First Buckboard bacon

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Nefarious

Master of the Pit
Original poster
Oct 10, 2021
1,614
1,305
Seattle WA
I made several pieces of buckboard bacon 10 days ago, one thick @ 3" and 4 thin @ 1". I pulled the 1" pieces yesterday at 8 days and smoked them with cherry at 180° until IT was at 160°.

How do I know if the curing made it all the way through? It looks ok to me, just not sure what to expect, before I feed it to someone.

PXL_20221030_025624769.jpg


I will wait the full 14 days for the thicker piece.
 
I'm not the expert that other's here are but I would guess that you did not inject cure and just soaked it? Looks like the cure did not make it all the way through to me.
 
I'm not the expert that other's here are but I would guess that you did not inject cure and just soaked it? Looks like the cure did not make it all the way through to me.
I did not inject, it was a dry cure. All of the recipes I looked at said the cure would cure 1" every 4 days. This is 1" thick so I figured 8 days was a safety margin. Did I misunderstand something?
 
I did not inject, it was a dry cure. All of the recipes I looked at said the cure would cure 1" every 4 days. This is 1" thick so I figured 8 days was a safety margin. Did I misunderstand something?
Nitrite moves about 1/4 inch per day. Since the cure is acting all the way around, you get about 1/2 inch per day. On a 1 inch thick piece of meat, the minimum time would be 2 days plus an additional day for safety. So technically 3 days to fully cure, but letting it go longer develops flavor. I go about 14 days no matter how thick the bacon is.
 
I did not inject, it was a dry cure. All of the recipes I looked at said the cure would cure 1" every 4 days. This is 1" thick so I figured 8 days was a safety margin. Did I misunderstand something?
Soaked was a poor choice of words - I meant dry cured.
 
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Nitrite moves about 1/4 inch per day. Since the cure is acting all the way around, you get about 1/2 inch per day. On a 1 inch thick piece of meat, the minimum time would be 2 days plus an additional day for safety. So technically 3 days to fully cure, but letting it go longer develops flavor. I go about 14 days no matter how thick the bacon is.
Thanks, appreciate your advice. I took these thinner pieces sooner so I could get some practice, eating always needs practice. The next piece is a full height of the shoulder and a little under 3" thick. Will go well in sandwiches.
 
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Thanks, appreciate your advice. I took these thinner pieces sooner so I could get some practice, eating always needs practice. The next piece is a full height of the shoulder and a little under 3" thick. Will go well in sandwiches.
Just limit dry curing to 3 inch thickness or less. Anything thicker should be injected.
 
Great looking meat sir! Makes me wanna try my hand at it!
 
Looks great ray. I have some buck board dry curing 2 days so far. Gonna go 14 days then cold smoke. Nice work bud
Thanks, Those are the small pieces. I have a piece that is 7 inches long and about 2.5"" square that will be at 14 days on Friday. I made it to use on my daily bagel breakfast. Can't wait to see how it comes out. When it is done I will go for some beef bacon from a brisket flat. I book marked your post so I will just copy it for my first attempt. I appreciate your help.
 
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