Buckboard bacon????

[rw 12]

Ive made bacon out of pork belly but never boston butt. Got one right now im goin to cure. I was wondering though has anyone or does anyone slice the butt in half horizontally? I dont want pieces of ham i want bacon. Im assuming i ise the same curing recipe for the pounds of meat i have as belly?

 

[BigW.]

Still have the bone in? Cure is the same. If you remove the bone, it will allow cure to penetrate completely. Will also then be smaller bacon size slices instead of ham.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Hopefully you have a butt with a nice fat cap. Cut that cap off horizontally about 1 1/2 to 2” thick. And cure just the same as belly bacon.

 

[rw 12]

Still have the bone in? Cure is the same. If you remove the bone, it will allow cure to penetrate completely. Will also then be smaller bacon size slices instead of ham.

No i deboned them. I picked up 2 pack of butts for 99cents a lb and halfed them to about 5lbs each. I have a recipe for cure for 5lbs of belly. Took awhile to find it cause everyone wants to use freakin grams and percentages and metric crap . But i finally found one with teaspoons and table spoons amounts. Im using PP#1 wich for 5lbs is a 1 1/4 teaspoon. Idk what some these other folks are using bit some recipes say 1/2 a cup and so forth it sure aint cure#1 at half a cup

 

[Nefarious]

The problem with using a volume measurement, the amount of product will not be the same from use to use. Volume depends on how the material is packed.

 

[nlife]

No i deboned them. I picked up 2 pack of butts for 99cents a lb and halfed them to about 5lbs each. I have a recipe for cure for 5lbs of belly. Took awhile to find it cause everyone wants to use freakin grams and percentages and metric crap . But i finally found one with teaspoons and table spoons amounts. Im using PP#1 wich for 5lbs is a 1 1/4 teaspoon. Idk what some these other folks are using bit some recipes say 1/2 a cup and so forth it sure aint cure#1 at half a cup

People are using grams, percentage and metric crap simply due to the variations that are found in volume measurements. For example, are you using a fine grain or course grain salt the total amount in 1/2 cup can be wildly different. Heck, you'll even find variation in the overall amount when using a different measuring cups/spoons despite them being labelled the same. Not to mention how loosely/tightly packed the spice is within the spoon or cup. Brown sugar and flower come to mind. It's also quite hard to replicate the recipe this way.

It's also easier to use percentages and the metric system for calculating amounts of spices/cure needed for a given weight.

It doesn't mean you can't use imperial systems. Lots of people still do.

As for the buckboard, I was surprised that it came out more like bacon than it did ham.

 

[DougE]

The easiest way to do curing is in percentages by weight, and the metric system is the simplest way to make these calculations.

You want repeatable results from batch to batch and this is how you get there.

You get 3 different sets of measuring spoons and I can about guaranty that each spoon of the same size will weigh different.

N nlife also raises a good point. If you measure salt by volume, the amount will be completely different for various grind sizes, but by weight, it doesn't matter if it's coarse or fine salt. The weight of each will be the same amount.

 

[sterry]

Ive made bacon out of pork belly but never boston butt. Got one right now im goin to cure. I was wondering though has anyone or does anyone slice the butt in half horizontally? I dont want pieces of ham i want bacon. Im assuming i ise the same curing recipe for the pounds of meat i have as belly?

I just made two of the buckboard bacon. Removed the bone from a 9 pound Boston butt, used the same cure mixture as I used on pork belly. Took about 5 hours in the smoker.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Gorgeous meat. Nice work.

 

[DougE]

Nice looking BB.

 

[nlife]

That looks excellent. I'm finishing off the last bit I have on hand.

 

[thirdeye]

Looks very tasty & you got a great color on those. Something to consider is using is meat netting. It allows you to hang your meats, and will help with the shape of boneless butts.

 

[1MoreFord]

...............I was wondering though has anyone or does anyone slice the butt in half horizontally? I don't want pieces of ham i want bacon. ...............

There used to be a smokehouse deli/resturaunt near me that made what they called high on the hog bacon.

It was buckboard bacon by another name.
I don't know when in the process they did it but it was always cut in slightly oversize bread size pieces and then sliced so that the slices were perfect for BLT's.

 

[thirdeye]

There used to be a smokehouse deli/ resturaunt near me that made what they called high on the hog bacon.

It was buckboard bacon by another name.

High on the hog (farther away from the ground) generally refers to the more desirable and naturally tender cuts along the backbone, like tenderloin, loin, or pork chops which have both muscles, and of course baby back ribs. So, when Jed Clampett said "We're eatin' high on the hog" it meant they were rich enough to buy premium meats, instead of tougher cuts (belly ribs, hocks, etc) which are more suited for barbecue or other slow cooking methods.

Curing front leg and hind leg roasts aka country hams, city hams, Buckboard bacon, Hillbilly bacon, Pioneer bacon (whatever you call it) sort of evolved because of a need to preserve those cuts.

Fast forward many decades... we have refrigeration, so it makes curing an art or a hobby.