Belly & Buckboard Slicing Day

[Sven Svensson]

I’ve been making belly bacon for over a decade and, thanks to many fellow members here, I changed my method to a weighed dry cure. A little over a month ago I started curing a big load of buckboard and belly bacon. Because some of the buckboard chunks were rather thick, I let the cure go for 4 weeks. And, because I could, I also let the belly bacon go a month. After smoking it all and then letting it mellow in the beer fridge, today was slicing day. I was a bit nervous about some of the big buckboard cuts but it was perfect and beautiful throughout. Thanks again for the help and coaching you all provided.


Big smoke day.


Big Buckboard Beauty


Nice cure throughout.


I’m so relieved the dry cure worked on something this thick.


I can’t wait to turn these belly beauties into the star ingredient for a BLAT.

I picked a very bad time to be on a diet. I gave a bunch to the neighbors as a thank you for putting up with my smoking.

 

[bauchjw]

Wow! Those look amazing! Great job! I can smell them from the pic

 

[Nefarious]

Totally, what ^^^^^ said, except I can taste them. This is my next project for sure.

 

[indaswamp]

Sven- when I do salumi that is the only way....dry cured. No brine. And My culatello are 7-8" diameter with a fat cap 3/4 around it. They will take 36 days for the salt to distribute enough to call it cured. It will continue as it dries.

 

[indaswamp]

Buckboard looks perfect BTW....

 

[forktender]

That looks amazing!!!
I need to try a BBB, I haven't done one of those yet.

 

[smokerjim]

looks like some good bacon, good thinking taking care of the neighbors to keep them happy.

 

[SmokinAl]

Awesome!!
That is some killer looking bacon!!
Nice of you to share with the neighbors!
Al

 

[chopsaw]

Nice work bud !

 

[JLeonard]

Screams out for some lettuce and tomato on white bread with a healthy spread of Dukes Mayo! Darn good looking bacon all the way around!
Jim

 

[DRKsmoking]

Sven, that is some perfect looking bacons
I have yet to do BBB, they look fantastic and yes a bad time to go on a diet
But the neighbours are happy for it I bet

David

 

[tx smoker]

Well Sven, you have taken this to a whole new level. That is some outstanding work right there. Very well done and congrats on such a huge success.

Robert

 

[SmokinEdge]

Nice work Sven. That all looks excellent.
You got nervous thinking it would’nt get cured, so you let it ride for a month. That was a good call, when in doubt give more time for the cure, plus it will taste better anyway with longer cure time.
Not sure exactly what salt percentage you used, but here is a Tip,
While cure 1 percentage does not change from .25%, the salt can run in a range from 1.5 to 3%. When curing larger diameter pieces up to 4” or so, use more salt to get the job done. Salt is the driver of cure. It’s the horsepower that gets the nitrite where it needs to go. The higher the salt concentration the faster the cure happens. On a copa muscle like in your picture, don’t de afraid to run the salt in the 2-2.5% range to speed things up. You may need to soak it a bit before smoking, but it will always be cured through. If using 1.5-1.75% total salt with larger diameter pieces you can successfully slip through and get a good cure, but one day you will get caught with a grey center (uncured) to avoid this on large pieces just up the salt and have no worries.

Again, nice work. I’m hungry now.

 

[Nefarious]

Wow Sven, i'm not a breakfast guy but a couple of slices of that BBB sounds really good on an onion bagel right about now.

 

[sawhorseray]

Some fine work there Sven! RAY

 

[gmc2003]

Bacon looks fantastic Sven. Excellent Job!!!

Point for sure
Chris

I can’t wait to turn these belly beauties into the star ingredient for a BLAT.

BLAT does that stand for Bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato sammie?

 

[Sven Svensson]

Nice work Sven. That all looks excellent.
You got nervous thinking it would’nt get cured, so you let it ride for a month. That was a good call, when in doubt give more time for the cure, plus it will taste better anyway with longer cure time.
Not sure exactly what salt percentage you used, but here is a Tip,
While cure 1 percentage does not change from .25%, the salt can run in a range from 1.5 to 3%. When curing larger diameter pieces up to 4” or so, use more salt to get the job done. Salt is the driver of cure. It’s the horsepower that gets the nitrite where it needs to go. The higher the salt concentration the faster the cure happens. On a copa muscle like in your picture, don’t de afraid to run the salt in the 2-2.5% range to speed things up. You may need to soak it a bit before smoking, but it will always be cured through. If using 1.5-1.75% total salt with larger diameter pieces you can successfully slip through and get a good cure, but one day you will get caught with a grey center (uncured) to avoid this on large pieces just up the salt and have no worries.

Again, nice work. I’m hungry now.

That’s all very good advice. Thanks. I did the standard cure for this but next time I get a sizable chunk I’ll remember this trick and I’ll put it into my notes.

 

[Sven Svensson]

Bacon looks fantastic Sven. Excellent Job!!!

Point for sure
Chris



BLAT does that stand for Bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato sammie?

I live in California so avocado goes on everything. My mayo of choice is called Kewpie as it has a great umami-rich flavor. It makes a big difference.