Buckboard Bacon


 
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Bruce Bissonnette

Bruce Bissonnette

TVWBB Guru
When I purchased some Jerky seasoning from Hi-Mountain I seen they also sold Buckboard Bacon Cure. Several people on another forum have made Buckboard bacon using this cure and have raved about the out come. So I thought I would give it a try. A little about the process:

You start with a boneless Boston Butt, 6-7lbs., follow the directions in the HM Cure package for the amount of cure to use per the weight of your butt. You rub the cure into the butt thoroughly, then either wrap your butt in plastic, zip-lock or place it in a food grade non-reactive container, cover, and place in a refrigerator for ten (10) days. HM says to cure at 40-45 degrees but those temps are too high, most people cure it in the high 30's.

On Day 5, you turn your butt over. there will be an accumulation of juices in the package, you can either leave it or drain it off and rewrap.

On Day 10; remove the butt from it's wrapping and rinse thoroughly under cold water, removing any cure remaining on the meat. Then soak the meat in the sink or food grade container in cold water for two hours, changing the water several times during this two hours. After soaking, pat dry and let rest at room temperature for 1 hour.

Assemble and start smoker while meat is resting and smoke meat until it reaches an internal temperature of 140-145 degrees. Some people have applied rubs, pepper, or maple syrup prior to smoking. It's up to you.

According to others this will be the leanest and most flavorful bacon you have ever had. Sliced thin this bacon will cook twice as fast as regular bacon. Thicker slices may be recommended.

Thursday 2/19 is Day 10 for me. I will keep you posted and post some pictures of the process.

I apologize for the length, I just felt it needed some background.

www.himtnjerky.com
 
Bacon Update:

Took butts out of soak at 10:30 this morning and let them dry. Then slathered on some maple syrup and a few good twists of fresh cracked black pepper.

Placed on WSM with lump charcoal, and hickory and apple wood at 11:30am WSM humming along at 210 at the top grate. /infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif

Susan; I didn't have boneless butts, I just removed the bone from the regular butts I get at Sam's, not that hard.
 
At 2;15pm the internal temp of the meat hit 142. I took the butts off wrapped them in foil and placed them in a cooler for 1 hour. At 3.30pm I placed both butts in the refrigerator to cool down and I will slice them in a couple of hours.

WSM averaged 204 on top cooking grate for the three hour cook. This thing amazes me every time I use it.

Will take a few more pics and post them this evening and give a final report on what I hope will be some killer BLT samdwiches.
 
Alright Bruce, now I want to try it too. I love bacon, but dislike store bought thin sliced bacon. This buckboard bacon cure sounds right up my alley. I presume you will slice it, vacuum pack it, and freeze it sliced so that you can use it as you need it? Assuming, it lasts long enough to get it in the freezer. /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif
 
You made this sound so tantalizing, I've already orderd some of that buckboard bacon cure since your first posting.

I used to belong to the bacon of the month club, but it was UNGODLY expensive, but man oh man I loved loved loved those small batch, designer bacons. To make my own for a fraction of the cost? WOW!
 
Alright here we go; you can view the photos at:

community.webshots.com/user/bruce850

Report: It was great. A couple of lessons learned. 1) I sliced mine using my jerky board which makes 1/4" slices, that's pretty thick. If you like thicker bacon you have to cook this until it really starts to brown up like bacon and lets loose with some bacon fat (that's a good thing), not as long as regular bacon but don't rush it. You'll know when it's done.

2) I sliced mine after only letting it rest for 1 hour in a cooler wrapped in foil and then two hours in the refrigerator. I have the second one in the fridge all night tonight. I think it would be easier to slice a little thinner if it was colder.

All in all, I don't know what the cost of a pound of bacon is, but the butts cost me .88 cents/lb, the cure was $3.50 which handles up to 25lbs of meat. I think this is definitely worth trying again, you will not find leaner bacon in the store and it has a great taste. I may not buy store bought fatty bacon again

Hope you enjoyed the saga!
 
Hey Dude, I don't think you should eat any more of that stuff 'till it's been frofessionally respected ...like send me some!
Dave
 
Bruce, that stuff looks awesome! I hate the store bought junk they try to pass off as bacon, it should be called fat with a little meat. /infopop/emoticons/icon_mad.gif I'll be trying your recipe in the near future. Thanks for your report.
 
So...how did it taste??

Bacon of the month club runs about $13.95 per month plus 2-day shipping; the designer bacons run about $13.95 a lb, too, sometimes a bit less. Saw 2 shoulder bacons (which I reckon is what you just made)--one for $11.95/lb and one for $9.95, tho they described the tastes as hammy or pork choppy. I'd be interested to know what yours tasted like.
 
Bruce,
That looks like something I definitely want to try. I will be interested to hear if you were able to slice the 2nd one thinner. 1/4" is a bit too thick for what my family likes.

Jeff
 
Bruce,

thanks for posting your results... my girlfriend was actually asking me about making bacon in the smoker on Monday.

I was thinking about buying a belly but, since I have about 40 of them in the freezer, I'll do your recipe with a pork butt.

Thanks again Bruce...

SA
 
Well I carved up the second butt today and my suspicions were confirmed, after spending the night in the refrigerator; much easier to slice. I was able to slice it thinner today but without a slicer I don't think you'll ever get down to thickness of bacon in store, but it was thinner than last nights. On to taste.

I figured while I had out I might as well cook a little up. There is a bacony/hammy taste to the meat (definetly not pork chop though Susan) I also found that the leaner slices with no noticeable fat streaks in them tasted more hammy while the slices with fat streaks more bacony. I don't know, however, if this is an issue with the amount of cure used. Being this was my first try I followed directions to a tee, perhaps more cure would instill a more bacony taste. I'll have to wait until next batch.

Either way, this is a great alternative to store bought, fat laced bacon, a helluva lot cheaper to produce, and another option to use the WSM for. I ended up getting 6 vac-pac bags weighing just over a pound apiece, plus what we had for dinner last night and munchies today. All in all, I give it an 8.5 on a scale of 10.
Good Luck!
 
Wow! I'm DEFINITELY going to try this as soon as my cure gets here.

I read somewhere that if you want to make really fatty bacony bacon, you can use hog jowls. Of course, since I can barely find brisket in my area, I reckon hog jowls are out of the question.
 
Bruce, we been makin "Hillbilly Bacon" up here in Canada for quite some time. The only difference is that we take the boneless butt and cut in half, the long way. You end up with 2 pieces about 2"thick by whatever the length of the roast. I find that the cure gets a chance to penetrate completely that way and therefore it doesn't take 10 days, only 7(for those of us that just can't wait). This also makes for a little smaller slices in the pan. In your bacon did the cure get thru completely? You are right about the taste though, the pieces with more fat tastes more like regular side bacon while the leaner tastes like Canadian back bacon. /infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif
 
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