Smokin'!

Aaron got a smoker shortly after the Feast and we have already put it to use,  making up some venison jerky (totally yummy and totally gone now!)

We received some beef from a church friend who had an older cow butchered, and we though that we would try our hand at making some beef bacon out of a HUGE roast.

First the meat needed to thaw, and then it was cut off the bone and into smaller sections. Then came curing. There are a couple different methods used to cure the meat. You can use a brine (salt water basically) or a dry cure. We chose the dry cure, as it used much less salt. You rub a bit of salt on the meat, place in the frig, darning off the liquids and adding a bit more salt each 24 hours. You do this for 3-5 days. The salt draws out the moisture in prep for smoking. We did this for three days. You rinse off the meat and then smoke at 150* for 3-4 hours. The end result is yummy, although we used too much salt so it's a bit on the salty side, but all in all, not bad for a first go around. :)

Nice and smokey!