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That is about the best looking buckboard bacon I've ever seen. Made it several times but it never looked that good. Excellent job, especially considering that it's your first time making it.
The big day finally arrived. They’ve been sitting in the fridge for 3-4 days post smoke and I took them out and sliced them up. The fry test indicated that, as many of you have said, probably did not need rinsing following the dry cure and I’m certainly glad I didn’t soak them. The salt level was great and I might even increase it next round.
I did find out that the spices I put on one of them made no difference. I could smell it but could not taste it at all or smell it after cooking. I probably will not be making any fancy spice mixes moving forward. So, here’s some pictures from earlier this afternoon.
Here is the initial cut into the one that was plain old cure. It was a beautiful color throughout.
I upgraded my slicer a couple years ago and I could not be happier. I get much nicer and more consistent cuts and can even go paper-thin, now.
It just looks amazing coming off the slicer.
Lots of tasty fat but so much more meat than most belly bacon.
The fry test allayed my fears of this being too salty, something I’ve struggled with before trying to find balance using my old method of curing bacon.
I went one step further and fired-up the Yoder, setting it at 350. Above I did the neat, “I don‘t want to mess up my almost new Yoder’s heat deflector“ method. Below I did the, “The Yoder is already a mess, don’t worry about the deflector, let the bacon grease season it” method. The bacon cooked much better, faster, and was crispier when cooking it below.
The taste test was incredible. It was bacon Nirvana. Because of the higher heat in the Yoder it did not add more smoke flavor beyond the initial smoke after the cure. That’s good because I want to taste the bacon, not the smoke and was hoping for this result.
There it is. My first buckboard bacon and my first time using the “weighing the cure” method. Dry equilibrium cure, maybe? Thanks for all the coaching and encouragement. It was reassuring leaning on your collective experience. I’m now a buckboard fanatic.
Well, there you go! That looks fantastic. Now going forward you can make adjustments in salt and sugar % and really dial in where you want them. Once there, following those percentages you will always make the same bacon predictable and consistent. Nice work.
I have to admit it was out of laziness that I ignored this method for so long. I just kept seeing it over the years on this forum and all of you referring to it. Funny thing, it wasn’t that hard and the results were what I’ve been chasing for 10 years.
I just kept seeing it over the years on this forum and all of you referring to it. Funny thing, it wasn’t that hard and the results were what I’ve been chasing for 10 years.
I have to admit it was out of laziness that I ignored this method for so long. I just kept seeing it over the years on this forum and all of you referring to it. Funny thing, it wasn’t that hard and the results were what I’ve been chasing for 10 years.
A lot of times it’s experience that makes things successful, and a lot of times it’s that experience of knowing what not to do that makes the difference. Now you have been around the dial and know a thing or two. Congratulations, you have arrived in bacon curing.
DRKsmoking
Do you use the dry method on Back Bacon? It seems thick for that method. Does it work by giving it more time? Or do you use something like Pop’s brine?
Your bacon looks amazing! And it took on some beautiful color! Would never know it's your first try at it.
What kind of slicer did you get? It looks pretty nice to me.
So are you a member of the " ; " club...or just had diverticulitus? A few of us were gonna have t shirts made lol!
Sven Svensson
Just to explain the science. Dry rub curing is more powerful than brining generally. This is because in a wet brine the salt percentage cannot exceed 26% at this concentration level salt will stop dissolving and just sink to the bottom. The salt content will not exceed that 26% in water.
However in a dry rub, the salt we apply is 100% salt. We apply that in a percentage to meat weight but the salt is not diluted. This works best for meat pieces up to 3” thick. Thicker pieces it’s best to go back to a liquid brine and inject into the meat. Eliminating the wait time for osmosis.
Dry cured meat cures faster than brine cured. Unless injected.
I set up a javascript Universal Cure Calculator on my website. Here's the link for anyone who wants to play around with it.... http://www.diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html The calculator can be used to calculate the amount of cure and salt required in sausage...the amounts of cure, salt and sugar...
www.smokingmeatforums.com
i was pointed here by all the good folks here. Plus I also have used disco
, on his posts . He has done lots of testing to show the comparision of the different types of bacons . very good reads and some are videos. Very helpful
Now in saying that I have used pops brine to do some ribs and they were fantastic . See my anniversary Rib Ring with loaded mashed . in my signature. The ribs were fantastic ham style ribs tied in a ring
I also have Chicken drums i just did in Pop's brine smoking them tomorrow. will let you know what I think of them.