Double Smoked Buckboard Bacon

[disco]

I have been off the forums for a while and have missed them. I am trying to get back in the swing.

I was going to visit my brother and niece in Edmonton and a tradition of me taking bacon with me is now in full force. My brother seems to like a bit more smoke flavour so I double smoked some for him and made a video of the smoke for my food blog.

I started by skinning and boning a 2 kg, five pound pork shoulder. I cut it into 2 one kg (2 pound) slabs.

I used my normal basic curing rub, for each 1 kg of pork:

• 3 grams-2 ml Prague powder #1
• 25 ml brown sugar
• 15 ml kosher salt

If you use pounds, for each pound of meat:

• 0.05 ounces-1/5 teaspoon
• 2 1/2 tsp brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

I rubbed each slab down and sealed them in vacuum bag without sucking the air out.When you rub the pork down, make sure it is on a plate and get any rub that falls onto the plate into the curing bag.

I let it cure in the fridge for 11 days, turning every day. I opened it and rinsed it under cold water. Then I soaked it in cold water for an hour changing the water twice.

I put the bacon on the rack and patted it dry with paper towel. I put it in the fridge, uncovered over night to dry off and develop pellicle.

I fired up my A-Maze-N tube smoker but didn't turn the smoker on. I put the bacon in the smoker and smoked until the tube burnt out, about 4 1/2 hours.

I took the bacon in and put it in the fridge overnight to let the flavour set. I fired the smoker up to 180 F and cooked the bacon to an internal temperature of 140 F. I let it cool in the fridge overnight and then sliced it up.

Subsequent to the initial posting, Bearcarver noted that he cooks to 145 as that is the safe temperature for eating it uncooked. Here in frozen Canada, we consider 155 F the safe temperature for cooked pork. I smoke to between 130 and 140 to make my bacon easy to slice. It is not meant to be eaten uncooked, you have to fry it.

A couple of slice were cooked up to taste.

This turns out great. There is a nice deep smoke taste with no ashtray overtones. I go to the low end of salt but it still has a great cure taste with a sweet hit from the brown sugar. It doesn't hurt that pork shoulders are often on sale and it makes a great bacon for not a lot of money!

Here is the video if you want to take a look.



Disco

 

[SmokinAl]

Looks real good Disco!
Glad to have you back & posting again!
Al

 

[disco]

Looks real good Disco!
Glad to have you back & posting again!
Al

Thanks, Al. It has been a hard winter! I am trying to get back into the swing.

 

[Bearcarver]

Looks Great, Disco!!
I could use a couple slices right now!!
Like.
I usually just give mine 11 hours of smoke all at once.
And I take mine to 145° IT.

Bear

 

[disco]

Thanks, Bear. I have done 12 hour smokes but I find it gives a really strong smoke that is a little harsh to my tender Canadian tastes. When I double smoke like this, I find I get between a short single hot smoke and a long colder smoke and it gives a level perfect for my likes. However, even this is a little strong for She Who Must Be Obeyed. She likes a light 4 hour hot smoke and that's it. Guess which way I make most of my bacon?

 

[Bearcarver]

Thanks, Bear. I have done 12 hour smokes but I find it gives a really strong smoke that is a little harsh to my tender Canadian tastes. When I double smoke like this, I find I get between a short single hot smoke and a long colder smoke and it gives a level perfect for my likes. However, even this is a little strong for She Who Must Be Obeyed. She likes a light 4 hour hot smoke and that's it. Guess which way I make most of my bacon?

LOL---SWMBO is my guess.
And Thanks for that Smoking explanation---I like that idea.
BTW: Thanks for clarifying that your 140° IT wasn't your final temp before eating.
Here in the USA, the safe temp used to be 160°, but about 6 years ago they changed it to 145°. Boy was I glad of that, because 160° was making most of my Smoked Pork & CB & BBB much too dry.

Bear

 

[Rings Я Us]

Good post!
Looks great :)
Loved the video..

 

[zwiller]

This is EXACTLY what I want to do next! Thanks. Especially the video as I am rookie with breaking down a butt. I found my back bacon a little bland and think I will add a cold smoke to it next time and do one for the BBB. Is the cold smoke flavor "deeper" for lack of better term?

 

[gmc2003]

Welcome back Disco, as usually the BBB looks real good. I hope you get your smoking mojo back.

Point for sure.

Chris

 

[disco]

Good post!
Looks great :)
Loved the video..

Thanks so much, kind Sir!

 

[disco]

This is EXACTLY what I want to do next! Thanks. Especially the video as I am rookie with breaking down a butt. I found my back bacon a little bland and think I will add a cold smoke to it next time and do one for the BBB. Is the cold smoke flavor "deeper" for lack of better term?

Thanks for the kind words.

The double smoke flavour is "deeper". The hardest thing for people new to smoking is that so many commercial bacon manufacturers inject smoke flavour. You will never imitate that in a home smoker. You will get a nice rich background natural smoke flavour that is way better than commercial bacon in my opinion.

I suggest you experiment for your own tastes. If just a hot smoke was bland to your tastes, add a 4 hour cold smoke. If you want more, some people cold smoke for a couple of days, just slowly increase the length of the cold smoke until you get to the desired level.

I should point out that it takes time for smoke to get through the meat. If you are doing a really long smoke, I would recommend letting it rest in the fridge for a couple of days before slicing to let the heavy smoke flavour even out through the meat!

 

[disco]

Welcome back Disco, as usually the BBB looks real good. I hope you get your smoking mojo back.

Point for sure.

Chris

Thanks. I am trying to do more, we'll see what life brings!

 

[Rings Я Us]

Someone may have asked this question prior to me but I was wondering if you have that smoker in the house with it's own vet to the outside?

 

[crazzycajun]

Mmm bacon

 

[indaswamp]

Very nice video Disco. Thanks for posting. Net back bacon I do I plan on injecting with maple syrup like you do....

 

[disco]

Someone may have asked this question prior to me but I was wondering if you have that smoker in the house with it's own vet to the outside?

In

Someone may have asked this question prior to me but I was wondering if you have that smoker in the house with it's own vet to the outside?

In short, no. I have read all the stuff about the risk of putting a smoker inside a structure with the risk of fire. However, I live in the Canadian Rockies and weather can be a problem. So, I built a gazebo type structure with two walls far enough from my house that, if it caught fire, it would not put my house at risk. It lets me smoke under cover. I am old. I deserve my comfort.

 

[disco]

Mmm bacon

Thank you kind Sir!

 

[disco]

Very nice video Disco. Thanks for posting. Net back bacon I do I plan on injecting with maple syrup like you do....

Thanks! It does add another layer of flavour.

 

[tropics]

Disco I haven't been on as much lately myself,that looks good as always.I watched the Olympics Curling thought I would see you there.
Richie

 

[Bearcarver]

Hey Disco!
I finally got to watch your Video, and I gotta tell you:
Your Video is Awesome!!:)
It covers everything, like I always try to do in my Step by Steps with my text.
Also---This might not sound like a big deal, but I can understand every word you say on the Video!!
So many of the YouTube videos I watch, I have to replay parts, because I didn't understand what they said the first 3 or 4 times! Like with an SV video, they say the Temp they're using & you can't understand if they said 50C or 60C, and 10C is a big difference when it comes to SV.
You speak perfectly clear throughout the whole Video & I Appreciate that !!

Keep up the Great Work!!
Like.

Bear