Smoked Some More Buckboard Bacon Today

[BLACKJACK]

Did my first buckboard bacon over the weekend, it turned out pretty good!!! Tasted very similar to ham/canadian bacon, color was good, forgot the pepper rub though so it didn't look quite as nice as thirdeyes. Started with a pork loin a week ago, soaked it in the rinse for about three hours, let it sit over night after the rinse, then smoked it on Sat. Has a couple of sandwiches for supper - very similar to ham.

One thing I'd do differently is maybe give it longer on the cold water rinse, might be a hair salty.

Also kind of time consuming by the time you smoke, slice, vacumn pack, next one will be done in the winter when I have more time. Kept some out, will be trying it in BLT's, lets see how the wife likes it!!!

[reinhard1]

Good Job!!! i think somewhere in the Buckboard thread Thirdeye did mention a longer time in the cold water if its too salty for one's taste. i may keep it another hour next time [four hours total]. doing Thirdeye's cure today on one and the highmountain on the other piece. good luck.

[BLACKJACK]

i think somewhere in the Buckboard thread Thirdeye did mention a longer time in the cold water if its too salty for one's taste.

Yep, thats why I was closely monitoring the water soak time. I copy/pasted thirdeye's instructions into Word and printed it out, will be making some notes tonight before I pack it away.

[reinhard1]

ended up curing both 5 pound pieces of boneless pork loin with Thirdeye's cure recipe. instead of maple sugar [just could not find any] i used sugar in the raw or natural cane turbinado sugar. so they will be hitting the smoker next Tuesday. good luck.

[thirdeye]

Right, use longer soak times to lessen the saltiness. You don't want to try and shorten the cure time, or use less cure than is calculated. 4 or 5 hours is my minimum soak-out, and sometimes I go 8 hours.

I usually change the water in the first hour, then at least one more time. I'm soaking in about a gallon of water in a 2 gallon food safe plastic bucket in my beer fridge.

[LABS4ME]

ahhh.... an essential cooking utensil needed for this recipe....

"THE BEER FRIDGE"!

Good Luck!

Ken

[OnAFly]

The beer fridge is essential to many facets of life

[stoneeyes317]

I couldn't agree with you more. I tried to convince my wife of this fact for years until we took a vacation to a small resort that had a "chiller" tray between the upper freezer and the refrigerator. We both liked it so much that we found a modern fridge with the same concept Beer kept at 33 degrees is hard to beat

eyes317

[reinhard1]

Just took my two 5 pound pieces of canadian bacon [boneless pork loin] out of my smoker and it turned out awesome. i used Third Eye's recipe and i like that better than the High Mountain cure. the High Mountain cure is good, dont get me wrong, but this blend of a cure [Thirdeye's} is one i favor more. dont have a pic right now because my camera is in the truck which my wife is using [she works, i dont]. i forgot to get cherry chips so i used some of the dry oak pieces i have here at the house. thanks again Thirdeye!!!! i just had to take a good slice for the taste test. just great.good luck.

[Leaky]

Boy oh boy RH. I really need to try this.

[reinhard1]

i'm going to do this with a pork butt next. but if you looked at the last picture i posted of the results[from the last batch of high mountain] they are pretty much the same in appearance but way better taste. little more smoke on these. the taste of the pork is so good it's amazing. the butt will have more fat content but i will do accordingly by weight. in the old days when you brined a butt and passed it off as a ham it was called a "cottage ham". that was wet cured but this will be dry cured although liquid will be there and you have to turn it over every day so the brine will be absorbed well.

cant say enough about Thirdeye's cure for this. i will be doing all of the boneless loins and but's in this manner. good luck.

[thirdeye]

Just took my two 5 pound pieces of canadian bacon [boneless pork loin] out of my smoker and it turned out awesome. i used Third Eye's recipe and i like that better than the High Mountain cure. the High Mountain cure is good, dont get me wrong, but this blend of a cure [Thirdeye's} is one i favor more. dont have a pic right now because my camera is in the truck which my wife is using [she works, i dont]. i forgot to get cherry chips so i used some of the dry oak pieces i have here at the house. thanks again Thirdeye!!!! i just had to take a good slice for the taste test. just great.good luck.

Thanks for the kind words. I seem to go back and forth when trying to pick my favorite between the HM and the TQ cures. I think a lot has to do with the pork itself, and of course which end of the loin I'm working with. I've gotten really nice color with the TQ cure, but the nitrate amount is a hair more. (0.8% to 1.0%)

The HM is pre-mixed. Even though you have to mix it, the TQ based cure is easier for some folks because they can buy TQ at the store.... and not pay shipping charges.

[reinhard1]

this is more sugar based. i also brushed it with apple juice and brandy during the proccess. i followed your instructions to a T and other than the apple/juice/brandy brushing this to me is the way to go. i let it soak for 4 hours this time but i think three would maby by ok but i will go with 4 since it turned out great. the resting period after the soak i let go for 12 hours. not because i wanted it too but because i had to do things after i got up in the morning. it was in the fridge overnight after the soak and i planned to smoke them early but i could not till later in the day. worked out just fine. still cant get over the flavor. good luck.

[reinhard1]

thanks to my wonderfull wife, she took this pic and this is the results of the canadian bacon from Thirdeye's recipe. thanks again Thirdeye. good luck.

[thirdeye]

Cook and photographer.... you make a good pair.

[reinhard1]

Final product. sealed and ready for future meals. good luck.

[Leaky]

Nice!