer.  All set to mellow out. Well good night all and hope to see you back here tomorrow. Made my meat and cheese so its been a very good day. Really have missed doing this. Hope to be able to do one more smoke at least before the first. God willing,health permits and I have a little money! LOL! ::)

[SiFumar]

Very productive day!  Looks great!

[RedJada]

 Looks good viper. Is the Kirby mixer a thing to have for doing sausage and what not? Something I would like to try. Also, I noticed your cheese had deeper lines from the rack than mine did when I smoked last weekend. What temp were you running?

[viper125]

Well finished it today! Came out very good. Winner with every one. And emulsifying definitely made it better. Now Ive had a few comments that belly is bacon and nothing else. Well your lose.Actually I don't like to get locked in on one type so much as i like to experiment. I like any bacon. But this was to see how venison would come out. As it would be totally ridiculous to try and make bacon from a piece of very lean venison or other game meat. So now I will try some small game our poultry. This came out really good Thanks 0u812  Good flavor. For those that are interested here is  a couple pics of it sliced. And its very easy to make.

[viper125]

Looks good viper. Is the Kirby mixer a thing to have for doing sausage and what not? Something I would like to try. Also, I noticed your cheese had deeper lines from the rack than mine did when I smoked last weekend. What temp were you running?

I run my smoker at 90-100 Last night only laid 1 hour of smoke, So there is less color but shouldn't take as long to age. And yes the mixer and the stuffer from Kirby Is a big definitely good thing for sausage. Can't praise it enough. Makes making sausage so much easier in several ways. Can't say enough about them!

[RedJada]

 That does look good. Do you eat it just like that or fry it up a little before eating?

[viper125]

Either! I do both and the wife likes to heat it. Says it releases more flavor. But its done and really just needs warmed up if you like.

[GusRobin]

Looks good -so if I read this right, you mixed up the ground meat and spices, put in foil in a box to form. Do you leave it to set a while or right into the Bradley? The bacon cooked at 100? or did you raise it after the cheese? Lastly, do you have the name of the spice mix?

thanks

[viper125]

Well yes these were frisco Ground bacon seasonings 0u812 sent them to me to try. Very good. I also have a home made recipe for it. But all you do is put your ground meat mixture I used 50/50 deer / pork. But could be any really. Stirred up real good in Kirbs mixing bucket then poured in the spice pack I added to a 1/4 -1/2 cup of water to dissolve. Mix it up good then pack into a foil lined box a little smaller then the Bradley trays. Adding a layer of foil between each layer of meat. Closed the top of the box and placed in refrigerator over night to set up. Then I removed one layer at a time covered with a rack and flipped it over into the rack. Never even touched the meat. Then I laid a good smoke on it and cooked to 140 Degrees. starting at 100-120-130-140-150-165. Till IT of 140 degrees. Cooled on counter then in fridge again over night and today I sliced it.

The mixtures were Frisco hickory ground Bacon. And still have the Maple bacon to do. If you like I can post the one I make also.

[devo]

Hey Gus this is what I used as a recipe when I did mine

Venison Bacon

2 lbs. Venison
2 lbs. pork
3 tbs. coarse salt
¼ cup brown sugar
1 Tbs. gelatin
1 tsp cure #1
1 cup ice water
Cracked black pepper
Grind pork and venison through a 3/16 plate, mix with ice water and spices, regrind. Mix well and pack into a 9x9 baking dish lined with saran wrap to make un-molding easy . Let set in the fridge overnight to set. Unmold from the baking dish and coat in cracked black pepper, then place in the smoker on a fine ¼ inch mesh.
Smoke @ 120 for 1 hr to dry. Increase to 130 and start smoke. Continue to increase smoker temp to 150 and smoke for 2 hrs. Finally increase temp to 170 and smoke to an internal of 155. Cool then refrigerate overnight. Slice and package.

[viper125]

Thats pretty much the same i use. Except min has a little more brown sugar. 1/2 cup I believe. Its a good recipe too! Oh and instead of grinding small and mixing. I went ahead and emulsified mine. Came out even better I think.

[GusRobin]

thanks

[Tenpoint5]

As it would be totally ridiculous to try and make bacon from a piece of very lean venison or other game meat.

It may be totally ridiculous but it can and has be done Viper! ;D ;D

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=9657.0

[viper125]

10.5  That really looks better then I figured it would. Actually sliced I thought it looked great. Did you ever try again or figure what was up between the hot and cold flavor. I tried to think of every thing I could to try it that way. Even thought of lacing the meat with fat and a needle. But for the most part The belly is a lot of fat. And the truth is fat on deer tastes bad. At least to me. Hardly use that for any thing. As I strip all fat from venison when cleaning and butchering. But it would be great if a person could figure a way to add pork fat to the meat. Then use  a hunk from the leg maybe.

[Tenpoint5]

Never made it again. But after a while it all tasted pretty good didn't get much of the hot cold flavor. With the maple recipe I use you don't even taste any of the deer fat. No gamey flavor hardly at all