Homemade Buckboard Bacon Pics added 10-21

[fool4fish1226]

Anyone make their own - I just started some yesterday for the first time - Any feed back or tips would be great!

 

[gillhunter]

I've never made it, but can't wait to see how your's turns out!

 

[fool4fish1226]

Here is a few picc of the bacon curing. I am planning on cold smoking it this weekend along with some turkey sausage.

The one bag contains a deboned butt and the other has two loins in it. The butt is said to be more like regular bacon and the loins more Canadian bacon.

This is my first attempt at the bacon thing I will let you all know it goes [-o< [-o< [-o<

 

[huntinfool]

Tagged.

 

[Jim]

:beer:

So cool man!

 

[gillhunter]

They're looking good!

 

[Loggerhead Mike]

We have made a few batches. Still looking for that 1 killer reciepe. I think the biggest thing is a constant temp when curing

 

[overboard]

Never heard of that, and there's lots of guys that butcher deer in our area.
Sounds like it would be good. Good luck!

 

[fool4fish1226]

Ok kinda had a smoke fest this past weekend and the bacon turned out very good :beer:

 

[gillhunter]

It all looks great =D> =D> =D> =D>

 

[Jim]

nice job man!

 

[huntinfool]

So, smoked cheese, veggies, salt?, sausage and the bacon. I just got a new smoker that I am dying to try out.

 

[jhef]

that bacon is a great idea, just bought a half a hog never thought about curing my own bacon

 

[earl60446]

Your doing it all wrong. Send it to me so I can fix it for you.
Tim

 

[Johnny]

Good Job !! I like the meat-to-fat ratio better in your bacon than what I got.
The Asian market that I shop at has slabs of rib belly as well as fat belly meat.
Salted kosher salt is an EXCELLENT garnish !! not too keen for cooking with as
the smoke flavor dissipates rather quickly but a really nice garnish on just about everything.



couple of months ago I did two slabs of pork belly for bacon.
The process I used is like Alton Brown's on the Food Network.

half and half, kosher salt and brown sugar. One tablespoon of black pepper.

packed well in vacuum bags - let sit in fridge for 5 days.... WAY TOO LONG !!!
This made the meat part TOUGH as shoe leather.
That much salt over 5 days was WAY TOO LONG !!!!
Hot smoked it for two hours, then, cold smoked it for 8 hours (hickory)....
bacon was ruined. when fried, it was a mess..... tough as an old shoe.

BUT !!!! since I use a LOT of salted pork for my seasoning, it is AWESOME !!!
LOL so it was not a total bust. Actually a bonus (if you use a lot of salt pork).

Just for some nice hickory smoked bacon, follow the directions on Alton Brown's
Food Network channel. LOL LOL that's what I plan to do next time.
But for now, I have some AWESOME salt pork for seasoning !!!

 

[fool4fish1226]

johnny - that looks bad a$$ did you rinse/soak the bacon after curing it - it really helps with the salt flavor :beer:

 

[Johnny]

oh yea, when I went to fry it, I soaked it in clear water all day, changing it out a few times.
When fried, the meat part was hard (dehydrated) and it just didn't Tickle my Elmo like store bought.
I was raised on homemade cured and smoked meats and canned goods . . . (But, I was too young to
pay attention to the process)

Then, this past December, when I made my turnip greens, tossed in a handful of the cured, smoked,
salt pork (hence ruined bacon) and it was AWESOME !!
I will get some more meat probably next week and not be so aggressive in the salt/sugar cure aging time.
LOL tone it down a little.

there are literally tons and tons of excellent recipes on the internet !! and YouTube is the most
instructive, I learn more with the visual hands on approach.
This is what I will try next: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/scrap-iron-chefs-bacon-recipe.html#!
I actually met Alton Brown several years ago and he is one funny guy. He is more of a "chemical engineer"
when it comes to foods. And, I have a background in chemistry, LOL so we can "relate".

I have an old Bradley 6-rack smoker and it is pretty accurate with the temp settings.
When cold smoking, the temp is right around 95-100 degrees. Hot is where ever you set the thermostat.

In the summertime, cold smoking is something that we battle over with the ambient temps in the high 90s.
I have not seen it myself, but I have read about people taking an old fridge and rigging up a smoke pipe
to enter the bottom and out the top of the fridge section and it is basically slow smoking refrigerated meat.
vacuum sealing and freezing is suggested if you are not going to eat all of it right away.
BACON RULES !!!

After all that talk about turnip greens and such, I got a bag out of the freezer and this is how it is normally
served up around here.
Bowl of Greens, Turnips and Rutabagas .... side dish of Fried Okra and Buttered Cornbread .....
(but, went to get my cornmeal and grrrrrr had none !! ) LOL
Some fresh homemade cornbread with real butter is what tops it off !!!
Then, a couple of splashes of homemade hot pepper sauce !!
The roots are cooked separately as they have different cook times until tender. Cooked the greens for 2 hours
with the homemade Salt Pork..... The okra is battered in Zatarain's Country Crispy fish fry meal. mmmmmmmmm.
After cooking the greens and roots, they are bagged in a quart freezer bag and frozen. Makes two meals.

 

[JMichael]

I have not seen it myself, but I have read about people taking an old fridge and rigging up a smoke pipe
to enter the bottom and out the top of the fridge section and it is basically slow smoking refrigerated meat.

I've got a friend that uses a fridge similar to this except he doesn't use a working fridge. His is just the box and wire rack shelving in it. He has a firebox attached to the side for hot smoking and he pipes in smoke from a distance for cold smoking (which he rarely uses).


Don't care for turnip greens very much, too biter to me. I do like the turnips, but I'll stick with mustard greens. Funny but I've never heard the turnips referred to as turnip roots.

 

[Johnny]

Yep, "down here" we eat the tops and bottoms of turnip geens. So we specifically say tops or roots.
My favorite is the mustard greens (tops) with the turnip root. mmmmm

okay - update on the SALT PORK that I thought was a fiasco.
Saw the stock boy putting up fresh frozen veggies at Wal-Mart and grabbed some bags
of this and that. (having the Salt Pork in mind for cooking)

Today, I took a small slab the size of my hand of frozen salt pork, sliced it in 1/4" thick slices.
Boiled that in water for an hour with a splash of Cajun Seasoning. Keep adding water as it evaporates.
Thawed a two pound bag of Field Peas, cut up a big onion and a head of garlic, tossed into the pot,
added the 2# bag of peas, boiled on medium high for 45 minutes (maybe an hour, I forget LOL).
While this is going on, whipped up some cornbread mix and made some "corn pones" in my
65 year old cast iron "pone pan". MMMmmmmm some kinda GOOD !!
(( and YES, the cornbread was HEAVILY buttered before it was consumed.))

It's gonna be a LONG two more months before the wife's garden is ready !!!
But store bought frozen is a close second.