Buckboard Bacon Bonanza!

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disco

Epic Pitmaster
Original poster
OTBS Member
SMF Premier Member
Oct 31, 2012
11,135
5,265
Canadian Rockies
The last time my brother came to visit, he brought me some great cuts of Alberta beef that are hard to get here in the mountains. I am going to visit him soon and I wanted to make something to bring in return. I decided on buckboard bacon, something he hasn't tried.

I found a nice big boneless pork butt.


However, when I unrolled it, it had several slashes and hunks of pork hangning of. I suspect the butcher was partaking of recreational pharmaceuticals. I trimmed it up as best I could and was able to get 4 pieces that were of decent size. The rest I have frozen for my next sausage project. I like my pork between 1 1/2 inch to 2 1/2 inch thick for dry curing. Any thicker and it takes too long to cure.


As long as I had four pieces, why not do four different varieties to give him a real range of different bacon? I couldn't think of a reason why not.

I will continue with a description of how I did a basic buckboard bacon and then will show what I did different for each of the other three bacons.

I weighed the piece of pork.


My basic bacon cure for each kilogram of pork is:
  • 3 grams Prague powder #1
  • 40 ml brown sugar
  • 15 ml kosher salt
If you are metrically challenged for each pound of pork:
  • 0.05 ounce (1/5 teaspoon) Prague Powder #1
  • 4 teaspoons brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
I multiplied the weight by the amount per kilogram of each of the ingredients and mixed them together.



I put the piece of pork on a plate and rubbed the mixture into all surfaces.


I put the meat into a resealable bag and made sure to scrape all the mixture that fell onto the plate into the bag. 

I measured the thickest part of the meat. It was 1 1/2 inches thick. I give 4 days per inch plus 2 days extra. So, this went in the fridge for 8 days. I turned the bag and rubbed the cure in every day or so.


After 8 days, I rinsed the bacon off with running water. I soaked it in cold water for 40 minutes, changing the water once.


I put the bacon on a rack and patted it dry with a paper towel. I let it sit on the rack, patting it dry every 15 minutes until the surface was dry and tacky. You can call it pellicle if you want to be fancy.


I put the bacon in my pellet smoker. The pellet smoker wasn't turned on. I put my A-Maze-N tube smoker with hickory pellets in and cold smoked the bacon for 6 hours.


I took the bacon in and put it in the fridge, uncovered, overnight.


The next day I put it in the pellet smoker at 180 F with hickory pellets. I smoked it to an internal temperature of 140 F.


I wrapped it and put it in the fridge for two days.

Here is the basic bacon sliced.


For the Berbere Bacon, I added 1 1/2 ml of berbere spice for each kg of meat to the curing mix before rubbing it in. Here it is sliced.


For the Pepper Bacon, I pressed coarse ground pepper into the bacon just before the first smoke.


Here is a picture of the sliced Pepper Bacon


For the Maple Bacon, I left the brown sugar out of the cure mix. I injected 40 ml of maple syrup per kilogram of meat into the pork.


Here is a picture of the sliced maple bacon.


Of course I had to fry some up for quality control so I had bacon and home fries for breakfast.



The Verdict

I love buckboard bacon and these all turned out great.

The basic bacon had a nice cure and smoke taste.

The Berbere bacon has just a touch of spice with a bit of heat. Not enough to overpower the bacon taste, just a different level of taste.

The Pepper bacon also has a nice pepper after taste that does not overpower the bacon.

The Maple bacon has a good maple taste. It is not the artificial maple taste of commercial bacon but a nice smooth maple sweetness that is just a touch different than the basic bacon.

I hope my brother likes these.

Disco
 
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Man, Disco. That's some tasty lookin bacon ya got there. As long as your packaging some up for your brother, send some my way too.Thumbs Up
 
Man, Disco. That's some tasty lookin bacon ya got there. As long as your packaging some up for your brother, send some my way too.
icon14.gif
Thanks, Spuds. Keep you eye out for that package. It is in the mail with the cheque. Have I ever lied to you before?

Disco
 
Great looking BBB! I'm afraid to start making bacon it could be to easy to over eat!
 
Another great post, but boneless butt?    Never tried that.

I have to try some new recipes, gonna try these.   Thanks.

Points for sure.
 
That all looks great Disco, awesome ! Thumbs Up Your bro should be a happy man... If not, I'd be your bro ! :biggrin:
 
 
Another great post, but boneless butt?    Never tried that.

I have to try some new recipes, gonna try these.   Thanks.

Points for sure.
Thanks, Adam. I only got a boneless butt because it was on sale. I would have much rather boned my own. That being said, it made a fine bacon!
 
Disco the parts you were able to save,look really good as always Thanks for sharing them recipes Point worthy

Richie
 
 
Great job Disco!

It all looks delicious!

But where's the eggs?

Point!

Al
Thanks for the point, Al. I obviously have different tastes than the rest of the world. I don't like fried eggs or coffee.
 
Disco the parts you were able to save,look really good as always Thanks for sharing them recipes Point worthy

Richie
Thanks for the point, Richie!
 
Disco, here's another that you have nailed to perfection!  The slices look great and I'd love to have a plate of it right now.

Doing several flavors was a great gesture as well.

Points for the very nice work!
 
 
Disco, here's another that you have nailed to perfection!  The slices look great and I'd love to have a plate of it right now.

Doing several flavors was a great gesture as well.

Points for the very nice work!
Your too nice to a fat old Canadian, Cranky. Thanks!
 
Looks Great Disco!!
drool.gif


Heck of a Job!!
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points.gif


I'm with you on the Coffee (Lost my taste for it on Nov 8, 2012).

But I'm with Al on the Eggs.

Taters look Mighty Tasty Though!!

Bear
 
Looks great Disco! Buckboard is my favorite bacon. I need to make some more. Only problem is belly's have been cheaper so I've been doing belly bacon instead.

Point!
 
 
Looks Great Disco!!
drool.gif


Heck of a Job!!
icon14.gif
----
points.gif


I'm with you on the Coffee (Lost my taste for it on Nov 8, 2012).

But I'm with Al on the Eggs.

Taters look Mighty Tasty Though!!

Bear
Thanks, Bear. I think it is just the texture of eggs. They feel slimy!

I appreciate the point.
 
Looks great Disco! Buckboard is my favorite bacon. I need to make some more. Only problem is belly's have been cheaper so I've been doing belly bacon instead.

Point!
Well, butt is the cheapest pork around here most of the time and bellies are harder to get than an impolite Canadian. So, buckboard bacon it is!

Thanks for the point, Case.
 
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