Buckboard vs. Cottage

Always wanted to try buckboard.

Anxiously awaiting replies.

i believe is the same thing... Hi-Mountain calls their cure buckboard, buckboard is not a bacon type per se....
I call pork shoulder bacon "cottage" and belly "buckboard"... but again, it doesnt mean that's the proper definition.. (like loin bacon is "canadian")

I have used a dry cure for everything shoulder related--which i think buckboard and cottage are.

Get a metric scale so the math is easier and use:
0.25% by meat weight of cure #1 (aka pink salt)
about 2.5% by meat weight of salt (maybe 2% to 3% with most people in the upper end)
about 1.5% by meat weight of sugar (1% to 3% but most people seem to like the lower numbers)

on shoulder cuts cure in your refrigerator for a few days until the meat is disctinctly firmer than raw meat and juice is collecting in whatever you are curing it in (I have seem firmness in 4 days or 7 days for whole boneless butts, depends on meat shape)--I use ziploc bags for this as it keeps more of the meat contacting the cure. Fip twice a day or so

Rinse several times before smoking. Some people like to leave uncovered overnight in the fridge.

Using kosher salt and brown sugar produces a very old fashioned tasting country ham like buckboard bacon.

If this is too salty you could either use more sugar or soak the meat after it's cured for a couple of hours in clean water.

They are both made from the shoulder meat, I never heard the term "cottage bacon" until now and looked it up.

From Web:
"Cottage bacon is bacon made from the shoulder of a pig, resulting in lean pork meat without the characteristic fatty streaks many consumers associate with bacon. It can be used exactly like regular bacon, but tends to be a bit healthier, depending on how it is prepared. Just as with other cuts of bacon, the flavor of cottage bacon can vary widely, depending on the cure."

As far as curing, I've done both dry and wet cures.

The wet cure has more flavor and has to release the added water before it can change color. The dry cure cooks more quickly.

I prefer the wet cure simply because buckboard bacon does not crisp up because it has very little fat. It is more similar to ham than bacon. Think of it as a nice moist slice of fried ham at breakfast and it is great.

FYI Costco and Sam's sells boneless pork butt and are ready for a cure. After curing you can tie them up or use netting to hold them together before you hang for smoking.

======================

WET CURES.....

The current USDA Minimum is 125 ppm and the Maximum is 200ppm Nitrite for Brined/Pickled Meats.

85 Grams of Cure#1 per gallon of water yields and 140ppm nitrite and 113.4 yields 188 ppm nitrite, both are safe. Again I go close to the middle to allow for any loss due to variances/tolerances.

So my basic wet cure is as follows for each gallon.
1 Gallon of Water
90 Grams Cure #1
400 Grams Kosher Salt
150 Grams Sugar

Once the above items are mixed, you can add your spices/flavoring to the brine. Dissolve these ingredients in very hot water to make sure they are fully dissolved, then let cool to below 40 degrees before adding the meat.

Again salt and sugar will vary slightly according to the type of meat being cured. Salt can vary between 200 grams and 600 grams according your taste. Sugar can vary from 50 grams to 350 grams depending upon your taste.

The main concept one must grasp is that formulations for dry and wet cures drastically differ from each other.

I always considered Cottage and buckboard as the same.

This may help...Thirdeye's buckboard bacon post in his blog. He still regularly posts around here.
http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/2002/10/buckboard-bacon.html

If you want to wet brine/cure, you could try this, but I treated it like a ham. And I would inject if you are keeping the shoulder whole. http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2269015&postcount=1

I consider buckboard bacon to be from the boneless portion of a pork butt. I just did another one this past weekend and it was the 1st one I wet cured. I didn't use the Tender Quick this time, just table salt, sugar, molasses & pepper.
I like the way it turned out.

here's mine - I used Len Poli's recipe
modified a bit used 50/50 mix of Molassus and Sweet soy sauce..

in the cure for 2 weeks


netted - ready to go in the smoker.


here it goes..



cooling off after smoking



and slicing up... mmmmm!:grin:

Huh? What? said:

Here's my brine recipe


Chili Verde Cottage bacon


Cure ingredients

1 gallon water
1 cup kosher salt
1 cup brown sugar
¼ cup minced garlic
¼ cup chili powder (not ground chili)
2 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp Mexican oregano
4 large, roasted, peeled and seeded Hatch chilies
3 oz. cure #1

Boil all ingredients except cure #1 for ten minutes. I have read several places that you should not add your cure powder to hot brine. Don’t know if it’s true, but why take chances?

Cool brine down and add cure #1. Add to pork and cure for 10-21 days, then smoke with mesquite at 130 degrees for up to ten hours. Refrigerate overnight before packing for use/storage.

Click to expand...

Oh hell doc, that sounds awesome Can't wait to see how it turns out.

If IAmMadMan prefers wet cures for buckboard bacon, I'm trying one!

I've been a dry cure guy up till now but going to try a wet cure for this fall's batch of boneless whole shouder.

Most of my sucessful bacon, loin bacon, and shoulder bacon attempts have been from responces he gave me or looking for old posts of his.

GARNAAL said:

here's mine - I used Len Poli's recipe
modified a bit used 50/50 mix of Molassus and Sweet soy sauce..

in the cure for 2 weeks

netted - ready to go in the smoker.

here it goes..

cooling off after smoking

and slicing up... mmmmm!:grin:

Click to expand...

That is some of the prettiest looking buckboard bacon I ever laid eyes on. :clap: