Buckboard Bacon

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Rings Я Us

Smoking Guru
Original poster
Jul 3, 2017
6,326
909
Southeast Michigan
My 3 hunks of pork butt have been curing 8 days. The pieces have been firm and looks like some good color in parts I can see toward the center...... but.....
Not much liquid at all in the gallon bags. I took out most of the air in the bags to start. So it looked like for a couple days there was some liquids but since then I haven't seen much.

That's normal?
 
Yes perfectly normal for a dry rub cure. The meat will release some moisture, but it will reabsorb it. Keep flipping the bags and massaging them daily.
 
Yes perfectly normal for a dry rub cure. The meat will release some moisture, but it will reabsorb it. Keep flipping the bags and massaging them daily.

Good deal.. thanks..
Looks ok then. I had removed the fat cap because it was all right at the limit of thickness and I didn't know people butterflied the stuff.. going to rinse and dry on a rack Friday for cold smoke sessions on Sat n Sunday
 
Wonder if cold smoking I should dry 2 days for better pellicil and use a no smoke at 100 degrees for an hour then drop to 80. ?
 
Put the meat on a wire rack in front of a fan.... after an hour or so, the pellicle should be good for smoke.. IF the meat temp is up to ambient...
 
In the past, I didn't think the pellicle made that much difference. My wife HATES seeing uncovered meat in the fridge, so I skipped the pellicle part for my first few bacon smokes.

A batch of loin bacon finished curing once while she was traveling. I decided to form a pellicle to see what all the fuss was about. It was the juiciest bacon I'd ever made. Now if she complains about pellicle forming meat, all I have to say is "Okay, I'll just go back to buying store bought." She hates store bought bacon more than pellicle forming meat in the fridge.
 
Um.... I guess hickory chunks on just a few pieces of charcoal. Try to keep it between 75 and 85. Probably 6 hours light smoke and then 6 more the next day.

One thing I have learned is rest in the fridge a couple days after. Not sure if it should be wrapped or open air to rest and mellow
 
Har! I love the varying choices. My wife loved apple smoke until I did oak. Now she likes maple. I like hickory. I eat a lot of maple bacon.
 
Day 12 in fridge. Rinse, taste and smoke is getting closer.

Here is a cool little tidbit.

The maximum amount of nitrites allowed in cured meats by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is 156 parts per million (ppm), and is usually lower than that. In contrast, spinach, lettuce, celery, beets, radishes, and carrots can contain up to 1900 ppm! As far as I know, no one’s sounding the alarm on these vegetables

Signed:
Steven Raichlen
Barbecue U
 
Last edited:
Day 12 in fridge. Rinse, taste and smoke is getting closer.

Here is a cool little tidbit.

The maximum amount of nitrites allowed in cured meats by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is 156 parts per million (ppm), and is usually lower than that. In contrast, spinach, lettuce, celery, beets, radishes, and carrots can contain up to 1900 ppm! As far as I know, no one’s sounding the alarm on these vegetables

Signed:
Steven Raichlen
Barbecue U
Another celebrity chef talking out his....Read this:
http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/sodium-nitrite-vegetables-3535.html
 
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