# Poor Man's Bacon.......



## diggingdogfarm (Jun 23, 2011)

My answer to buckboard bacon.

Tired of paying ridiculous prices for store bought bacon?
Can't easily find pork bellies to make your own?

Here's an inexpensive and incredibly easy way to make 'bacon' from affordable pork butts.

I cut out the well marbled top end of the pork butt and reserve the fat cap.

My cure recipe is inspired by Morton's Tenderquick (but with nitrite only)  so that the cure is super easy to use......for dry curing....use one tablespoon per pound of meat....for curing ground meats such as sausage....use 1/2 tablespoon per pound of meat...it provides the cure and the salt for the recipe.....no additional salt is needed.

The Cure.

17.5 oz salt

5.0 oz sugar

2 oz cure #1

The cure #1 is available from http://www.butcher-packer.com/

For Poor Man's Bacon I use 1 tablespoon of the cure and one teaspoon of molasses per pound of meat.
Measure the thickest part of the meat....rub on the cure and molasses and place in a ziplock bag. Cure for 60 hours per inch, turning the bag a few times a day.

When curing is complete, I wrap the fat cap around the piece of butt and tie with butcher's twine.

Place bacon in the smoker and heat smoker to 150 degrees for 45 minutes without smoke. Increase temperature to 200 degrees and start smoke. Smoke until internal temperature of meat reaches 140 degrees. Turn off heat and leave bacon in smoker for 1 hour to cool down.

*Slice thin!!!!*

It's excellent, and cheap!








~Dig


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## meateater (Jun 23, 2011)

........................


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## cowgirl (Jun 23, 2011)

DiggingDogFarm said:


> My answer to buckboard bacon.
> 
> Tired of paying ridiculous prices for store bought bacon?
> Can't easily find pork bellies to make your own?
> ...


Dig it looks tasty. I'm a fan of tenderquick...it's just easy to obtain here.  Check out the bacon section if you get the chance...and the cold smoking section. Lots of bacon makers here.

Stop by Roll Call if you get a minute too.  Welcome to the forum!!


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## adiochiro3 (Jun 23, 2011)

Thanks for the tutorial.  Welcome to the SMF.

Please head over to the Roll Call section and introduce yourself so we can all give you a proper welcome!


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## diggingdogfarm (Jun 23, 2011)

meateater said:


>




Thanks for the welcome!

~Dig


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## diggingdogfarm (Jun 23, 2011)

cowgirl said:


> Dig it looks tasty. I'm a fan of tenderquick...it's just easy to obtain here.


Yeah, I'm also a fan and It's easy to obtain here too...BUT costs a lot more than my cure.

They just upped the price to $4.99, up from $4.19.

I can make mine for about $1.75

~Dig


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## venture (Jun 24, 2011)

Driving me to my calculator.

Good luck and good smoking.


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## tjohnson (Jun 24, 2011)

Looks Good!

Does it stay together after it's sliced?

Todd


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## diggingdogfarm (Jun 24, 2011)

TJohnson said:


> Looks Good!
> 
> Does it stay together after it's sliced?
> 
> Todd




Yes, it stays together pretty good.

~Dig


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## michael ark (Jun 24, 2011)




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## SmokinAl (Jun 24, 2011)

Glad to have you with us!  We all make bacon from pork butt, but I like to cold smoke mine.


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## diggingdogfarm (Jul 6, 2011)

SmokinAl said:


> Glad to have you with us!  We all make bacon from pork butt, but I like to cold smoke mine.




I cold smoke mine too, but I originally posted this on my blog directed towards folks who are new to curing meats, since many aren't set up for proper cold smoking, but can easily smoke at higher temperatures....this is the method I posted.

But, anyway..... yeah, cold smoking is definitely the way to go!!!

~Dig


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## diggingdogfarm (Mar 20, 2012)

Some have asked how well this holds together.
The answer is very well if you don't rinse of the exuded protein after curing.
The meat should have a natural stickiness to it that binds, especially when the meat is heated.

Edited to add: It's important that the above cure mix be made with pickling salt so that the salt particle size is nearly the same as the sugar and cure.
We've also made a minor adjustment to the sugar content, upping that to 5.5 ounces. Brown sugar can be used in place of white, but remove all lumps.


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## nicklau (Oct 1, 2013)

Martin

I've made BBB a couple of times with good (flavor) results, but yours looks so much better. Couple of questions about your method.

1. I saw in another post you  mentioned to dry cure, but not allow the meat to sit in the resulting liquids. Do you cure on a rack? Could I cure in a plastic bag for a week and then move to a rack?

2.Do you cure the fat cap along with the butt?

3.Will your bacon hold together as well if cold smoked?

Thanks for your help!

Nick


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## diggingdogfarm (Oct 1, 2013)

NickLau said:


> Martin
> 
> I've made BBB a couple of times with good (flavor) results, but yours looks so much better. Couple of questions about your method.
> 
> 1. I saw in another post you  mentioned to dry cure, but not allow the meat to sit in the resulting liquids. Do you cure on a rack? Could I cure in a plastic bag for a week and then move to a rack?



You can use anything that'll keep it out of the liquid. I actually set it on a small poly cutting board in a container so the liquid drains away. It's best to keep it out of the liquid at all times.




NickLau said:


> 2.Do you cure the fat cap along with the butt?



Yes.




NickLau said:


> 3.Will your bacon hold together as well if cold smoked?



You can cold smoke, but it won't bind together well until it's heated. I cold smoke it and then gently steam it.
It's important not to rinse it after curing because that'll wash away the sticky exuded proteins that bind.




NickLau said:


> Thanks for your help!
> 
> Nick




HTH


~Martin


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