My First Buckboard Bacon

[indaswamp]

Do a dry cure once, and you will do it that way from now on.

The only meat I wet brine now is pork loin for CB because I want more water in the loin as they can be dry.

 

[tx smoker]

That is about the best looking buckboard bacon I've ever seen. Made it several times but it never looked that good. Excellent job, especially considering that it's your first time making it.

Robert

 

[Smoking Allowed]

That looks really good, seems easy enough, and I need to try this, but I don't have a slicer.

 

[Sven Svensson]

The big day finally arrived. They’ve been sitting in the fridge for 3-4 days post smoke and I took them out and sliced them up. The fry test indicated that, as many of you have said, probably did not need rinsing following the dry cure and I’m certainly glad I didn’t soak them. The salt level was great and I might even increase it next round.

I did find out that the spices I put on one of them made no difference. I could smell it but could not taste it at all or smell it after cooking. I probably will not be making any fancy spice mixes moving forward. So, here’s some pictures from earlier this afternoon.


Here is the initial cut into the one that was plain old cure. It was a beautiful color throughout.


I upgraded my slicer a couple years ago and I could not be happier. I get much nicer and more consistent cuts and can even go paper-thin, now.


It just looks amazing coming off the slicer.


Lots of tasty fat but so much more meat than most belly bacon.


The fry test allayed my fears of this being too salty, something I’ve struggled with before trying to find balance using my old method of curing bacon.



I went one step further and fired-up the Yoder, setting it at 350. Above I did the neat, “I don‘t want to mess up my almost new Yoder’s heat deflector“ method. Below I did the, “The Yoder is already a mess, don’t worry about the deflector, let the bacon grease season it” method. The bacon cooked much better, faster, and was crispier when cooking it below.



The taste test was incredible. It was bacon Nirvana. Because of the higher heat in the Yoder it did not add more smoke flavor beyond the initial smoke after the cure. That’s good because I want to taste the bacon, not the smoke and was hoping for this result.

There it is. My first buckboard bacon and my first time using the “weighing the cure” method. Dry equilibrium cure, maybe? Thanks for all the coaching and encouragement. It was reassuring leaning on your collective experience. I’m now a buckboard fanatic.

 

[DougE]

Sven, that BB looks awesome !!! Nicely done.

 

[pineywoods]

That is some really outstanding looking bacon great color

 

[indaswamp]

Awesome! Hopefully you are a dry cure fanatic now too!!! Such intense flavor from a dry cure.

 

[DRKsmoking]

That's great Sven, from start to finish.
I make back bacon and like others have said , I have had it on my list to do BBB.

Thanks for the extra nudge, yours look fantastic

at least now you have enough for a couple days . Better get more into the cure right away. lol

David

 

[JLeonard]

Great looking bacon! Bring on the lettuce and 'maters!
Jim

 

[SmokinEdge]

Well, there you go! That looks fantastic. Now going forward you can make adjustments in salt and sugar % and really dial in where you want them. Once there, following those percentages you will always make the same bacon predictable and consistent. Nice work.

 

[Sven Svensson]

I have to admit it was out of laziness that I ignored this method for so long. I just kept seeing it over the years on this forum and all of you referring to it. Funny thing, it wasn’t that hard and the results were what I’ve been chasing for 10 years.

 

[DougE]

I just kept seeing it over the years on this forum and all of you referring to it. Funny thing, it wasn’t that hard and the results were what I’ve been chasing for 10 years.

It isn't hard at all, and yes, the results are spectacular.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I have to admit it was out of laziness that I ignored this method for so long. I just kept seeing it over the years on this forum and all of you referring to it. Funny thing, it wasn’t that hard and the results were what I’ve been chasing for 10 years.

A lot of times it’s experience that makes things successful, and a lot of times it’s that experience of knowing what not to do that makes the difference. Now you have been around the dial and know a thing or two. Congratulations, you have arrived in bacon curing.

 

[bill ace 350]

Wow! Been wanting to try Buck Board Bacon! Dry cure it will be!

 

[DougE]

Wow! Been wanting to try Buck Board Bacon! Dry cure it will be!

You won't be disappointed!

 

[Sven Svensson]

@DRKsmoking Do you use the dry method on Back Bacon? It seems thick for that method. Does it work by giving it more time? Or do you use something like Pop’s brine?

 

[Brokenhandle]

Nope, just a routine diverticulitis check. You know, old people stuff. Beats getting a colonoscopy!

Your bacon looks amazing! And it took on some beautiful color! Would never know it's your first try at it.
What kind of slicer did you get? It looks pretty nice to me.

So are you a member of the " ; " club...or just had diverticulitus? A few of us were gonna have t shirts made lol!

Ryan

 

[SmokinEdge]

@Sven Svensson Just to explain the science. Dry rub curing is more powerful than brining generally. This is because in a wet brine the salt percentage cannot exceed 26% at this concentration level salt will stop dissolving and just sink to the bottom. The salt content will not exceed that 26% in water.
However in a dry rub, the salt we apply is 100% salt. We apply that in a percentage to meat weight but the salt is not diluted. This works best for meat pieces up to 3” thick. Thicker pieces it’s best to go back to a liquid brine and inject into the meat. Eliminating the wait time for osmosis.

Dry cured meat cures faster than brine cured. Unless injected.

 

[DRKsmoking]

Hi Sven

I use the dry rub/cure#1 for my Back Bacon/ Canadian bacon for you guys
I use the formula that is at

Universal Cure Calculator.........

I set up a javascript Universal Cure Calculator on my website. Here's the link for anyone who wants to play around with it.... http://www.diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html The calculator can be used to calculate the amount of cure and salt required in sausage...the amounts of cure, salt and sugar...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

i was pointed here by all the good folks here. Plus I also have used @disco , on his posts . He has done lots of testing to show the comparision of the different types of bacons . very good reads and some are videos. Very helpful

Now in saying that I have used pops brine to do some ribs and they were fantastic . See my anniversary Rib Ring with loaded mashed . in my signature. The ribs were fantastic ham style ribs tied in a ring

I also have Chicken drums i just did in Pop's brine smoking them tomorrow. will let you know what I think of them.

Hope this helps

David

 

[motocrash]

Beautiful BBB Sven.