Tangy Pork Roll Time Again! Many photos...beware!

[Kevin A]

December is a crazy month for me at the church office, so between work and other obligations around the home (the Christmas Honey-Do list), I've had little or no time to make meats of the tubular variety.

But I had a chance this weekend to do some grinding & stuffing, so I asked the troops in my household what they'd like me to make as Christmas is approaching fast. The popular choice was having me make PORK ROLL — aka "Taylor's Ham." Many of you know what I'm talking about here. If you're not familiar with this tangy & porky delight, do a quick internet search & you'll discover all you need to know about the tasty stuff. It's big back east (my wife's family is from New Jersey), and around Christmas, it was a popular treat for her family. My boys & I have enjoyed it as well—even though we're native Californ-yuns. It was a big hit the last time I made it (waaaay back in July of 2011).

So enough of the blather...on to the fun stuff!

Start with three pounds of nearly-frozen hickory-smoked bacon...


Also needed is about 7 pounds of fresh pork shoulder, cut up & iced for the grinder...


Start by grinding the bacon. I'm using a 4.5mm plate for the initial grind...


Next up is the pork shoulder grind. Same plate size...


SPICES lined up. I upped the amount of salt and the ECA I used last time. The pork roll last time just needed a bit more of the saltiness & tang...


I added the dry ingredients to the meat, with the exception of the ECA
—which shall be added just prior to stuffing. Before mixing, I add the port...


My Custom Mixers are primed and ready to go. ;)  Thickly-insulated gloves make this job easy without the pain of frost-bite...


After 10-12 minutes of robust mixing, the meat has developed into a nice, sticky paste...


Before stuffing, however, I want a finer texture and so I run the meat paste through the grinder using a fine plate (3.0mm). This hopefully will ensure a very uniform texture in the final product...


Comparing the before & after of the single grind (4.5mm) and the meat following a second fine (3mm) grind...


One last addition & mix— the ECA is added now and I'll gently incorporate this thoroughly into the meat paste. A quick test-fry of the mix got thumbs up from the lucky tasters...


While all this mixing & grinding was going on, I had three fibrous casing soaking in warm water. In the past I've used muslin or cotton bags for pork roll, but since I was without, I opted to use these 3x20" fibrous from Butcher & Packer...


My son helped with my little 5lb Grizzly stuffer & in no time we had 3 good-sized chubs hog-ringed & ready to go the fridge...


Since I'm booked all day tomorrow, it looks like these chubs will have to wait a day or so before they hit the smoker & poacher.

More to come...

Kevin

[mrmcdowe]

Nice post. I always find the second grind a pain.  Now looking at your final consistency comparison I will do it for certain things :)

[Sam3]

Looks great Kevin!

[STLstyle]

Bacon and Pork, sounds great.  Get that smoker preheated!

[mikecorn.1]

Looking good! I always enjoy looking at your threads.


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

[BAM1]

I made this back around Easter 2010 after I saw the recipe in the forum.  Thanks for reminding me it's time to make more.  Your mix looks great. 

[Sailor]

Nice job Kevin.  Waiting for the $ shot

[OU812]

Mmmmmmmmm,,,,,,,Jersey pork roll!!

Gooood stuff!!

[GusRobin]

Looks great -- care to post the details as to qty of spices?

[Kevin A]

Got the pork roll chubs in the smoker early this afternoon—as well as 5-pounds of meat sticks I made in the morning.
I keep an eye on the temps throughout the day. I anticipate this could be a fairly long smoke. Outside temp is 40°F, cools & damp.

I'm using the 'Pitmaster's Blend' pellets for smoke-generation.

One hour in...

[mybad]

Looks great, Kevin your a dam good photographer!

[Tenpoint5]

As always some nice looking clubs you have Kevin!

[Keymaster]

Nice job kevin !!

[OU812]

Lookin gooood!

[JZ]

Those look great Kevin, as always and the pics are good too. :)