Although I’ve been making belly bacon for years, this is my first time making buckboard bacon with a ton of help from you folks. I followed this formula for the dry brine. Converting all weights to grams made it super easy.
0.25% cure#1
0.75% sugar
1.5% salt
I bought a bone-in shoulder two pack. The fatty top I used for the buckboard and the bottom I turned in to capicola which is still curing and should be ready for the Umai Dry bags mid-week. I left one buckboard with the plain cure and I added a Capicola seasoning to the other because I had plenty from the other project. I vacuum sealed it and turned it over every day. Upon your collective advice I let it cure for two weeks. I opened it and gave it a quick rinse and it’s been drying in the garage fridge under the gentle breeze of my cheap computer fan for two days. This afternoon I put it in my Yoder YS640s at 150 for 2 hours then bumped it up to 170 until I hit an IT of 140. I used a 50/50 combo of Lumberjack cherry and Knottywood plum. The color turned out incredible. I wrapped them both in butcher paper and they are now going to mellow and age in the fridge for a few days.
Vacuum sealed and ready for a two week cure.
Out of the cure, rinsed, and drying under the computer fan. Daily change of paper towels and flip.
Into the smoker.
A couple hours into the smoke and an IT of about 120.
Out of the smoker at an IT of 140. These pictures are straight off my iPhone, no enhancement. These are actually how they looked. It was the drying process and the cherry/plum pellets that gave it this color. The cure helped, too.
I’ll be sure to post pictures of slicing and baking these beauties. I’m hoping the salt levels are right. If it’s too salty I’ll cube it and use it for soups like you’d use salt pork. Then I’ll start again by lowering my salt level by .5% until I find what works for us. I’m also curious to see if the spices traveled into the buckboard enough to be noticeable.
Stay tuned. More pictures to follow.
0.25% cure#1
0.75% sugar
1.5% salt
I bought a bone-in shoulder two pack. The fatty top I used for the buckboard and the bottom I turned in to capicola which is still curing and should be ready for the Umai Dry bags mid-week. I left one buckboard with the plain cure and I added a Capicola seasoning to the other because I had plenty from the other project. I vacuum sealed it and turned it over every day. Upon your collective advice I let it cure for two weeks. I opened it and gave it a quick rinse and it’s been drying in the garage fridge under the gentle breeze of my cheap computer fan for two days. This afternoon I put it in my Yoder YS640s at 150 for 2 hours then bumped it up to 170 until I hit an IT of 140. I used a 50/50 combo of Lumberjack cherry and Knottywood plum. The color turned out incredible. I wrapped them both in butcher paper and they are now going to mellow and age in the fridge for a few days.
Vacuum sealed and ready for a two week cure.
Out of the cure, rinsed, and drying under the computer fan. Daily change of paper towels and flip.
Into the smoker.
A couple hours into the smoke and an IT of about 120.
Out of the smoker at an IT of 140. These pictures are straight off my iPhone, no enhancement. These are actually how they looked. It was the drying process and the cherry/plum pellets that gave it this color. The cure helped, too.
I’ll be sure to post pictures of slicing and baking these beauties. I’m hoping the salt levels are right. If it’s too salty I’ll cube it and use it for soups like you’d use salt pork. Then I’ll start again by lowering my salt level by .5% until I find what works for us. I’m also curious to see if the spices traveled into the buckboard enough to be noticeable.
Stay tuned. More pictures to follow.
