Red Meat Nation: Making Buckboard Bacon

What's your idea of bacon? That flat ultra fatty thin sliced slivers of meat they pass off in the stores as BACON???? Well, how about some Buckboard Bacon. Made from pork shoulder, this bacon is far better than any store bought stuff. And the plus side. YOU KNOW just what ingredients are going in it.

Let's get started.

First off, you need a good quality pork butt. You can get these at Sams club, Wal-Mart or better yet, your local butcher.

We are starting with a 7# 2oz UNTRIMMED butt.

On these pork butts, there is going to be a gland. You will want to remove this before further processing.

Once the gland is removed, the next step is to remove the bone. This is pretty easy to do, just take your time and make small cuts till it's removed.

Since we are making bacon, which is a "cured" meat, we are going to have to use some sort of cure right? One of the easiest cures to use is Morton's Tender Quick. This can be found at many stores in the spices section. If not, it can be ordered online. When using cures, it is very important that one does not deviate from the proper amounts needed per pound.

We are going to make a brine and inject that into the meat under the fat cap only as spices and cure will not penetrate the fat cap. If you choose to remove the fat cap, than you may skip the brine injection step. Use a nice large pyrex casserole dish for this so you don't get juices everywhere.

Brine for this is 1/2 C water, 2 Tbl TQ, 1/2 Tbl Paprika and 1 Tbl Molasses. Inject just under the cap evenly and spaced out.

That big piece of pork is gonna need some support, so fetch your bakers string and truss is up nice and snug. Remove from the casserole dish and set on a cutting board and tie loose ends and such from floppin around. This also makes the end product nice and tight when it comes time to slice.

Now lets give this some color. How about a sprinkle of Paprika? If you have a strainer like the one shown, it works great. Just put your paprika in it and gently tap the sides as you hover it over the meat. It will give the meat a nice even coating. You can also just do it by hand and get equal results.

Now for the cure. Used the same method of applying the Tender Quick as I did for the Paprika.
It is important that the entire surface is completely AND evenly coated. Top and sides. Do not worry about the fat cap as you injected that area. If you DID decide to remove the fat cap, then the bottom must be coated with tender quick as well. Remember, 1 Tablespoon per pound of meat.

After we have done all this, it's time to set the meat in the fridge where it will cure. You can use the big zip loc bags or food saver bags. Which ever is easiest for you. A tip on food saver bags, roll the bag down before you try to stuff that big chunk of meat in there. It's allot easier.

Take any juices that remained in the casserole dish along with any TQ and spices that came loose on the cutting board and add that to the inside of the bag along with 2 Tbl of Molasses and 1 1/2 Tbl of Paprika. It will make sort of a thick slurry. Once inside, simply roll the bag up and seal. Do not seal tight, leave a small amount of air in there, so liquids can move around freely.

Curing time is based on the thickness of meat. For every 1/4" of meat measured from the center out at the thickest point, it will need to cure for 1 day. Meaning. If the pork butt is laying flat on your counter, and it measures 4 inches at the thickest point, it is 2 inches from the center, which means that the meat will have to cure for a total of 8 days. 4" thick, half of that is 2", 4 quarters in a inch, times that by 2. Simple.... Does that mean that on day number 8 you have to be ready to smoke? No. Things come up, plans change. Letting it sit for a few extra days is not going to do any harm. However, you don't want to start the smoking process early. YOU MUST let the cure do its job. So, for added comfort, add an extra day or two to the cure, just to make sure. Also, make sure to flip the bad twice daily so liquids can distribute around evenly and don't just pool at the bottom of the bag.

Ok, its almost smoke time. But first, we have to give it a test fry to see how it is. Slice a small slice from the end and fry it up. How does it taste? If too salty, set the whole piece in your sink with some cold water for about 20 minutes. Remove and repeat the above until it is to your liking. Some people find the Mortons Tender Quick a bit salty for their liking, some don't.
This one here just needed a good rinsing under water.

Next step is to fire up your smoker. Don't have a smoker? A Weber kettle can be used as well. Smoked under indirect heat. Look for simple smoker plans here later as I post them.

Some people will smoke their bacon till its done, but I think that dries it out too much. I prefer to smoke it to an internal temperature of 140-145. Your gonna fry it up anyhow and I'd rather have any tasty juices stay in the pan then render out in the smoker.

This is fresh out of the smoker.