So a few weeks ago I ran across a post detailing how to make Bear's Buckboard Bacon (BBBB) and was a bit intrigued so I bookmarked the link. My first thought was that I already had 40# or so of bacon in the freezer and probably didn't need any more. Then it hit me: A person can NEVER have too much bacon on hand 
Maybe I'm a slow learner but after that realization I was off to Costco to get the pork butt. Bought a 2-pack that already had the bones removed whereas Bear had to remove the bone himself, but that's all Costco had to offer. Upon opening the pack and looking at the roasts, they had pretty well destroyed one side of each roast removing the bone but the other side was in decent shape. I cut the better side off of each piece of meat and set about getting the curing process started. I'm not going to post all of the preliminary pics because Bear has all of that well detailed in his post. It cured for a couple weeks, soaked for a bit, then all of the spices heavily applied to the meat. Back in the fridge for a couple days then smoked it last Sunday. Let sit again for two nights and sliced Tuesday morning.
Here it is right off the smoker
This stuff looked and smelled amazing so had to try a taste. Sliced off a bit and tossed it in the skillet. Here is a pic of the inside after smoking
Two days later, all sliced up
Another pic after slicing
Decided to cook some and make breakfast since it was still pretty early. A few slices in the skillet
Fried a couple eggs and made some toast. This is a breakfast fit for a Bear!!
Next evening I decided to make BBBLT's for dinner, but hit a snag so had to do some improvisation when I realized I was lacking a key component....but here we go
A skillet full of BBBB
A couple slices of bread and a slice of cheddar cheese (yes, we like cheese on our BLT's)
Pile on the BBBB
Fresh sliced tomatoes
This is where I had to improvise. We didn't have any lettuce. A travesty? Nope. I found a bunch of fresh baby spinach and used that instead of lettuce
A smear of mayo (sorry Bear, we don't care for Miracle Whip)
Money shot with some chips and a pickle. The spinach was actually VERY good!! Even the wife loved it.
I gotta say, the BBBB is fast turning into a favorite around here. It's kinda like getting the best of all worlds. You get a bit of sweet up front like Canadian Bacon, then you get a bit of salty like slab bacon, then and you get a flavor somewhat like good ham. This stuff is absolutely fantastic and has so much versatility. There are a ton of things you can do with it. I've pretty much decided that if I could only have one kind of bacon (God forbid!!) this would be it. I'm heading back to Costco shortly to get more butts and get the next batch going. Truth be told, I am giving some serious consideration to curing and dry aging this in UMAi bags...it's THAT good. Bear....I've done several things that you have posted here but this is by far one of my favorites. Thank you sir for sharing!! For the rest of y'all, if you have not done this yet, I'd think strongly about getting a batch going. You won't be disappointed.
Firing up the buggy for a trip into town,
Robert
Maybe I'm a slow learner but after that realization I was off to Costco to get the pork butt. Bought a 2-pack that already had the bones removed whereas Bear had to remove the bone himself, but that's all Costco had to offer. Upon opening the pack and looking at the roasts, they had pretty well destroyed one side of each roast removing the bone but the other side was in decent shape. I cut the better side off of each piece of meat and set about getting the curing process started. I'm not going to post all of the preliminary pics because Bear has all of that well detailed in his post. It cured for a couple weeks, soaked for a bit, then all of the spices heavily applied to the meat. Back in the fridge for a couple days then smoked it last Sunday. Let sit again for two nights and sliced Tuesday morning.Here it is right off the smoker
This stuff looked and smelled amazing so had to try a taste. Sliced off a bit and tossed it in the skillet. Here is a pic of the inside after smoking
Two days later, all sliced up
Another pic after slicing
Decided to cook some and make breakfast since it was still pretty early. A few slices in the skillet
Fried a couple eggs and made some toast. This is a breakfast fit for a Bear!!
Next evening I decided to make BBBLT's for dinner, but hit a snag so had to do some improvisation when I realized I was lacking a key component....but here we go
A skillet full of BBBB
A couple slices of bread and a slice of cheddar cheese (yes, we like cheese on our BLT's)
Pile on the BBBB
Fresh sliced tomatoes
This is where I had to improvise. We didn't have any lettuce. A travesty? Nope. I found a bunch of fresh baby spinach and used that instead of lettuce
A smear of mayo (sorry Bear, we don't care for Miracle Whip)
Money shot with some chips and a pickle. The spinach was actually VERY good!! Even the wife loved it.
I gotta say, the BBBB is fast turning into a favorite around here. It's kinda like getting the best of all worlds. You get a bit of sweet up front like Canadian Bacon, then you get a bit of salty like slab bacon, then and you get a flavor somewhat like good ham. This stuff is absolutely fantastic and has so much versatility. There are a ton of things you can do with it. I've pretty much decided that if I could only have one kind of bacon (God forbid!!) this would be it. I'm heading back to Costco shortly to get more butts and get the next batch going. Truth be told, I am giving some serious consideration to curing and dry aging this in UMAi bags...it's THAT good. Bear....I've done several things that you have posted here but this is by far one of my favorites. Thank you sir for sharing!! For the rest of y'all, if you have not done this yet, I'd think strongly about getting a batch going. You won't be disappointed.
Firing up the buggy for a trip into town,
Robert
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