Smokin’ Lamb
This temperature range is technically smoke-cooking; true smoking is cold, no more than 80º. But even 150º is not enough to melt the lamb fat, which you want to avoid.
You’re done! To fry, slice the bacon thinly with a good knife. Because of the sugar content, fry it slowly, over a low flame, watching closely and turning often for fear of burning. (You may have noticed that some brands of regular bacon are sweet and burn very easily. Like the salt, the sugar content is regulated by your soaking time.) A great deal of fat will render out; fry until nicely crisp all through. Yum! The kitchen will smell quite lamby, but the fried bacon doesn’t taste at all gamy.
This smoking method also works superbly for raw fish, such as trout. Because of its delicacy, put the fish on a separate fine rack. Keep the temperature to 115-120º. The fish should cook and smoke nicely in about two hours.
It’s also a great way to cook pork ribs. Sprinkle them generously with salt and smoke-cook them at 150-160º for five or six hours. To get the higher temperature, use a few more coals and open the air intake a little more. They will be improved with a final searing at a much hotter temperature, giving them a little crackle.
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TWO Comments
Comment / By Joe Woods / Oct. 13, 2010, 6:38 a.m.
Very interested in your article. I have found that if you omit the nitrate then the meat will be an unattractive grey colour. The use of a regular curing mix containing salt,nitrate and nitrite will give you a finished product with a pink colour. I haven’t got the spice mix right yet. There is one big potential problem however! - ram taint. This can only be avoided by using meat from a female sheep, lamb or ewe.
Comment / By Darius Brotman / Yesterday, 1:40 p.m.
(Very belated reply) Thanks for your interesting comment, but I have to disagree about the nitrates. You can see from the picture that my bacon was not grey at all.