Need help with Buckboard Bacon and Ham

[hoagiehut]

Team -

I could use some help. This Friday I plan on making some buckboard bacon and a ham from two pork butts I picked up from the last Kroger sale. I will cut off the coppa roast from each. I would like to use PS Seasoning Maple Cure for the BB and Maple Cure with Walton's California Ham Spice for the ham (I already have these seasonsings and cure). I would like to do a dry brine, but I am open minded to a wet brine as well. My problem is the use case scenarios described on their websites do not appear to lend themselves to my application. Can someone help me with the amount of cure/seasoning needed? Or, should I just follow one of the proven recipes described here? (which there appears to be quite a few). If the advice is to follow the lead from one of the proven recipes here, please give me a suggestion or two. I am looking for a sweeter flavor profile. Thanks in advance for any advice. (side note: I have made basic bacon in past using salt, sugar and #1 pink cure. Following the advice as described here and digging-dog with good results... I am just looking for something a little different and sweeter.)

-Robert

 

[smokerjim]

Not much help with dry brine I usually use pops wet brine it comes out with a sweet salty flavor. I'm sure someone will be around to help you with your dry brine question.

 

[hoagiehut]

well buried in the search engine I found this thread:

Canadian bacon

Got a pork lion brining. I left little Bit of fat as I like it …. Followed @SmokinEdge method 10% water 1.5% salt .75% sugar .25% cure 1 …. I added SE .05% and California ham spice at .2% …. Got everything injected as evenly as I could 10% water wasn’t as much as I thought it would be for...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

Followed SmokinEdge method 10% water 1.5% salt .75% sugar .25% cure 1 …. I added SE .05% and California ham spice at .2% …. Got everything injected as evenly as I could 10% water wasn’t as much as I thought it would be for this 7lb loin….. I covered it and in the fridge for 2 weeks ill smoke it to
Fully cooked and cut it up for deli meat.. be back in 2 weeks

I'm getting closer. This guy SmokinEdge is pretty cool... I think it is safe to say "he smokes meats and knows things". Like many of the OTBS members here do.

 

[JLeonard]

Yeah that SmokinEdge guy knows a thing or two! He is one of the fonts of knowledge on here.

Jim

 

[SmokinEdge]

Team -

I could use some help. This Friday I plan on making some buckboard bacon and a ham from two pork butts I picked up from the last Kroger sale. I will cut off the coppa roast from each. I would like to use PS Seasoning Maple Cure for the BB and Maple Cure with Walton's California Ham Spice for the ham (I already have these seasonsings and cure). I would like to do a dry brine, but I am open minded to a wet brine as well. My problem is the use case scenarios described on their websites do not appear to lend themselves to my application. Can someone help me with the amount of cure/seasoning needed? Or, should I just follow one of the proven recipes described here? (which there appears to be quite a few). If the advice is to follow the lead from one of the proven recipes here, please give me a suggestion or two. I am looking for a sweeter flavor profile. Thanks in advance for any advice. (side note: I have made basic bacon in past using salt, sugar and #1 pink cure. Following the advice as described here and digging-dog with good results... I am just looking for something a little different and sweeter.)

-Robert

Here is a link to a different spice profile. Also you could follow the injection method and up the sugar to make a sweet cure, then finish in my holiday spice mixture.


https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/holiday-loins.318833/

 

[hoagiehut]

Here is a link to a different spice profile. Also you could follow the injection method and up the sugar to make a sweet cure, then finish in my holiday spice mixture.


https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/holiday-loins.318833/

Thank you SmokinEdge ! Exactly the advice I was hoping for. In terms of the injection method to make a sweet cure, what do you recommend for a sugar percentage? What about the type of sugar? Any suggestions for achieving a maple flavor or do I need to use maple sugar?

Thanks again
-Robert

 

[SmokinEdge]

Thank you SmokinEdge ! Exactly the advice I was hoping for. In terms of the injection method to make a sweet cure, what do you recommend for a sugar percentage? What about the type of sugar? Any suggestions for achieving a maple flavor or do I need to use maple sugar?

Thanks again
-Robert

Typically I run sugar at half the salt percentage, this gives balance, but if you want a sweeter product then run salt and sugar at the same percentage. I use white sugar because it has less impurities but all of the sugars will work. Maple sugar is fine but it won’t impart much if any maple flavor. Maple flavor is tricky to get right and you have to use extracts to make any meaningful flavor prole.

When running higher sugar percentage be careful if frying the ham later it will want to burn much easier.

 

[hoagiehut]

I made the buckboard bacon and ham using the 10% injection method described above, but I suspect I did something wrong. I carefully injected the meat with water, salt, cure and sugar. 1Kg of butt, 100mL of water, 15gr. salt, 7.5gr sugar and 2.5 gr cure. Injection went as expect, a little messy, but most of the liquid was in the meat. Whatever spilled out I put in the bag with the meat. The next day it would appear that most of the brine has leaked out. I was not expecting this. It is still in the refrigerator "curing" for ~14 days but since it leaked out does this mean my cure level is wrong? Was I suppose to use a pink salt level of .25% based on the weight of the meat and water? hmm. It seem most wet brine instructions describe the cure amount based on water+meat, but that was if you did not inject. Any thoughts about this?

Thank you.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I made the buckboard bacon and ham using the 10% injection method described above, but I suspect I did something wrong. I carefully injected the meat with water, salt, cure and sugar. 1Kg of butt, 100mL of water, 15gr. salt, 7.5gr sugar and 2.5 gr cure. Injection went as expect, a little messy, but most of the liquid was in the meat. Whatever spilled out I put in the bag with the meat. The next day it would appear that most of the brine has leaked out. I was not expecting this. It is still in the refrigerator "curing" for ~14 days but since it leaked out does this mean my cure level is wrong? Was I suppose to use a pink salt level of .25% based on the weight of the meat and water? hmm. It seem most wet brine instructions describe the cure amount based on water+meat, but that was if you did not inject. Any thoughts about this?

Thank you.

Relax, you are fine. Just let it ride in the bag. About day 10 the liquid in the bag will start to disappear. It’s osmosis.

 

[slavikborisov]

well buried in the search engine I found this thread:

Canadian bacon

Got a pork lion brining. I left little Bit of fat as I like it …. Followed @SmokinEdge method 10% water 1.5% salt .75% sugar .25% cure 1 …. I added SE .05% and California ham spice at .2% …. Got everything injected as evenly as I could 10% water wasn’t as much as I thought it would be for...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

I'm getting closer. This guy SmokinEdge is pretty cool... I think it is safe to say "he smokes meats and knows things". Like many of the OTBS members here do.

cant go wrong with this method

 

[hoagiehut]

Well team (and advisors) about a month has past since I started this post and I am back at it again. Inspired by SmokinEdge and I I-am-Chorizo I started to cure up a potpourri of bacon today.

Pork Belly (1kg) and Wagyu Beef Bellly (1.5kg)
1.5% Salt
.75% White Sugar
.25% Cure
0.05% Sodium Erythorbate
White pepper and garlic

Note: It seems that Sodium Erythorbate has some magical power in bacon.. I think it helps the color. In this situation I am not using it as a cure accelerator. But I would love to hear some comments as to what it's magical powers are in this application.

Buckboard Bacon/Ham (3kg) (see link above)
1.5% Salt
.75% brown Sugar
.25% Cure
0.05% Sodium Erythorbate
0.4% California Ham Spice
Note 1: I tried 0.2% of California Ham Spice last time and felt it imparted almost no flavor.
Note 2: I would like to use meat/butchers netting on the coppa roasts. Does anyone have a recommended size and best value supplier?

***wild card***
Holiday (black forest style) Pork Tenderloin (1.5kg) (see link above)

Cure:
1.75% Salt
.25% Cure

Spice mixture:
200g cane or white sugar
40g white pepper
10g nutmeg
10g mace
10g cardamom

Note: I really wanted to make this out of Pork Loin but I had 3 packs of tenderloins in the freezer due to a previous Kroger sale and there was no deals on loins near me. Plus this make room for what ever sale comes up this week. We'll see how these come out.

More to come in ~14 days.

Here some photos to past the time....

 

[SmokinEdge]

Note: It seems that Sodium Erythorbate has some magical power in bacon.. I think it helps the color. In this situation I am not using it as a cure accelerator. But I would love to hear some comments as to what it's magical powers are in this application.

Most of us who use NaE (erythorbate) use it for its preservation capabilities. It fixes the cure color but also slows or stops rancidity when freezer stored. Yes it does accelerate the cure process but has deeper qualities to be used.

 

[I-am-Chorizo]

Well team (and advisors) about a month has past since I started this post and I am back at it again. Inspired by SmokinEdge and I I-am-Chorizo I started to cure up a potpourri of bacon today.

Pork Belly (1kg) and Wagyu Beef Bellly (1.5kg)
1.5% Salt
.75% White Sugar
.25% Cure
0.05% Sodium Erythorbate
White pepper and garlic

Note: It seems that Sodium Erythorbate has some magical power in bacon.. I think it helps the color. In this situation I am not using it as a cure accelerator. But I would love to hear some comments as to what it's magical powers are in this application.

Buckboard Bacon/Ham (3kg) (see link above)
1.5% Salt
.75% brown Sugar
.25% Cure
0.05% Sodium Erythorbate
0.4% California Ham Spice
Note 1: I tried 0.2% of California Ham Spice last time and felt it imparted almost no flavor.
Note 2: I would like to use meat/butchers netting on the coppa roasts. Does anyone have a recommended size and best value supplier?

***wild card***
Holiday (black forest style) Pork Tenderloin (1.5kg) (see link above)

Cure:
1.75% Salt
.25% Cure

Spice mixture:
200g cane or white sugar
40g white pepper
10g nutmeg
10g mace
10g cardamom

Note: I really wanted to make this out of Pork Loin but I had 3 packs of tenderloins in the freezer due to a previous Kroger sale and there was no deals on loins near me. Plus this make room for what ever sale comes up this week. We'll see how these come out.

More to come in ~14 days.

Here some photos to past the time....
View attachment 700587View attachment 700588View attachment 700589View attachment 700590View attachment 700591View attachment 700592View attachment 700593View attachment 700594

OMG!...I am in for the feast! Can't wait to see the outcome!

 

[hoagiehut]

Team -
I picked up some pork loin last night. I would like to smoke it next Saturday (7/27)(along with the other bacon I am making). Do I have enough time (~7 days) to cure it if I use the 10% injection method? Should I bump up the salt level from 1.5% to speed the cure time. Maybe 1.7-2%?

Thanks
Robert

 

[SmokinEdge]

Team -
I picked up some pork loin last night. I would like to smoke it next Saturday (7/27)(along with the other bacon I am making). Do I have enough time (~7 days) to cure it if I use the 10% injection method? Should I bump up the salt level from 1.5% to speed the cure time. Maybe 1.7-2%?

Thanks
Robert

With injection you will be fine at 7 days. I think the flavor gets better once you hit 10 days to 14, but the cure is fine at 7 days.

 

[hoagiehut]

With injection you will be fine at 7 days. I think the flavor gets better once you hit 10 days to 14, but the cure is fine at 7 days.

Awesome. Thank you.

 

[hoagiehut]

Well Team, experienced quite a bit of life in the past few weeks. But I am back at it. My bacon is ready and today is Bacon Smoking Day. The Yoder is loaded. Here are a few photos to past the time. I'll check back in at the end of the day.. if not then, tomorrow with the sliced product. It's pretty exciting as this is my largest batch ever. I am really looking forward to the holiday loins! And the buckboard, well just all of it.

 

[mr_whipple]

That looks like a party about to happen!

 

[hoagiehut]

Well... the meat has been smoked, cooled in the refrigerator overnight and sliced. Still need to vacuum pack, but for now it is chillin' in the refrigerator.

Things to consider next time...

1. Even though you may have two refrigerators do not expect enough room to prep to air dry the meat overnight.
2. Even though the smoker can handle mass amounts of meat, the cook time will be much longer.
3. It takes longer than you suspect to slice up mass amounts of meat.
4. Even though you made room in the refrigerator the day before do not expect it to be there the next day, especially if you went shopping for a family of 6.

One positive with smoking up mass amounts of meat, is that you can cook up lot's of samples and still have plenty left over.

As promised here are some photos...

 

[SmokinEdge]

Looks delicious