Thursday, April 8, 2010

Jowls- Into the Smoker

I was looking at my jowls last night and then decided that since I use bacon a heck of a lot more than I use Guanciale, and that I would end up putting the Guanciale in pasta carbonara or something similiar anyway.. why extend the wait by hanging the jowls for a month, when I can smoke them for 4-6 hours and enjoy them sooner? 


Here they are after I pulled them out of the cure and gave them a good rinse and soak ( about a 5 minute soak ).   Don't wipe off the spices.. it adds a bit more flavor and character.  ( next experiment I may put more spices on after the rinse, and before the smoking )


Then it was into the manfridge for 24 hours to allow them to develop a pellicle ( you may not remember, so a pellicle is some kind of protein "skin" buildup on the meat that allows the smoke to "stick" to the meat.)

I ran over to Pences to "borrow" JDubs Little Chief smoker... this thing is on it's last legs and since he got a traeger doesn't want it anymore.  I think I'm going to have to go out in a few weeks and get one myself, so Pence and his old little chief can be alone together .

Into the smoker they go.. apple wood bits and chips for 4-6 hours.. adding more chips every 2-3 hours for super smoke flavor.


Stay tuned for tasting.


1 comment:

  1. This is the only thing I haven't made yet. I use so much guanciale, I can't bring myself to smoke a jowl.

    ReplyDelete