Shoulder Bacon

[Missy2U]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

Next trick is to buy some peppers and put them into the smoker and make chipotle.

I've got that mad scientist thing going on. Rubbing my hands together with glee and plotting about what goes into the smoker next.

You'd best keep us informed, my friend - I'm reading this with great interest! I have a smoker, you see, that has never been used - I'm thinking that should change very, very soon after reading your posts on your results! Keep on smoking (and telling us about it)!!!!

[historyfan]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

Yee gads, is this stuff delicious! Smoky, salty, vague hint of sweet.

It's not quite bacon. It has to be gently sauteed. Because of the lack of fat, you can't fry it crispy. It has the texture of the meat part of bacon.

You have to rinse all the salt off before you smoke it. On one of the pieces the cracked pepper wouldn't come off, so I rinsed the salt and thought it would just be pepper bacon. I swear, it tastes just like pastrami. Pastrami is beef, though, isn't it?

Our meat processor makes "shoulder bacon" along with all other cured items whenever he processes a pig for us.

We use it as a breakfast meat and also in grilled sandwiches with melted cheese & occasionally as "Canadian bacon" with pineapple on pizza.

He slices it really thin & wraps it in one pound packages & freezes it. It is very similar to pastrami.