October 26, 2014 - Building a UDS and some nice Applewood from Pederson's

MY LIFE WITH BACON continues this week with the building of a UDS and some Applewood Uncured Smoked Bacon.

BACON IN THE NEWS 


Leave it to the Huffington Post to find something new in the bacon world.  There’s a new “Bacon D’oh Nut Burger” available from PYT Burger in Philadelphia.  Pretty amazing, it appears to be a bacon crumble glazed donut filled not with cream, but with a cheeseburger.  Very appealing looking.  


Here’s a link to the PYT website.


KFC has also introduced a new bacon burger as reported by the LATimes.   The Zinger Double Down is “a bacon hamburger with a fried chicken bun” and looks like it would be really crunchy! 

Seriously, though, this looks really unhealthy.  Too many breadcrumbs on the chicken.

Unfortunately, it’s only available in South Korea.

WE MADE A “UDS” THIS WEEKEND.  That’s an “Ugly Drum Smoker” for those who are uninformed.  Generally, these are made from steel 35- or 55-gallon drums that are reconditioned and turned into a smoker.  I ordered my 55-gallon steel drum a few weeks ago for $35, delivery included.  The drum was empty and previously contained soybean oil.  I had to use a reciprocating saw to rip the flat lid off the drum.

It’s recommended that you ‘burn out’ your drum, to remove all food residue, and under no circumstances should one use a drum that has contained anything other than food – it’s a major health hazard. I did that last weekend.

I used a coat of hi temp (2000 degrees F) flat black paint on it after the burn out and cleaning, and two coats of high temp black gloss.  After painting, I drilled the appropriate holes (with a stepper drill bit – a pleasure to use on this soft steel drum).

I did a bunch of research on this, and settled on purchasing a DIY kit from Big Poppa. Compare website to pic on right-->>>

More fun to make than buy!  I must say that the instructions were very clear, and I am very pleased with the outcome.  Debbie and I had fun assembling the drum kit.  Use your imagination – one person nearly has to ‘get in’ the drum in order to push some of the hardware through the holes.   

We got dirty too! Lots of fun on a sunny, 70-degree, Chicagoland autumn day.

It looks great.  Now I need to find a used Weber 22.5” grill lid and I’ll be all set.  After that, here comes the smoked pork shoulder, and of course, smoking my own pork belly!  More to follow.

THIS WEEK'S BACON REVIEW is of PEDERSON’S UNCURED APPLE SMOKED BACON
 

I previously posted about Pederson's...

This bacon lists at 10 ounces, but I only got 9.5 ounces net.  Unacceptable.  After cooking, it was 3.4 ounces, and we consumed it immediately.  Very good bacon.  It produced a scant 50ml of rendered bacon fat.  They suggest looking at the recipe on the back, but it was insufficiently instructive to reproduce.  I'll have to go to the website at some point.

Upon opening the bacon had a nice, clean, fresh Applewood and bacon scent.  During cooking, there was some curl, but it wasn’t excessive; and the bacon didn’t stick to the cast iron pan.  Flavor-wise, it was a little too sweet, but properly salty and crisped up well.  An excellent bacon.  Crispness – 3.5, Flavor – 3.5, Succulence – 3, Chewiness – 2.