First Time - Buck Bacon w/ QView of course.

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tcounts

Fire Starter
Original poster
OK, so I've done two batches of Canadian Bacon, and am beginning to understand the whole cure then smoke concept. I picked up some of those "fake rib" cuts of pork shoulder a couple of weeks ago, turned half of it into some awesome BBQ, and decided to attempt Buck Board Bacon with the rest.

So trolling through the forums for recipes, I ended up curing the meat in Morton's TQ, onion powder, garlic powder, and brown sugar then into the fridge for two weeks.

Soaked, smoked with hickory until 130F, chilled, then sliced.

I'm pretty happy with the outcome, although I think I'll skip some of the sugar next time. It's sweeter than I was expecting.

So now a question for the experts:
What is the "flavor" that screams "BACON!" Is it just more smoke? Is it the meat used: Pork belly instead of pork shoulder? This batch tastes more like a non-salty country ham, than "BACON!". I would, however, easily use this in place of an expensive Italian prosciutto.

Bacon after rinse and soak:


Bacon after smoking, I cut the meat in half to better fit my meat slicer:


Sliced:


First batch ready for the oven:
 
It sure looks great. BACON is that magical mix of pork belly, salt, sugar, and smoke. Must be the proportion of each, but I know what you mean.
 
Tcounts,
I know right where you're comin' from. I'm not a pro, but my taste buds are pro's. My own personal opinion would be to get what you call the "flavor" that screams "BACON!" , we need more smoke, for longer times, and it should help to use mostly a stronger wood, like Hickory, yet add a little Apple and/or Cherry to sweeten. Also as much as I love Buckboard Bacon & Canadian Bacon, I think the "real bacon flavor" you're looking for is best found in Belly bacon.


Naturally this has been just my opinion,
Bearcarver
 
Thanks MP and BC!

Apparently in my neck of the woods, it's not easy to find pork bellies. I have a buddy who is the meat manager at a grocery store, and he says even he can't get them. I would have to go to a specialty meat market to find them. Local stores have specials on loins and butts all the time though, so that's what I'm experimenting with.

So I think I'll play around with smoking at lower temp for longer and maybe mixing in some liquid smoke during the cure.

On the plus side my Spaghetti Carbonara this evening was AWESOME! I'm looking for more bacon recipes to use up all this batch , so I can start another!
 
Great Job, T.
I'm hooked on the stuff - all Bearcarver's fault ya know
icon_rolleyes.gif
!

Hey - curious about the last picture - is that you you cook your bacon, or do you have some sorta secret plan like bacon jerky???

Tracey
 
Now that bacon looks really good. I saw the out of the smoker Qview but then I saw this ready for the oven and you lost me there. WHY??? I thought you smoke it and then you fry it or something like that.??? But it looks awesome.
 
The bacon looks great. Nice job.

By cooking the bacon in the oven the grease drips down onto the pan underneath, makes it less greasy.
 
If you've never "fried" your bacon like that you ought to try it. Stays out of the grease and cooks up nice. BTW- that is some fine looking bacon. Just a noobie here, but I might have to try that while it's still cold outside. MMMMMM!
 
Ding Ding Ding - we have a winner!

Cooking bacon in the oven is easy, cleaner, and you can do a BIG batch at once.

375 for 20-30 mins depending on the bacon...

Or 350 in a convection oven < zoom>


Thanks for the kind words.
I've already had friends asking how they can make their own bacon, so I may be in the bacon making business soon.
 
Your Bacon Looks GREAT !
I think it might have been the amount you are cooking that confused many of us. Are you doing it all right away like this----then heating it up some way at a later time? That could be a trick I'd like to know about. Maybe you just had a bunch of buddies over for a "bacon sampling party"?
 
Ahhh, now I understand. That was just one pan full, about 1/10 of the total I made. My thought was if I'm heating up the oven, might as well fill up the whole pan. It's cut pretty thin, so there were a lot of small slices, but not really a whole lot of bacon.
 
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