buckboard bacon

Hey all,
I just took my first Buckboard Bacon out of the smoker. Naturally I had to throw a few slices into a skillet to see how things turned out. Dang near perfection!! The wife and I both agree that it beats any of the store bought stuff. The only complaint that I had was that it could have used a tad more smoke flavor. I didn't quite follow the directions in the package. Instead of leaving the butt cure for 10 days I left mine cure for 14 days. Mainly because I couldn't find the time to smoke it before that. I was alittle concerned that it may turn out too salty so I soaked it for 1 1/2 hours. Then into the smoker and brought the internal temp of the bacon up to 140. I used Hickory and a couple of briquetes of Kingsford. I can tell you now that this will be a regular on our table. I may experiment with the next one and try brushing a little liquid smoke on and then rubbing in the cure to see if that doesn't give me the additional smoke flavor I'm after. Have to run, it's time to wrap the ribs in foil. I had to fill the smoker with something, That Bacon looked so lonely in there all alone and besides I think it's against the law or something to fire up a smoker that's not full isn't it?
Have a good one.
Mike

 

I've been meaning to try this too.

Need to ask, do you need to bebone the butt first?

 

You guys have put a craving on me. I think I'll order up some of the bacon seasoning today. I'm going to be out of pocket for about a month but I'll let you know how it turns out when I get back.

Bill

 

Just my luck, I have probably the best ribs I've ever done in the smoker with an hour or so to go and we're under a sever thunderstorm and a tornado watch for the next 2 hours. The wind is picking up pretty good, about 25 mph right now with gusts up to 50 or 60 mph on the way. I planned a quiet evening with the wife, good ribs, rubbed a couple of taters with olive oil sprinkled with some Koser salt and a pan of her baked beans in the smoker. Figured on a good dinner and I picked up a good movie to watch. Yeah right! Now I'm in and out securing camper, patio furniture and everything else that's not bolted down. Oh well, could be worse, I could be out of gas for the smoker.

 

Bill,

Yes you do have to debone the butt.

Mike

 

Hi Salmonclubber,

As it turns out I may not need to try the liquid smoke after all. I smoked the bacon on Sunday then I put it in the fridge. I sliced it up tonight and it seemed like the smoke was stronger than it was yesterday. I think it'll be fine. Thanks for letting me know about the curing times, I'm actually glad that I left it cure for 14 days, I think it made it better. As for the ribs, they were fine. I took them out of the smoker about 15 minutes befor the strong winds hit.
Thanks again for the info......

Mike

 

It's gonna be a GOOD Holiday, the smokes gonna roll .The wife won't trust me with the Bird, seeing how I pretty much screwed up a turkey breast a little while back so I've got a couple other Little items to fill the smoker. first off I have two 5 pound butts cured and ready to smoke for Buckboard Bacon, and I stopped and picked up two nice racks of ribs, the fixin's for a dozen ABT's, and a fattie. I've never tried the ABT's or a fattie, it'll be a first for me. I keep reading about them here and you guys make them sound so good I just couldn't resist giving them a try. Well here's wishing a safe and smokey holiday to all the folks in the forum.

Mike

 

Successful smoke.
2 Buckboard Bacons, 2 racks of ribs, a fattie, some skinnies, and a dozen ABT's. Everything came out beautiful. First time I ever done the fattie and the ABT's, very good. I wanted to let everyone know that I experimented a little with the Buckboard bacon. When I rubbed the butts with the High Mountain cure I added some liquid smoke and cured the butts for 14 days. After they had cured I soaked the butts for an hour in water then I dried them off and rubbed them with a light coat of dark brown sugar. I smoked them with Hickory and kingsford, about 3 1/2 hours until the internal temp was 140. That was last night, I left them set up in the fridge over night and this morning sliced off about a half pound for breakfast. This has to be the best bacon I've ever had, the addition of the liquid smoke and the brown sugar was just what was needed. I'll never go back to the store bought stuff.

Mike

 

Okay, now I have a question.

I just read Earl's description of how to debone the butt in another thread here.

So to be clear, when rubbing with the cure, do you rub it down with the stuff, AND THEN tie it back up with cotton string (so it is curing inside and out for X days), and then untie to rinse off the cure, or is it tied, and cured, and rinsed (not removing string)?

Or, for the "bacon", do you not even retie it at all, but smoke it as a "flatter" cut of meat versus a butt shaped piece?

Next time one of you guys try these, snap a pic or two during the process please.