Today we had to get 51# of pork belly and 60# of pork leg roasts ready for smoking next weekend.  Tom prepared the peppered bacon cure and cut the belly pieces into roughly 1# pieces.

Then he spread the cure on the surfaces of the meat pieces inside of gallon freezer bags.

Meanwhile I prepared the brine.  I made it 6 quarts at a time with a total of 9 pots that then had to cool before going over the meat.  Here is 5 of them.

We ran out of curing salt about halfway through so Tom ran to the store to get more.  I finally got it done, and Tom submerged the meat in the brine.  He managed to get all of this meat into two refrigerators for the curing and brining for one week.  The future bacon will need to be flipped and massaged each day, but the future ham will just be left alone.

For some reason during this long brine-making process, the song Rollin’ and Tumblin’ was playing in my head.  I absolutely love the version by Jeff Beck and Imogen Heap.  But then I went on a tangent listening to other versions including the original by Hambone Willie Newbern and the classic by Muddy Waters.  I am listening to all of the free versions on the secondhandsongs list.  The Eddie “One String” Jones version was interesting, and I do love the North Mississippi Allstars versions.  I also loved the Kathi McDonald version.  I had always loved her with Long John Baldry.  I enjoyed the Johnny Winter version.  We saw him in 2010, and he definitely knew how to rock the blues.   It is interesting how much the lyrics change between the versions.   It was a long and tiring day so listening to blues music while watching the Kraken is nice and relaxing.

Go Kraken!