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Now that I have Dennis' hot/cold smoker, I decided to try smoking my own bacon. In the UK I have only ever eaten cold smoked bacon. On this site you folks tend to hot smoke your bacon. Time for a side by side test. First deviation from norm. My favourite bacon is collar bacon. It comes from the shoulder and I think it is what Americans call pork butt. Here are my two collar joints, at about 3.5kg each, after curing for 8 days in Surfys traditional curing mix. I used up the last of my curing mix and so bought these two for future bacon loveliness I searched online for guidance on cold smoking. It ranged from hysterical - you will die from botulism - to complicated and fun. I went for complicated and fun. There is no fixed end time so I smoked for six hours with pecan and then wrapped in greaseproof paper. Advice is that you rest in fridge for a few days and then smoke again for a similar time for best effect. Here is the bacon cold smoking. I took out the fire basket and hung the meat off the half grate in the 23 using meat hooks. Wrapped up for its rest Today I started with the hot smoking on the other collar. I turned it upside down and around to the other side half way through the day. Let's hear it for the KK. I went out to run errands for a couple of hours and it stayed rock solid at 100C. In fact it stayed rock solid through the day. The smoke generation stopped because I had underestimated the amount of pellets required. That was easily fixed. I topped up with additional pellets and blasted with MAPP torch. I am smoking this cut with apple. After 11 hours the hot smoked bacon is ahead in the looks department. I pulled it at 65C. Cooling To be continued.

@ ThreeDJ16 and Tony, oh my goodness, I just read your messages before retiring for the night. I will fall asleep with a big smile on my face thanks for the compliments. Sweet dreams to you both.

We all marvel at MacKenzie's pictures - they are magazine worthy! And we know that the foods is as tasty as it is great looking!

Looking good interesting I use collar butt for pulled pork might have to try this Sent from my SM-T835 using Tapatalk

Sorry, no fancy or pretty pics here, as I suck at taking pics. But it still tasted great. And probably the first time in 5 years since I've used my pressure cooker. Still working fantastic.

Love the meat hook idea! That's a new one on me here in KK land! Hat's off to tekobo! Not sure that the "double smoke" idea is necessary? But, this is an experiment, so we'll see how it turns out?

Butter Kuchen ★★★★★ Breads, Breakfast, Desserts Prep Time: 2 hrs Cook Time: 30 mins Difficulty: Easy Servings: 8 Ingredients Dough: ¼ cup milk 2 tbsp butter, melted 2 tbsp sugar ½ tsp salt ½ package dry yeast 2 tbsp warm water 1 egg 1-1/2 cups flour Topping: 1 stick unsalted butter, melted 3/4 cup sugar 1 large egg 3 tablespoons water 4 teaspoons all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1/8 teaspoon salt Directions To make dough: Heat milk until lukewarm; add butter, sugar, and salt. Dissolve yeast in warm water and add to milk. Beat in eggs: then beat in flour. The dough should be very soft and wet. If the dough is too much like batter then add a little extra flour. The dough should be soft and sticky. Cover and put in a warm place for 60 to 90 minutes. Turn out on a floured board and roll to fit a 9-inch cake pan. Pinch the edges to form sides, and press down the center some which later will hold the butter topping. Put in a warm place again for 45 to 60 minutes for a second rising. Mix ingredients for topping and pour onto the dough after the second rising. Reshape edges to contain topping if necessary. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting.

Now THAT’s cool (pun intended). Love the meat hanging hooks.

Some just out of the garden fresh Swiss Chard with leftover pork and some d fries.

Well, I took the cheap Harbor Freight torch ( http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=91061 ) and added a SS tube extension to it. I used a compression tube fitting so it would have some adjustment to it (the nozzle can tilt up or down). Also extended the auto start wiring so the push button start still works. Not sure what I was thinking when I made it this long. But the next rev will be much shorter, trim up the tube coming out of the torch head and make a heavier hanging mount. -=Jasen=- FYI, the gas is just barely turned out. It will through out a pretty nice flame at full open.

Edmonton isn’t that far! Only 2400 miles or so.

Who’s Tom Brady? Lol

Definitely an A+ on the science project. I as well wait with bated breath for the results. Nice color! Did you know today is a special day...........that's right, it's Tom Brady's birthday . And in celebration of the coming pigskin season you are cooking two bacons, that's wonderful. That was part of the plan praytell, oh if not...we here in New England salute you and await a slice

Holy smokes what a well documented cook. I can taste it, it has me thinking and salivating. Just one thing where's the first slice? Waiting, waiting, waiting!

So far, so fun. More cold smoking tomorrow.

Schweinshaxe was everywhere when I first visited Austria and Germany back in the early 90s. Beer, haxen, kraut, potato salad - heaven!

Very much looking forward to your side by side of the outcome! Thanks for the shot of the smoker at work.

Yes, I know this song performed by another Aussie musician.......none other than CGP Tommy Emmanuel!!!! Tommy is likely the best acoustic guitar players in the world........in the style of Chet Atkins. Check him out if your not familiar with Tommy! Cheers, Paul

Same applies to the early '90s...

Wow, thanks for this discovery!

I understand about space issues. My small CNC room is in the process of getting a major overhaul. Running more power to it right now and switching out all my equipment to sit on top of tool chests so they will be easier to move around as needed. Right now, two sit on a large table, but as soon as I get my new mill enclosure, it's going on a cart just like the Emco lathe above. The small manual mill will easily go on a cart. Once all of that is done, the table is gone and space will be available again. My first back surgery I think was in 2005. It was a cleanout and was younger so it wasn't bad, but only lasted a little under a decade. Second one was a fusion which failed and causes a third to happen within 1 1/2 years (now fused L4/L5/S1). Unfortunately fusions just ruin the discs above and that's already happening about 3 years later (L2/L3/L4). So trying to get everything setup for my retirement now while it's possible. I'm afraid the next surgery will put a damper on my ability to create these upgrades / add ons and new setups. Doing PT and everything else to push it out as far as possible, as there's way too many more projects I want to get finished first....LOL. Trying not to be stupid about them and carefully planning them, little by little.

Yeah I had all kinds of people wanting me to make things for them. But just said no. I had a really nice woodworking shop in my garage which I had sound proofed. But I had so much machinery that I was always bumping into things, or If I wanted my band saw it took 10 to15 minutes to get it out and set up. It wasn’t fun building things anymore. Sorry to hear about your back. I had back surgery about 20 years ago and it’s been pretty good so far. Sounds like yours was really bad. Take care and have a great weekend

Doubt I'll ever go 5 axis on my mill, since it's a rare case to actually need 5 degrees of motion around a central plane (X,Y,Z and basically pan/tilt) and it severely limits your work envelope. Though I do plan on adding a 4th axis and maybe a trunnion table to it, which will allow turning a part. I enjoy designing and building. It's just something I have to do or go crazy. After my second back surgery, started to go a little nuts without the ability to do things. I turned to small hobbies which allowed me to sit and build. For a while I had a side business building custom electronic vaping devices and accessories. It was mostly just 3D printed stuff and used a pro facility to print after doing the prototyping at home. Then got my first lathe and started turning accessories. Was also back at work (barely able) and that got old making stuff for other people and working 12 hr rotating shifts. So after 2 years of doing that, decided to stop and go full on into the CNC world as just a hobby. But it would take me a while and wasn't going to ruin it by trying to turn it into a business again. Finally after the 3rd surgery, which allowed me to finally walk normal again, was able to really get started with all my CNC equipment, piece at a time. Due to lifting restrictions, it had to be equipment which could be taken apart in small pieces, placed and rebuilt. Moved from working shift to a day desk job (with 3 day weekends) and now have just been building and adding on, little by little as my back allows. I'm extremely fortunate to have met up with a group of friends with similar interest. While I have zero interest in the business side, the other two guys are young engineers and wanted a side business. So mainly just been helping them develop products, doing CAD work / beta testing and both of them are now selling the add-ons we made. Really close now to having a 100% complete mill without any premade mill parts coming from a commercial seller. Except of course motion control hardware and software, but they aren't selling that portion since everyone has their own preference. This stuff is mainly for the DIY crowd and not the turn key folks. LOL...they have been trying to talk me into building the electronics boxes for the setup (since that is my background), but still not interested in selling anything. Anyway, it's been a fun ride so far. We still have a lot of work to do, but keeps me occupied with interesting things to build.

Once they pass the quick Q+A, how about an essay question, something like: Compare and contrast the effects of direct and indirect cooking with a focus on conduction, convection, and radiation. Bonus points awarded for calculating the heat transfer rate in each scenario. Be sure to show your calculations for each including full formulas used to derive answers. Granted, they can bypass all of this if they know the secret phrase “I have cash and will pay the full asking price!”

True. I should replace that question with, “what is purple crack?”

My favourite ballad is by Tex Morten You'll Never Be Missed. Cheers, Kiwi Muz

Iconic, indeed! Believe it or not, I sang this in elementary school, back in the day! Of course, we had no idea what half the words meant?

Undoubtedly one of the best forums and best vendors on the internet. Thanks Dennis. You ask, you get it. I asked for a small portable KK years ago, he made it. I asked for a storage cabinet with steel or stone surfaces, he made it. I had a product QC issue, he solved it, gratis. There's no better forum and no better product; and product support, out there.

It's official - MacGyver WISHES he was Deej!! OK M.D. of the BBQ - when do you start packaging these up for sale?!?!? Seriously - very creative and nice work!!