# Hillbilly Bacon?  Q-view added!



## gearloose (Aug 17, 2017)

For some strange reason, y'all mistakenly refer to this as Buckboard bacon.  It's been Hillbilly Bacon around these parts for at least 40 years that I'm aware of, and that's how all the local butchers label it,  so that's what I'm calling it. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





  

Any old how, I put two butterflied, deboned butts in the brine today.  Simple brine:

Per gallon of water-

2 Tbsp. Prague powder #1

1 cup dark brown sugar

3/4 cup canning & pickling salt.

I also added 2 Tbsp. of European seasoning mix to each gallon of brine.  My brining tubs will only hold one butt & one gallon of brine each.  I got the Euro seasoning mix recipe somewhere in the bacon forum threads, but don't know where & can't find it now to give proper credit.

The seasoning is

5 parts white pepper

1 part ground nutmeg

1 part ground mace

1/2 part cardamom

8 parts sugar

I brine pumped the thicker parts of the butts.  After 10 days in the brine, (turning every day) I'll rinse, blot dry and give the butts a moderate coat of the Euro seasoning, then back in the cold for a couple of days.  Smoking over applewood pellets.  Before drying & smoking, I'll give one side of each butt a good coat of coarse ground black pepper.


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## GaryHibbert (Aug 17, 2017)

I'm in 

Gary


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## gearloose (Aug 27, 2017)

The hillbilly bacon has been in the brine for 10 days, so it was time to come out this evening.  I gave it a very thorough rinse under cold running water to purge the excess salt, then put the slabs on clean tea towels to drain & dry. I applied a rounded half teaspoon of the euro spice blend to only one side of each slab, then rubbed it in until it was evenly applied.  Next, the slabs were given a light coat of black pepper, also on only the one side.  Finally, everything went into a couple of 2 gal. zipper bags and was stacked together back in the refrigerator for the next two days.  I'll smoke them on Wednesday.  Test fry of a small chunk cut into 1/2" thick bite-sized pieces was heavenly. 













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__ gearloose
__ Aug 27, 2017


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## gearloose (Aug 29, 2017)

On the smoke at 8:00 a.m. a day early.  I have commitments tomorrow, so decided no big deal to go a day sooner.













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__ gearloose
__ Aug 29, 2017


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## gearloose (Aug 29, 2017)

8 hours on the smoke and it's looking a lot like bacon!  I've kept the smoker temp right at 125° for the entire smoke.  I intend to pull them out after 12 hours.













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__ gearloose
__ Aug 29, 2017


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## Bearcarver (Aug 29, 2017)

Looks Great gearloose!!!
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





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Well Done & Nice Color!!
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Bear


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## hoity toit (Aug 29, 2017)

That really has a nice true color to it. I am sure it will taste great. !

HT


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## HalfSmoked (Aug 29, 2017)

Yell buddy fine looking stuff there.  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Warren


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## b-one (Aug 29, 2017)

Looks great,looking forward to seeing some slices!:biggrin:


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## gearloose (Sep 1, 2017)

b-one said:


> Looks great,looking forward to seeing some slices!


You want to see slices?  You got slices! 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	

















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__ gearloose
__ Sep 1, 2017






For some reason, the small odds and ends never make it to the freezer. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	

















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__ gearloose
__ Sep 1, 2017


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## Bearcarver (Sep 1, 2017)

Looks Great, GL !!!
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Mighty Tasty!!
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





I got that same problem with those smaller Bacon Pieces!! 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





It just happens!!
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Bear


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## b-one (Sep 1, 2017)

Looks tasty and meaty!


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## gearloose (Sep 2, 2017)

All wrapped in the freezer - less what has already been cooked and ate:

8 1 lb. packages.

2 12 oz. packages.

12 oz. (more or less) reserved for breakfast sandwiches tomorrow.

At least a pound of "test cook" samples, nibbles and end pieces already cooked and ate.  A pound cooked for BLT sandwiches yesterday.

Commercially produced Hillbilly Bacon (local company) sells in the local grocery stores for $8.98/lb. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





So, not bad for a 15+ lb. pkg. of $1.89 / lb. shoulder.


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## disco (Sep 2, 2017)

Great looking Hillbilly Bacon! 

I've never heard of Euro spices before. Is a blend you make or a commercial blend?

Disco


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## gearloose (Sep 2, 2017)

Disco said:


> Great looking Hillbilly Bacon!
> 
> I've never heard of Euro spices before. Is a blend you make or a commercial blend?
> 
> Disco


The recipe for it is in my first post in this thread.  AFAIK, it's not a commercial blend.  I ran across it in one of the other bacon threads on the forum, but cannot remember which one.  The person posting it called it European seasoning, or European spice mix...or something like that.  The recipe is written in 'parts' instead of volume measures, so it can be scaled up or down easily.  Just decide the units you want 'one part' to be and start measuring.  I mixed up a batch using one part = 10 grams.  It made approximately two cups of spice mix.

OK, I looked again, and this time I found it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by *Brican*  



 

The "actual" recipe is as follows ....... 

200g White pepper

40g Nutmeg

40g Mace

40g Cardamom

400g White sugar

This is my Mentors recipe who actually came from the Black Forest area of Germany the spice is for European dry cured/cold smoked bacon that his family used to produce ~~ I let the spice combination out on another forum and mentioned where my mentor was from and from then on it has seemed to have attached itself to the Black Forest spice name But all the same have fun with it :)


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## disco (Sep 2, 2017)

gearloose said:


> The recipe for it is in my first post in this thread.  AFAIK, it's not a commercial blend.  I ran across it in one of the other bacon threads on the forum, but cannot remember which one.  The person posting it called it European seasoning, or European spice mix...or something like that.  The recipe is written in 'parts' instead of volume measures, so it can be scaled up or down easily.  Just decide the units you want 'one part' to be and start measuring.  I mixed up a batch using one part = 10 grams.  It made approximately two cups of spice mix.
> 
> OK, I looked again, and this time I found it.
> 
> ...


He hangs his head in shame for having missed the original recipe for the seasonings. Thanks for setting me straight!


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## gearloose (Sep 2, 2017)

Disco said:


> He hangs his head in shame for having missed the original recipe for the seasonings. Thanks for setting me straight!


No problem!

If you will notice, the blend recipe I used is just a little different from the one by Brican.  If you have never tried it, I cannot recommend it enough.  It is fantastic.  Your bacon will taste better than some of the super-premium supermarket brands.


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## kenmus (Sep 3, 2017)

guess i'll have to go with the parts version cause i never caught on to the metric thing


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## gearloose (Sep 3, 2017)

kenmus said:


> guess i'll have to go with the parts version cause i never caught on to the metric thing


If you have a digital scale, it's just a matter of pushing a button to toggle between grams, ounces, pounds, etc.  If you select ounces, you are going to end up with a lot of spice mix. The recipe I posted in my first post in the thread does not care what units are used as long as you measure accurately by weight.  Measuring by volume is not the same, so no guarantee if you try to use teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, or something similar.


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