BBB.... So Many Questions

[CSR]

I'm learning a lot here thus far, and now I am ready to attack bacon in more ways than one. I have 2 pork butts and an 11 lb pork belly earmarked for bacon. The pork belly in my mind is straight forward; cure, soak, cold smoke, slice, fry, smile.

BBB is another story. I am interested in trying this as it is a nice economical way to make "bacon", but it is not as straightforward in my mind. Interested on thoughts on:

- Hot vs Cold smoked. I am very interested in having the bacon cooked through so I can use it on sandwiches, but don't want to lose quality/taste/texture by doing so.
- Carving the butt. The butts I have are bone-in. I see some directions on how to carve out the bone but I also see people only using the fat cap half for BBB. Can I use both halves? If I shouldn't, what to do with the other half?

 

[atomicsmoke]

I hope i am not hijacking your thread but i have a question about BBB. Does it taste anything like bacon? Never tried it. Would like to make some but i dont want to run into disapointment like i did with canadian bacon (which tastes nothing like bacon).

 

[TomKnollRFV]

I hot smoke my buckboard bacon, I don't think you'd lose taste persay, but it will be less smokey <and mine already takes 8+ hours hot smoking, so that's plenty for me>.

I use both halves as it were for buckboard, though I normally just get a boneless butt for it, just for ease. The other method is to slice a butt in half along the bone, easy to get out that way. I normally try to get my butts down to 2-3 pound pieces for buckboard any how, just because it's easier to handle and we like to pepper most of it, but leave some plain..

As for taste, it does. I prefer it to bacon for breakfast etc because more meat then fat.

 

[zwiller]

Great question. Anxious to read of the opinions. My own is there is there is no real wrong way to do it honestly. Just did BBB for first time and love it for same reasons as Tom, more meat and also for me CHEAP. Not perfected it yet but yes, it most definitely is like belly bacon if you approach it that way. Long cold smoke me thinks. I plan to 3 days of 8 hours cold smoke next time.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/double-smoked-buckboard-bacon.274377/page-2#post-1885235

I leaned alot from Disco on that thread including him breaking it down. I also plan to try cold smoking CB 2 days before hot smoking to add some bacon character to CB.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

If you need step by step's..Mr Bear here on the forum has a wonderful step by step for Buckboard Bacon using TenderQuick, and Disco has his blog which he uses pink salt 1. Sorry I forgot to mention those. :)

 

[chopsaw]

I also see people only using the fat cap half for BBB.

I do it like that simply because I like it to look like belly bacon .
I take it to 145 , but still fry it to eat . If I was going to eat cold as a sandwich I would not want the fat cap .

 

[noboundaries]

Belly bacon has a 1 to 1 meat to fat ratio. BBB is 3 to 1 meat to fat. Back bacon (or Canadian bacon in the US) is 10 to 1 meat to fat. My cure for BBB and Back bacon includes prague #1 so I hot smoke starting at about 120F. The chamber slowly climbs over several hours to 140F. When the meat hits 140, I'm done.

My wife REALLY doesn't like belly bacon any longer. I can use it in cooking (chili, soups, pasta carbonara, etc), but she doesn't want to see it on her plate. She prefers BBB over Back bacon. Go figure.

 

[chopsaw]

Does it taste anything like bacon?

Yes , I think it does . Loin taste like ham to me , this is bacon in my opinion . I think you would like it .

 

[browneyesvictim]

I agree that the method and way that you do it is a personal preference thing. Because one half is a bit more lean, it tends to be a cross somewhere between ham and bacon. If you make BBB from the fat cap side of the Butt, it is a pretty close second to belly bacon. Just like Chopsaws picture above shows it looks and tastes much like belly bacon and most folks wouldn't know any different and is FAR better than any store bought belly bacon. I like both halves for different reasons depending on what I am making with it. Sometimes I will save the other half for sausage, or cube it up for kebabs or stir fry etc.

Atomic- Loin bacon is MUCH leaner that both belly and shoulder, and BBB is not nearly as dry as loin bacon.

I "warm" smoke bbb just like belly. I always cook it like regular bacon. But I will assert that if you aren't cooking your bacon in the oven, you should.

As most things everyone has a preference for different reasons. But I am convinced there is a definite difference in the outcome whether wet curing and dry curing, and other steps such as aging time -pre and post smoke etc.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

I will pop in with this based off my last Buckboard; I ran with cherry and apple blend <80 cherry, 20 apple>

You might not want to smoke it the full time if you use a stronger wood like cherry. It mellowed out, but it took a while and if you have eaters about who aren't big on smoke..they'll complain!

 

[SmokinAl]

Well I use the fat cap side for BBB, and use the other half for sausage.
I also cold smoke my BBB, cause your gonna cook it any way before you eat it.
This way it tastes like a leaner version of belly bacon.
Al

 

[CSR]

I don't have a grinder, so I am thinking cold smoke the fat cap half and hot smoke the leaner half for sandwiches if I so choose. Probably be a month before I am ready, but I'll bump this one when I make it.

Thanks for all the feedback!