Hello Dead Meat Society,
Happy National Bacon Lovers Day. Yes, it is a real holiday, and yes, it is today, so treat this as your official permission slip to put bacon on everything. Show us your work in the Dead Meat Society Facebook group or tag us on Instagram.
Now, here’s what we’ve been cooking up all week…
First up, we’re making bacon from scratch, so throw away the crappy microwavable stuff. Plus, there’s one tell that a steakhouse will get things right.
As for the recipe… we’ve cooked up a homemade smash burger just for you.
Every week, we crown the DMS champion of BBQ. And there are only two ways to enter: 1) Submit a pic to the Dead Meat Society Facebook Group 2) Tag us on Instagram. If you aren’t sharing (and competing), what the hell are you waiting for?
And remember, the stakes have never been higher!
Our weekly DMS Smokeshow winner will receive a FREE Stars & Stripes DMS T-shirt, PLUS…
Each month, one of the weekly DMS Smokeshow winners (the best of the best) will have $1,000 donated to their local food bank
👑 This Week’s Champ
This week’s Smoke Show Champ is Steve Poitry for a low and slow brisket that got better with every hour. Shared via the Dead Meat Society Facebook Group.
🥈 Honorable Mention #1
Honorable mention to Chrisstiaan Young for wings cooked over charcoal the right way. Shared via the Dead Meat Society Facebook Group.
🥉 Honorable Mention #2
Honorable mention to Stephen Mitchell for herb-crusted chicken and Conecuh sausage. Shared via the Dead Meat Society Facebook Group.
Have a Smoke Show submission? Stop wasting your time posting on all those other sites and share it with the Facebook group that gives a damn: Dead Meat Society. Or just tag us on Instagram.
That one story that will make you infinitely more interesting than your know-it-all brother-in-law. Seriously, wtf is that guy’s deal?
MAKE YOUR OWN BACON
In case you don’t love bacon as much as we do (likely), today is National Bacon Lovers Day!
And the best way to celebrate this day is to admit the truth: the shrink-wrapped Oscar Mayer microwavable strips in your fridge are a sad impression of the real thing.
Listen up… We’re the Dead Meat Society.
If it’s meat, we make it ourselves.
Curing your own bacon sounds like a project for lunatics. And to be fair, it is mostly just waiting…
But the payoff makes the store-bought stuff look embarrassing.
Let’s take a look at the whole playbook cookbook, start to finish.
Oh, and if you’re a first-timer, or you just love a truly in-depth deep dive, try this post from Art of Manliness.
START WITH THE BELLY
A great slab of skinless pork belly is what everything else hinges on. Buy a good one from a good butcher, and everything after is going to be easy.
THE CURE (AKA THE WAITING…)
You need salt, sugar, and curing salt. Kosher salt and brown sugar handle the flavor, and pink curing salt (Prague Powder #1) is what actually makes it bacon (and keeps it safe). Measure that one exactly to the recipe, no eyeballing, gents.
Season to taste. Black pepper, maple, garlic, bourbon, whatever you want the bark on your signature bacon to represent.
And… wait. Coat the belly, bag it, and let it cure in the fridge for about 7 to 10 days, flipping it once a day.
DRY, SMOKE, SLICE (AKA THE FUN PART)
Rinse and dry. Wash the cure off, pat it dry, and let it sit uncovered in the fridge until the surface turns tacky. That pellicle is what grabs the smoke, so yeah, you’re gonna want that.
Smoke it low. Around 200 degrees over fruit or hickory wood until the internal temp hits 150.
Chill, then slice. Cool it down, cut it as thick as you dare, and fry.
Do this process just ONE time, and we can guarantee you something…
You will never buy the microwavable stuff again.
Celebrate National Bacon Lovers Day the right way today… by waiting 10 days and THEN eating as much bacon as you can stand.
Like the memes you send back and forth in your group chat, except these won’t get you canceled. Oh, and lots more grill marks.
🥩 HIGH STEAKS: The most expensive steakhouse in America could empty your wallet in two courses.
🥩 LAST CALL: Fifteen grilling recipes to make summer last a little longer.
🥩 RED ALERT: Nearly 30,000 pounds of beef just got recalled, so check what’s in your freezer.
🥩 MAC SECRETS: Why restaurant mac and cheese always beats yours and how to close the gap.
🥩 COWBOYS COOK: Meat Church smokes BBQ chicken for the Dallas Cowboys at training camp 👇
Did we miss something? Share it in the Dead Meat Society Facebook group or tag us on Instagram for a chance to be featured.
DMS’ CMO (Chief Meat Officer… because did you really expect DMS to have a Chief Marketing Officer?) is ranking steaks. It comes with a side of hot takes and a helping of controversy…
Tips, tech & gear that’ll help you beat your friend’s meat. Wait, that came out wrong…
🥓 SMART KETTLE: The Spider Grills Venom controller turns a Weber kettle into a set-and-forget smoker.
🥓 COOLER WARS: Stanley versus Yeti, the differences you may (or may not) care about.
🥓 MALLET HACK: Your meat mallet peels garlic faster than any gadget.
🥓 DIP FIX: Two ingredients that will make beer cheese your best dish this football season.
🥓 STEAK TEST: Guga tries to convert a BBQ legend to sous vide steak 👇
Did we miss something? Share it in the Dead Meat Society Facebook group or tag us on Instagram for a chance to be featured.
Like a Paula Deen cookbook, but with less butter and more BBQ sauce.
When you press that ball of ground beef onto that hot griddle, the sound of it sizzling is unlike anything else. The visual of the crispy, almost lacy edges is wholly unique in grilling. And you don’t need to go to a burger joint to do it.
Here’s how you can make drool-worthy smash burgers at home!
Today’s recipe is brought to you by our friend, DMS contributor, Jeremy Pike.
Jeremy is a writer and backyard BBQ enthusiast. He enjoys smoking and grilling for his friends, wife, and their three kids just outside Charlotte, NC. He is refining his homemade barbecue sauce while continually improving his techniques on the grill and smoker.
Have a recipe you want to share? Share it in the Dead Meat Society Facebook group or tag us on Instagram for a chance to be featured.
A happy ending just for you.
That’s it for this week. If you make any of the recipes above, you’re legally obligated to share pics on the DMS Facebook Group or tag us on Instagram so we can feature them next week (sorry, we don’t make the rules).
And since the only thing that is better than grill marks and ice-cold beer is grill marks and ice-cold beer with a side of dad jokes, we’ll leave this right here…
The Butcher Shop
Dead Meat Society Merch in the wild.
The Dead Grill Station Kit Bundle gives you control over the meat and the mess, complete with…
Dead Skull Spatula
Dead Grip Tongs
Dead Drip - Tool Mat
It’s not just tools, it’s your grill station, dialed in.
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