Buckboard Bacon Cure

[halfcocked]

Finally got around to order some and have two butt rounds curing in the fridge. I don't see instructions for belly bacon though, either in their material or on Thirdeye's site. Is the method/recipe for use of the rub the same as for the butt?

 

[stickman]

I dry-brine belly bacon using 2% by weight of salt, 2% by weight of brown sugar + a couple of glugs of maple syrup, 0.25% by weight of Prague Powder #1 (actually for years I didn't even bother with Prague powder but I am getting more cautious in my old age). Pop the belly in a large ziploc (half a Costco belly - about 5 lbs - goes in a 2 gallon bag) and rub the mixture all over the meat. Squeeze all the air out and seal, then in the fridge and turn every day for a good week. Then rinse off the rub, pat dry and in the smoker low+slow. I usually pull at 153. Comes out pretty good.

For butts I have been doing a wet brine, so not the same as for belly. Thirdeye probably has views on this that are worth listening to.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Finally got around to order some and have two butt rounds curing in the fridge. I don't see instructions for belly bacon though, either in their material or on Thirdeye's site. Is the method/recipe for use of the rub the same as for the butt?

Are those whole butts, or just the fat side sliced off with about 2” of meat?

 

[Itsdone]

I use Phosphates, Cure#1, Ethyrobate, and bacon booster for doing buckboard.

 

[halfcocked]

Are those whole butts, or just the fat side sliced off with about 2” of meat?

Costco here only has deboned butts so I trimmed off the "wings" left for cutting the bone out and used only the center chunk for the buckboard bacon. It is about 3-4 inches in thickness.

 

[halfcocked]

I dry-brine belly bacon using 2% by weight of salt, 2% by weight of brown sugar + a couple of glugs of maple syrup, 0.25% by weight of Prague Powder #1 (actually for years I didn't even bother with Prague powder but I am getting more cautious in my old age). Pop the belly in a large ziploc (half a Costco belly - about 5 lbs - goes in a 2 gallon bag) and rub the mixture all over the meat. Squeeze all the air out and seal, then in the fridge and turn every day for a good week. Then rinse off the rub, pat dry and in the smoker low+slow. I usually pull at 153. Comes out pretty good.

For butts I have been doing a wet brine, so not the same as for belly. Thirdeye probably has views on this that are worth listening to.

I've been doing my bacon much the same for years now but this is the first time I intend to use the Buckboard so I'm wondering if I need to add anything else to the rub for the pork belly.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Finally got around to order some and have two butt rounds curing in the fridge. I don't see instructions for belly bacon though, either in their material or on Thirdeye's site. Is the method/recipe for use of the rub the same as for the butt?

Not sure if you ordered the cure or the butts,
Keep the thickness at or less than about 3” thick and it’s all the same for cure in a dry rub. My recipe is simple, to meat weight.

1.5% salt
.25% cure #1
.75% sugar
Then I eyeball Granulated garlic and white pepper.
Mostly I cure on a cooling rack, in the fridge, meat naked for 12-14 days. No bag. This makes a dryer product and concentrates the flavors a bit.

 

[halfcocked]

Tried the Hi Mountain cure on the bacon and butt. Taste is good on both, but for the first time user I strongly recommend long soke outs. I am not salt sensitive and soaked the bacon for three hours and the butt for about six changing water every half hour before smoking. Set them in fridge overnight before smoking. Still very salty and much more smoke infused than usual (though I don't know if that has anything to do with the rub). I also injected with thirdeye's suggested light brine which does make it moister than before.

 

[Big George's BBQ]

Looks good. I use Thirdeye's light brine and I cut the salt in 1/2. Doing that decreased the salkty taste in my chicken and pork chops