Buckboard bacon

[Tomme boy]

Anyone ever do this? I have a 7.25lb boneless pork butt soaking in the fridge since Monday. Going to leave it there till I think Mon or Tues. Then a day uncovered in the fridge before I smoke it.

I have another butt waiting to make it into a ham. I want to see how these are as I want to do a few of these for this Christmas. I was going to send one of each down to the old ladies brother.

I did the sodium nitrite and pink Hemalum rock salt. I have done a bunch of sausage in the past and these always worked perfect. I am going to make this bacon with a cracked pepper coating. Spent tonite grinding up white red and black pepper corns. My electric grinder let the ghost out of it. So I have a new hand crank one coming.

 

[hporter]

Please let us know how it goes. I watched a video on this very thing this past weekend. It peaked my curiosity.

I used to dry cure and smoke my own bacon, but the pork bellies cost more now than just buying commercial bacon. So this really interests me.

 

[MW65]

I've done this a bit... I use tenderquick or sugar cure. How thick are your chunks? That's going to determine how deep the cure gets in there. I also do a rinse and quick soak in water along with the rest in the fridge to equalize and help form that pellicle... enjoy!

 

[Tomme boy]

We just had pork butts on sale for $0.99/lb last week. I picked up 10 of them to make into different things. They come out as about 80/20. I have made all kinds of sausage with them. And you don't have to add any other fat. We use the Kitchenaid mixer with the grinder attachment to grind it. We have done links a few times but I just prefer to grind it up into different types.

And as you said this stuff is not getting any cheaper. So this is a way to beat some of the food prices. And you know exactly whats in it.

 

[hporter]

I am still using my Kitchen Aid with grinder attachment too. It works, but when I watch those with the dedicated machines on the videos, it makes me wonder whether I should upgrade.

My wife bought me a 10lb stainless steel sausage stuffer with the crank handle for my birthday a few years ago. It sure made the stuffing part a lot easier. I enjoy making sausage and smoking it too.

 

[Tomme boy]

Well i just finished smoking the butt. I let it sit for an hour then cut off a couple pieces. It is a little salty but VERY good.

I put some hot pepper oil on one of the pieces and sweet soy sauce on the other. Then completly covered both in course ground pepper. I just tried the oiled one. It is very, very good. Its actually very close to the texture of ham. I defiantly will be doing more. Next ones will be dry cured instead of wet brined.

I also injected the brine into the meat to speed up the curing. If I was going to do this way again I would let the meat soak in clean cold water longer to take out the saltiness. It is fine for me and the other half but maybe not for others. The ones I will do for the BIL I will cut back a little on the salt and soak it longer for him. He has two young boys and they are strict on what the kids eat.

Here is a quick vid.

 

[hporter]

Looks great! Thank you for sharing the results.

I watched a fellow on YT last night who cured two cuts of pork loin of identical weights. One he dry cured, and one he wet cured. At the end, the wet cured "bacon/ham" was moister, the dry cured one was firmer and retained more salt and flavorings in his opinion. It was interesting to me as I have only ever dry cured pork belly. I was always very happy with the results, so I had never tried the wet cure.

He also pulled the loins out of the smoker after the smoking period and finished them with a Sous Vide machine in a bucket of water. He said it was a full proof way of getting them to a safe temp because they can't get to an internal temp higher than what the machine keeps the water at. I don't have a Sous Vide machine, but he said they have come down in price lately. I might have to try that too.

If you have a smoker, it is easy to get superior results at home over the commercial brands of bacon in my opinion. It was just the increase in cost for the pork bellies in the last couple years that had me stop making my own bacon. But this is a great idea, as Kroger often puts Pork Butts on sale for .99 cents a pound in my area!

 

[Tomme boy]

I got beans soaking right now. Tomorrow I am going to throw in a pound or so of this to make my own baked beans.

I cut up and ate a few more pieces. There is no difference between the two. I thought for sure the sweet soy would be different. I guess if I did a glaze it would be. I called a friend that does hams all the time. He told me to take the soy and brown sugar and mop it on. Then take a small torch and melt the glaze. He says to keep doing it till you get the build up you like. Kind of like the hotdogs rolled in bacon with syrup and brown sugar poured over them. You get a candied effect.

 

[358156 hp]

Looks great! Thank you for sharing the results.

I watched a fellow on YT last night who cured two cuts of pork loin of identical weights. One he dry cured, and one he wet cured. At the end, the wet cured "bacon/ham" was moister, the dry cured one was firmer and retained more salt and flavorings in his opinion. It was interesting to me as I have only ever dry cured pork belly. I was always very happy with the results, so I had never tried the wet cure.

He also pulled the loins out of the smoker after the smoking period and finished them with a Sous Vide machine in a bucket of water. He said it was a full proof way of getting them to a safe temp because they can't get to an internal temp higher than what the machine keeps the water at. I don't have a Sous Vide machine, but he said they have come down in price lately. I might have to try that too.

If you have a smoker, it is easy to get superior results at home over the commercial brands of bacon in my opinion. It was just the increase in cost for the pork bellies in the last couple years that had me stop making my own bacon. But this is a great idea, as Kroger often puts Pork Butts on sale for .99 cents a pound in my area!

Some Instant pots have settings for Sous Vide, but don't have a pump to circulate the water. Still, it may be worth trying.

 

[Tomme boy]

You can do the same thing as the heat pumps with a tub and a thermometer. Just add warm water then add boiling water to get to the temp you want and cover. Keep a close eye on the temp. If it drops more than 5° then add more boiling water. This was how it was done before the heat pumps.

Oh, The beans are AWESOME!!!!! They took out the extra salt while simmering all day. This was some of the best pork and beans I have ever had.