Buckboard Bacon- Pork butt bacon...

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EllisTX

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A local grocery has pork butts on sale for a bargain. I ended up with 6 of them. I've searched around and found a link to "Buckboard Bacon" or bacon made from a boned out pork butt. Anyone have any experience with this? I'd love to try it...
 
I have a TON of experience with BBB, cheek bacon, and belly bacon. I'd be glad to walk you through it or hook you up to a tutorial link I put together on another forum.

Nothing better than your own bacons. You can tweak them any way you want: spicy, sweet, savory; your imagination is the limit.

Do you have a smoker, and can you keep the temp steady and low?
 
I have a TON of experience with BBB, cheek bacon, and belly bacon. I'd be glad to walk you through it or hook you up to a tutorial link I put together on another forum.

Nothing better than your own bacons. You can tweak them any way you want: spicy, sweet, savory; your imagination is the limit.

Do you have a smoker, and can you keep the temp steady and low?

Thanks! Any help would be appreciated. I do have a smoker that I can maintain temps with.
 
I have a TON of experience with BBB, cheek bacon, and belly bacon. I'd be glad to walk you through it or hook you up to a tutorial link I put together on another forum.

Nothing better than your own bacons. You can tweak them any way you want: spicy, sweet, savory; your imagination is the limit.

Do you have a smoker, and can you keep the temp steady and low?

I'm not the OP, but I'd definitely be interested in seeing that link, and hearing more about bacon smoking.
 
I've made it, but I tend to make more canadian bacon (pork loin) due it it's price and availability.
 
Couldn't find the link, so I just posted the tutorial from my personal notes. Please note there are also wet curing methods that involve a brine solution to cure the meats. My method described below works beautifully for BBB, cheek/jowl bacon, belly (traditional) bacon, and Canadian bacon.

Please also note that there are 2 main types of curing salts: Morton's Tenderquick and Mountain High products. Both are fine to use, but PLEASE follow the specific cure instructions for your brand to the letter. This is a matter of safety and health, so it is not something to screw around with. As for the rest of the ingredients, have at it; the sky and your imagination are the limits.

My Dry Cure BuckBoard Bacon Method:

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(Finished BBB ready for portioning and packaging. Not yet fully cooked)

1) Butterfly the pork butt (shoulder) and remove the bone, if applicable. Trim any excess fat, if desired. The meat should be as uniformly thick as possible and should not be any thicker than 1 1/2 inches. The proper thickness ensures proper cure penetration for safety and flavor. Mine usually wind up around an inch thick on average. Follow the cure instructions precisely: (1/2 ounce of TenderQuick per pound of meat. ½ ounce = 1 TBSP). I applied the TenderQuick directly to the meat, and I rubbed it into every nook, cranny and fold of the meat surface.

2) I rubbed brown sugar & pepper onto the meat over the TenderQuick. Others apply all manner of spices, sugars and syrups at this point (particularly Grade A Maple). Your imagination is your only limitation. Still others believe that adding syrups or honey at this point is not very effective toward adding flavor.

3) I sealed the bacon in Foodsaver bags, although Ziplocks work fine. Just get as much air out of the bags as possible. Place the bags in the refrigerator in a tray or bowl, as leakage can occur. If it does, do not discard the fluid; place it back in the bag and re-seal or replace the bag.

4) I flip & massage the bacon daily for 8-10 days. A little longer is better than too short a time in the cure. The cure salts will pull moisture out of the meat; do not drain off the moisture during the curing process.

5) Once the appropriate cure time has passed, perform a fry test for saltiness. If the bacon is too salty for your taste, soak in cold water for an hour or two, and re-test. Some advocate soaking overnight in the fridge. Again, this is a matter of personal taste and preference. Do NOT skip the fry test or you run the risk of inedible salty bacon. Your bacon will taste more like ham without the smoke and any other flavors you wish to add at this point.

6) Once the salt level is to your liking, pat dry and refrigerate uncovered for at least 4 hours on cooling racks to form the pellicle. Some folks will leave uncovered in the refrigerator overnight to form the pellicle. I prefer to set the BBB on racks on the counter and blow a fan over them for an hour or so, flipping them once to get even pellicle formation. Failure to perform this step will result in crappy smoke uptake in the next phase (I know from experience).

7) Some folks apply spices at this point because they believe that the spices take better than when added in with the cure. Syrups or honey may also be brushed onto the bacon at this point. Others believe that adding syrups (particularly Grade A Maple) or honey at this point is not very effective toward adding flavor. Again, this would be personal preference and taste; experiment and decide for yourself.

8) I use a "warm" smoking method by setting the bacons on racks in the smoker without smoke at 130˚ for 1 hour to ensure good pellicle formation. Some begin the cold smoking process at this point, which I have done with equally nice results. If you do not understand the difference, please use the warm smoking method for food safety reasons.

9) Smoke 6 to 8 hours at 130˚ with smoke. Then raise the smoker temp to 170˚ to 180˚ with smoke, until the internal temp of the bacon reaches between 145˚ and 150˚. You should only have a thin, wispy grey or blue smoke as the wood smolders slowly. If your smoke is roiling and/or white, you have too much smoke and will deposit creosote on the bacon surface -- yuck. (If you think bitter beer is bad, you haven't tried creosote on your smoked meats). The rule is: if you can smell smoke, you're smoking. And not peekin! If you're constantly lookin, you ain't cookin! Just get in there enough to keep the smoke going.

10) Cool bacon and refrigerate (cold bacon is easier to slice). Some advocate resting the bacon refrigerated overnight before slicing and consuming.

11) Slice and portion according to preference.

Remember, your bacon is not fully cooked at this point & must be heated to at least 165˚ to be safely consumed.

I hope those contemplating the jump will find this helpful and provide some confidence as you move into this awesome world of cured meats. It was much less daunting than I expected, and the results were really tasty.

Cheers!!!!
 
Oh my, That picture looks fanfreakingtastic. Thanks for the detail. I'll be posting my results once I tackle this.

I have tons of oak to smoke with. Any personal preferences on you choice of wood?
 
Smoking wood choices are a personal matter. Oak is fine. I like fruit woods: apple, cherry. Alder is nice, as is hickory.

Let me know how it turns out.
 
I've got 7 1/2 lbs sealed up in the fridge now for my maiden buckboard bacon voyage. Thanks again for the info adio.
 
I used Mortons Tender quick, brown sugar, and pepper. I may glaze with mole asses and some more pepper before smoking.

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How is this not fully cooked? at 145f pork is done not doubting just curious.

He probably implied that it isn't cooked to the final product yet, e.g. pan frying.


Soaking mine in water for a few hours then setting in the fridge overnight. Smoking tomorrow!

Any minimum/maximum temp for smoking. Cold smoke vs Hot smoke?
 
AH! you sir are probably right. I'm getting 30lbs of green bellies today for this!!
 
I'll take pics when they're done tonight. I ended up cold smoking this batch. I'll start testing it at about 6 hours to see if it's ready.
 
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