Just tried doing something for the first time. Pork belly burnt ends. I cured a pork belly in maple syrup, brown sugar, and salt for three days. Put that on the smoker for a few of hours until it got to about 180, pulled it off, sliced and cubed it, covered the bites in karo syrup and a brown sugar and pepper-heavy rub, and put them back in the smoker for a couple more hours. Combination of hickory, apple, and pecan wood. They turned out great. Good sweetness with plenty of bacon flavor. Can't wait to make them again and try a few different things.

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That looks delicious James:-) Pork Poppers:-)
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:-)
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In my best George Takei voice, "Oh my!"
I definitely have to try this!

When you "covered the bites in karo syrup and a brown sugar and pepper-heavy rub", did you make sort of a paste and coat the cubes or did you put the dry rub on first and then coat with the syrup.
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I did the syrup first and then the rub on top of that and then tossed them around to get them all coated as best I could.

The rub was just your basic brown sugar, white sugar, black pepper, salt, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, and a little cayenne pepper. I want to add more cayenne next time and am going to crack black pepper on top of them.

I let them stew in their own juices when they went back on the smoker and also want to experiment with 1) holding the cubes on a cookie rack up above the grease they give off and 2) cooking them in their juice but at a higher temperature to try to make them even a little more candy-like.
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:-)
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3 degrees and I'm smoking two pork butts for a work party. New electric smoker is holding temp steady as a rock though.

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Forgot to post our Christmas dinner. Had to get some brisket going cause ain't no place down here know how to cook it


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Good Lord that's beautiful! I can taste it.
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Cooked around 90 pounds of yard bird for the archery club workday today, fed about 30 people. Not much left for leftovers though :-)

Some girls grow up with fairy wands, mine grew up with a flamethrower

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Over the years Boo has helped me clean and prep food for the smoker and has helped me while I cooked the food, then helped clean up. Today, she prepped the smoker, fired it off, loaded it, controlled the temperature, and pulled the food when it was done. Today she has officially graduated from Executive Sous Chief to Jr Pitmaster!

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Great photos. Boo is so tall! Good job teaching her the smokey art! :-)
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18 hr smoke on 14 lb packer brisket. Point fully separated for burnt ends. ImageImageImageImageImage
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Oh yeah.......:-)
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Today I re-seasoned the old smoke house. I have a mess of sausage to grind and stuff, and a sweet pork belly that is begging me to turn it into bacon.

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I am not usually a big gas-fire smoker guy preferring to use my log burner Lang, but for a low temp smoke for sausage and bacon (around 150*), gas is much easier to control.

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Seasoning time doesn't have to suck! Ribs for dinner :-)

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I thought that since dad originally got me this smoker, this cigar seemed appropriate...miss ya dad!
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Where do you guys get your meats? I have a local butcher that I really like and support but his prices are reflective of his good practices. Anyone use online suppliers? What do you recommend/like?
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Mostly local farmers when I can. I'd rather pay the higher prices for better quality.
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Been using the Traeger like a mad man. Nothing crazy, just easy dinner stuff. In the last week did a tri-tip, some thick cut pork chops and some chicken breasts.
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:-)
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That's kind of what I figured. Thanks for the replies. Here's an easy rack of baby backs I smoked over hickory last night. Used a new rub mix and a new homemade sauce. Turned out very good.
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Looks delicious, Pete.
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