Dry aged pancetta (flat) and my new cold smoker

[Jgetch]

At my old house I had a cold smoker. It wasn’t anything fancy. Box made out of plywood with breather holes, a vent and a pellet maze on a cookie sheet for the smoke. It worked great but when I moved I threw it in the fire pile thinking “I’ll make a nice one at the new place”. That was over 5 years ago and I ran out of dry cured sausages from the freezer 3 christmases ago (that’s the season for dry cured sausage platters around me). During Christmas last year I decided enough is enough and started building my new cold smoker. I have a shop with heat and I thought ideally it would be nice to have it inside, vent outside and then I could use the shop heater to get the temp right instead of relying on Mother Nature and her whimsical behavior. So that’s what I did (I’ll do a write up and pics of that bad boy in the comments).
I’ll have the sausage ready to go in there in about a month but in the mean time I had a pork belly in the bottom of the freezer from the last pig I got. The easy solution is of course bacon but I’m really into old world aging of meats. Especially meats high in pork fat (if you’ve ever had lardo!). So I cut the pork belly into 4 equal pieces. Salt, pink salt and seasoned each piece a little differently. Pepper, garlic, paprika, cayenne. One got a straight wundomus treatment. There in the fridge now to brine over the next two weeks (I’ll post pics of this as well). On the 25th I’ll put them in the cold smoker for 3-4 days. Then I’m gonna hang them in my cellar for 1-6 months to aging and mature. I’ll post the whole process and results in the comments as we go. The sausage goes in the smoker around March 5th. I’ll do another post on that whole process. Happy eating!

 

[Jgetch]

The cold smoker is “just a wooden box” but built into the corner of my shop. Mailbox smoke box under with a smoke maze, some oak closet bars flattened on one side for hanging poles and a pvc vent going outside. I used felt to seal the door. The first trial burn got pretty smoky inside the shop but after the felt was installed there’s not even a small in side.

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[Jgetch]

Now for the pancetta. One pork belly (skin on). Weigh (mine was 11.2lb) and cut into 4 equalish pieces. Can leave whole but I wanted four different seasoning blends. Prepare salt and sugar mixture. I’m using salt, pink salt and brown sugar. The exact ratios are based upon weight. There are many places to get these ratios but a sensitive scale should be used to make sure you’re getting the correct amounts of salt. This is going to be hung in aging/maturing conditions for 1-6 months so having the salts correct is important if your not into things like botulism. So then I rubbed the four pieces with their respective amount of the salt mixture while they were sitting in an appropriately sized plastic container. Another note: pink salt isn’t absolutely necessary here since it’s whole muscle meat but it is an extra layer of protection so why not. Then the aromatics. Three are all basically differing combinations of garlic, paprika, cayenne, thyme. The fourth is straight wundoemus! If you don’t know this seasoning I’d recommend looking it up online. It’s fantastic. From eggs to ribs it goes on anything. Then the kids go on the containers and they go in the fridge. Overhaul everyday for two weeks. Overhauling just means to flip. You’ll get a bunch of briny reddish water in the bottom and that’s good. Can be brined for as little as 10 days but longer isn’t hurting anything here. On day 14 I’ll fire up the cold smoker.

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[Jgetch]

Forgot to mention: I’m leaving the skin on this belly just because I’m going to be hanging it for an extended period of time. The skin will act as a protective barrier. Not from molds (which I of course want) but it will keep the fat cap from drying out to quickly. The fat is really what this is all about after all. The meat adds a bit of chewy texture and adds it’s own funk but the melt in your mouth umami of the cold smoked and dry aged fat is the real draw here. Also once aged it is very easy to just trim the bit of skin from the piece you’re cutting up. This also takes off the visible molds that turn some people off from this sort of thing.

 

[KYHunter]

This is awesome. I’ll be following

 

[Jgetch]

Day 7. Everything looks really good. The belly feels like it’s all cured already (should feel very stiff all around with no soft spots) so the next 7 days are really just to be absolutely sure. They’re not necessary but I don’t have the 3 days to devote to cold smoking until next weekend anyway. If I were doing bacon this would be the point where I check for saltiness and desalinate with cold water if it was deemed to salty. However since this is going to be hung to age we need to ensure that the salt content is to the prescribed level for stability and to ensure that the growth in bad bacteria and molds can not happen. So no desalinating for this group. I’ll be starting a bacon on Monday as well since if you’re gonna tend a cold smoker it mid as we’ll be full. So I’ll check back next Friday when I load up and light the smoker.


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[Jgetch]

Started the smoker up when I got home last night (Thursday at 8pm). When I woke this morning the first raceway had burned all the way through which is awesome as those can be a bit finicky with cold temperatures. Need to get the fresh air levels just right. Not 100% sure how long a tray lasts for me yet but I have a timer going on the second one today. Hoping for around 8hrs. With dust on my old smoker I used to get 12+ but the dust would often go out. The pellets burn much better but that also means they burn faster. We’ll see though. Since it’s cold smoking if the smoke does go out it really doesn’t matter, just light it up when you notice, from a food safety aspect (the smoker is a 40°f) but on a dense meat like salted pork we’re looking at about 1” or less smoke penetration in a 24hr period. I have all the way until Monday afternoon to get it done so plenty of time but keeping smoke on can be a concern if time is a bit shorter or if the meat is much thicker like a whole ham for speck would be. Anyway the smoker is working perfectly. On the next change over of pellets I’ll open it up and get some pictures of how much color the meat has taken on.

The slab not hanging in the smoker is in my canning/wine making/meat aging cellar along with a batch of raspberry mead that should be ready about the same time all the pancetta is ready to slice up. I wanted one piece not smoked so that I could make some old world italian dishes that really don’t call for or would be sacrilegious to have a heavy smoked flavor, like carbonara.

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[Jgetch]

Never fails! I tested the cold smoker a bunch of times to make 100% sure that the pellet track wouldn’t flare up into a fire rather then just smoldering and then of course the second track with meat in smoker it flares and gets hot. I caught it in time. The meat didn’t get above 80° I think. I siliconed up some of the breather holes on the fire box so hopefully no more issues.

 

[Jgetch]

Ok. I’ve got the fire box issues all resolved. It was a lot of tinkering yesterday but everything is working on that end as it should now. As a bonus having everything set up properly with the correct airflow has really extended how long each tray is lasting. The one I lit this morning looks like it’ll be around the 12hr mark before it’s burns everything up. New issue today however is with the wind. The exhaust pipe is horizontal going out the wall and because of the direction of our prevailing wind I just left it like that. The direction the wind comes from normally would aid in creating a vacuum effect to help the draft. Today it’s coming from the complete opposite direction and creating a backdraft at times. It’s not bad but it send little puffs of smoke back through the firebox and into the shop. So it’s a touch Smokey in the shop today.

The picture is of the meat at 10pm last night after 22.5hrs of total smoke on it. Right now it’s at about 36 hrs. When this tray gets done burning I may call it. Kinda tough because there’s no good way to check on penetration of the smoke. With sausage I would just cut a couple inches off and have a look but in this case I’d have to cut one of the slabs in half. That’s doable. They could still hang to age after but I’d rather keep them whole. So I’m just gonna go with my gut at the end of the day today. I almost pulled them last night but figured I’d keep going to see the smoker works as it should for a while if nothing else. If we don’t have true 100% penetration the smoke taste will still be quite strong. It will of course dissipate a bit with aging though. It’s all a balance. The calculation however is about 1” of smoke penetration per 24hr period at 40°. So it should be there tonight.

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[Jgetch]

And now they hang. Ended up somewhere in the 36-40hrs of smoke range. The smell in my little aging/canning/wine room is overpowering as usual. You can really see the dark colors of the three on the left that were smoked compared to the non smoked on on the right. It’ll be at least 3-4 weeks for the maturation period and may go on quite a bit longer. Once I get a 30% weight loss I’m thinking about maybe just cutting each in half and letting the rest go for longer to see how it developes over time. I always want to do that every time actually but it’s always so good the it gets eaten or put into freezer storage right away so I still have some for the holidays.

The non smoked one is already feeling like it’s lost the exterior moisture and has stiffened up quite a bit along with starting to develop it’s color as well. I almost brought the fillet knife down to try a tiny little bit but past times doing that has taught me that it’s actually usually pretty disappointing at this stage to try it. The time that they hang and get the good molds on them really developes the taste profile. Besides in a month or so when the spring trout are really hitting will be a great time to take a hunk out for some tailgate charcuterie. I’ll report back as the progress goes but it’s gets a lot slower here. If I start getting white mold I’ll snap a pic otherwise it’ll be when I cut some thing slices with a nice cheese in 4, or 8 or who knows maybe 16 weeks. Until then I hope everyone eats and drinks something fun!

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[Jgetch]

Well they’re coming along. Didn’t take any pics today because they really don’t look any different. There isn’t enough surface moisture to have a big colony growth to see. I may start water treating them with a spray bottle just to add a touch of moisture to the outside. I think this is day 28 hanging. I would really like to see them make the 90 day threshold of better for flavor development. The weight loss at first was very rapid but over the last three weeks has been very slow, which is good. Fat loses its moisture at a slower rate then the meat so I’m thinking the meat dumped it’s excess weight pretty much right away and now the fat os slowly slipping off its weight. Which is good, it’s the ideal situation. Except I just don’t have the mold growth that I was hoping for. Molds need moisture and there just isn’t enough on the surface. I had a couple small spots start but then they dried off quickly so I’m thinking just a sprits every day or two or three would give the surface the moisture needed for the mold to get rockin a bit to help develop the flavor profile. That should also help to keep the slabs from drying out to quickly I’m thinking and get them as close as possible, or even over, that 90 day goal. Honestly though it’s really hard not to take the fillet knife to them for another taste. There’s two slabs that are the same flavor so one of those might start getting some sacrificial chunks missing from it in a couple more weeks if it keeps looking so damn tasty every time I walk by.


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[Jgetch]

Today is day 29. It’s killing me not to try these. This weekend we’re having a birthday party for my youngest and I don’t see how one of these doesn’t end up on a cutting board with some crackers and a nice cheese.

 

[krub6b]

Today is day 29. It’s killing me not to try these. This weekend we’re having a birthday party for my youngest and I don’t see how one of these doesn’t end up on a cutting board with some crackers and a nice cheese.

I could come get them from you and uh, keep them safe

 

[Jgetch]

We’ll day 30. So I pulled one down and cut a 1” strip off of it for tasting. I probably talked myself into this one. I mean it was bound to happen but they really really felt like they were getting to dry so that was a good excuse. Of course the weights said a different story but why not check to make sure.

As you can see it practically looks like jerky on the outside and you can knock on it like a door on the skin side. Then I cut into it.

Beautiful! It’s getting a touch dry on the meat side but the skin is protecting that side very nicely. I’m going to start spritzing the meat sides once a day to keep it from drying out to fast there. On touch it still feels a bit to wet on the inside which is what the weight measurements were saying all along and the fat renders pretty quickly if rubbed between the fingers. It’s close but not quite there from the looks. But how does it taste.

Cutting the pieces it really starts to look how it will when served. Carved as thin as you can so the fat will melt on your tongue and then you get to chew the slightly salty meat. And………it needs more time aging. It’s good but the flavor profile is pretty shallow still. The texture is spot on though. The fat disappears on your tongue and it has just the right amount of saltiness. We’ll see how it is in another 30 days or so.


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[krub6b]

We’ll day 30. So I pulled one down and cut a 1” strip off of it for tasting. I probably talked myself into this one. I mean it was bound to happen but they really really felt like they were getting to dry so that was a good excuse. Of course the weights said a different story but why not check to make sure.

As you can see it practically looks like jerky on the outside and you can knock on it like a door on the skin side. Then I cut into it.

Beautiful! It’s getting a touch dry on the meat side but the skin is protecting that side very nicely. I’m going to start spritzing the meat sides once a day to keep it from drying out to fast there. On touch it still feels a bit to wet on the inside which is what the weight measurements were saying all along and the fat renders pretty quickly if rubbed between the fingers. It’s close but not quite there from the looks. But how does it taste.

Cutting the pieces it really starts to look how it will when served. Carved as thin as you can so the fat will melt on your tongue and then you get to chew the slightly salty meat. And………it needs more time aging. It’s good but the flavor profile is pretty shallow still. The texture is spot on though. The fat disappears on your tongue and it has just the right amount of saltiness. We’ll see how it is in another 30 days or so.


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Very jealous at the moment, I really wish I had a place to make a cold smoker....

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[Jgetch]

Very jealous at the moment, I really wish I had a place to make a cold smoker....

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Honestly you probably do! My first one was just a wooden box. Cheap pine lumber with the thinnest piece of plywood I could find. Think it was just 4 1x2’s and one piece of plywood actually. Then I put a cookie pan in the bottom and set the amazen smoker tray on that. Three years ago we were very lucky for deer on the farm so we did a big batch of summer sausage. I didn’t want to build anything because I had plans on this one but wasn’t ready to do it yet so I took my pop up ice fishing tent and set it up in the yard and then put an electric smoker inside of it with the door open on the lowest setting. Worked great. A guy I know used a big cardboard box with a smoke tray and he set up a camping canopy over it to keep the rain off. He actually never ended up building a proper cold smoker and whenever a good box comes he just breaks it down and hides it away for the next batch. He has a wooden dowel and just makes two holes it either end of the box and then runs the dowel through the holes and hangs the meat from that. He did 60# one batch suspended from that dowel held up by cardboard. Basically anything that will hold in some smoke will work just fine. If you’ve got a cardboard box and a smoke tray laying around I say go for it.

 

[Pyronole]

jealous! I've been watching and wishing I could do this, but honestly the stars must align to get the perfect weather with available time the 1 or 2 days a year just for me to cold smoke a batch of cheese....in SE Florida!

 

[Jgetch]

So we’re at 60’ish days. I pulled down the tester slab to whack a piece off. I have been spritzing these with water almost daily since the day 30 test. They are all very close to their target weight.

There’s a bit more long term white mold growth but overall the outside appearance is essentially the same as 30 days ago.

Cutting into it at first seems essentially the same except for the red meat continuing to darken towards the center. Right away though unnoticed the smell had changed. The intense sausagy smell has subsided and a distinct nutty smell was coming off the fresh cut. Now we’re getting somewhere!

It tastes fantastic! The last 30 days did so much for the flavor profile it’s almost like they weren’t from the same slab of meat. It’s nutty and delicious. Also the spritzing is working as it was intended. The hard edge hasn’t crept any further into the center so I’m gonna leave the other three to hang until they hit their goal weights. The closer you get to the goal weight the longer it takes to lose that little bit more so I wouldn’t doubt if it takes another 15-30 days to get there. This slab isn’t going back up though. This one is gonna sit on the counter on the charcuterie board for slicing whenever anyone wants to slice.


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[BTaylor]

So we’re at 60’ish days. I pulled down the tester slab to whack a piece off. I have been spritzing these with water almost daily since the day 30 test. They are all very close to their target weight.

There’s a bit more long term white mold growth but overall the outside appearance is essentially the same as 30 days ago.

Cutting into it at first seems essentially the same except for the red meat continuing to darken towards the center. Right away though unnoticed the smell had changed. The intense sausagy smell has subsided and a distinct nutty smell was coming off the fresh cut. Now we’re getting somewhere!

It tastes fantastic! The last 30 days did so much for the flavor profile it’s almost like they weren’t from the same slab of meat. It’s nutty and delicious. Also the spritzing is working as it was intended. The hard edge hasn’t crept any further into the center so I’m gonna leave the other three to hang until they hit their goal weights. The closer you get to the goal weight the longer it takes to lose that little bit more so I wouldn’t doubt if it takes another 15-30 days to get there. This slab isn’t going back up though. This one is gonna sit on the counter on the charcuterie board for slicing whenever anyone wants to slice.


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The only thing I can think of that would make that look sexier is to wrap some shaved pieces around some blackened shrimp. Maybe lay 'em on a bed of smoked gouda cheese grits.

 

[Jgetch]

Alright. 90ish days. Longest I’ve ever made it for sure. Worth it? Yes. Worth it every time every piece? No. A couple for sure even if it’s just to save some for later. The flavor profile changed dramatically form 30-60 days to the point that I’m of the opinion that at 30 days if you’re really jonesing then ok but if you can wait for 60 days you’ll have a much better flavor. The change from 60-90 is much more subtle. There’s a bit more nuttiness and the mouth feel is a bit tougher but I’d say that pulling at around 60 days is probably the sweet spot. In the fall when I can fire up the cold smoker again I think I’ll pull all but 1 at 60 days and then let that last one go for a true long haul to see how funky we can get. Maybe 6 months or so. Also, I will be making at least double what I did (2 bellies instead of 1) and another batch in the spring I’m sure. This stuff goes fast! Everyone wants to try it and I can’t stop eating it. I’m tucking away the piece for Alaska but I’d be surprised if the rest makes it to the 4th of July honestly.


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