# Maple & Brown Sugar Buckboard Bacon?



## hank (Oct 26, 2007)

At what point are these added for extra flavor and for how long?
Also does anyone have experience with grade "B" maple syrup?

Thanks in advance!


----------



## deejaydebi (Nov 5, 2007)

I'd add it right to the cure! I'll soak in for awhile. 

My understanding is that maple sryup made from the earlest sap is grade A and the end of the runnings grade B. Grade A is usually for eatting or light pastries etc. grade B for cooking becuase it's stronger tasting.

I like the Grade A Dark Amber the best for bacon!


----------



## nauidvr1 (Nov 5, 2007)

I started the cure process on Nov 1st, using the Hi Mountian Buckboard Bacon Cure. 

I'm doing two 8lb Butts and two 9lb Loins - yep 34 lbs of meat! 

Hey Debi - can I apply the maple syrup after the curing process? Or is it to late? I was thinking of either painting the syrup on, after the rinse, and re vac sealing for 1 or 2 days. Or I was just going to smoke for a few hours then paint it on the meat after the smoke had done its job. Which do you think will work the best. Also, got a reccommendation on the type of wood to smoke with - I was thinking Hickory or Oak, but had considered Maple as well.

Here is some Q-View for you:


----------



## flyboys (Nov 5, 2007)

34 pounds of bacon!!!!  That looks and sounds absolutely incredible!!


----------



## deejaydebi (Nov 5, 2007)

Wow Tom sounds like your gonna have a great time! Wish I was there!

I haven't added the maple syrup after the brine other than to add it t my apple juice spray but it should work. It won't get hot enough to worry about burning or anything. It just won't get absorbed into the meat is all.

I do spray after the first say 3 hours or so, about once every few hours - some don't. I like the extra sweetness.

This is one of the main reasons I prefer a wet brine solution, when you pump your meat (inject with brine for the newbies) you can actually add whatever flavors you want and it's distributed all through the meat not just the outside. It is a tad messier initially but if you are using vacuum bags like you are one gallon of liquid brine in vacuum bags can actually do about 25 to 30pounds of meat. Maybe more I never got past that amount of meat and alway end up throwing out a quart or so of brine solution.

When you fry up the bacons the maple taste in the pan will get all over the meat so not to worry - it just won't be cured in.

I highly recommend cherry, apple, pecan and hickory for bacon and if you have it a bit of orange is really nice too.

Looks great Tom I can't wait to hear your report after to get to try some! It'll definatley make bacon lover out of anybody! Problem is the store bought stuff will never taste good to you again.


----------



## dacdots (Nov 6, 2007)

Please take Debi's advice,injecting is the best way to get uniform and better taste throughout the bacon.


----------



## nauidvr1 (Nov 6, 2007)

To late to inject, but will next time. I am just going to experiment on this batch, by painting on the maple syrup halfway thru the smoking process.


----------



## nauidvr1 (Nov 8, 2007)

Hey all,
I have been reading that some say the Hi Mountain BuckBorad bacon cure is to salty, if you cure for the full ten days. I have aslo read that if you vac seal your bacons for the curing process that it reduces curing time by about 30%. What are your expirences on this?

Because I have vac sealed mine and I don't want it to salty, I have been thinking about pulling the bacons on day 8 and rinsing then smoking. What do you guys think? Debi....?????

I finally found some Pecan, Apple and Cherry wood in chunks - so I just may smoke with one of those instead of the Hickory.

Debi - in your post above you recommended several types of wood. Did you mean a mix of these all together, or 1 or 2 types mixed, or to choose just one?


----------



## peculiarmike (Nov 8, 2007)

I sliced my Buckboard Bacon and vac sealed. I added two tablespoons pure maple syrup to some of the pacs before sealing and left it a couple months before using it, it worked great.
Make sure you scrub and rinse the BBB a good while before slicing to reduce the salt.


----------



## t-bone tim (Nov 8, 2007)

I would only cure the loins for 6-7 days and the butts probably 9 ...I think you would be better off adding the maple syrup now with the cure so it works it's way into the meat along with it ....if you paint it on just before smoking the surface of the meat will not have the dry pellicle formed on it which allows the meat suface and smoke to adhere together giving the bacon a nice golden color and flavor ....paint it on after slicing and before packaging as Mike has said,for extra flavor....also the best and most traditional smoke, IMHO for bacon is hickory if yer lookin for a great bacon flavor .....rinse off the cure well and let dry approx 24 hrs in the fridge before smoking ....my .02 worth , hope it helps


----------



## nauidvr1 (Nov 9, 2007)

Tbone Tim
Thanks for the tips!


----------



## shellbellc (Nov 9, 2007)

I'm just adding about the grade B maple...I've only ever been able to find it on-line through one of the Vermont maple stores.  I woulndn't use anything else in my house.  It has the best maple flavor in my my mind.  My thanksgiving turkey is injected with a basic butter/grade B maple syrup mixture.  Now you have to like the sweet maple flavor, but it sweetens your gravy and everything.  It's almost like I can't even taste any of the grade A's anymore.


----------



## nauidvr1 (Nov 10, 2007)

Thank you guys for all your help and wish me luck for Saturday, as I will start the smoke about 12 noon, after the rinse.

I am going to use Hickory for the 1st part of the smoke then finish off with Cherry. I will also do as suggested and add the maple syrup after I have sliced and just before vac-pac'ing.


----------



## nauidvr1 (Nov 10, 2007)

Here is some Q-view of the rinse process. I will be posting more pics throughout the smoke. 
I rinsed and scrubbed starting at about 9:30am EST. Got the soak started at 10:00am, changed water at 11:00am, so these should be in the smoker at about 1:00 - 1:30pm.


----------



## nauidvr1 (Nov 10, 2007)

12:30pm - Now I am up to the point where they sit on the counter at room temp for 1 hour, after patting dry with paper towels. In the mean time I have my smoker warming up to 150, then the meat goes in with no smoke for an hour.

Q-View: Pork Loins for Canadian Bacon on left, Pork Butts for BuckBoard Bacon on Right


----------



## nauidvr1 (Nov 10, 2007)

Q-View: 1:30pm - Just placed the Bacons in to the smoker for there 1 hour at 150.







2:30pm - Adjusted temp to 200 - Let the Smoke begin! I am getting hungry, can you guess what is for dinner tonight? Yep, homemade BLT's!


----------



## nauidvr1 (Nov 10, 2007)

4:30pm - Two hours in to the smoke I spritzed with Jack Daniels & Apple Juice, added Cherry wood, and here is how they looked.

What supprised me is, 2 hours in to this (3 if you count the 1 hour at 150), and the Canadian Bacon (Pork Loins) are already up to about 140 - I am taking to 160. The Buck Board Bacon (Pork Butts) are at about 115 - also taking to 160. My Smoker (Smokin' Tex Pro 1400) has always been a little different, in cooking, than eveyone else's on these fourms - So it is always a learning curve for me.


----------



## deejaydebi (Nov 11, 2007)

Looking good Tom! Amazing how that cherry reddens everything up eh?
Keep it comming!


----------



## nauidvr1 (Nov 11, 2007)

6:30pm - Canadian Bacon is finished (5 hrs total)







Starting to slice







Vac sealed and half of batch added maple syrup in the vac bag







7:30pm - BuckBoard Bacon is finished (6 hours total) Time to eat - Homemade BLT's!


----------



## nauidvr1 (Nov 11, 2007)

Many thanks to all who offered advise to help me get this done!

All in all, I would say this was a successful smoke. 

Things I will change next time are the amount of wood I use - my smoker takes much less wood to smoke than most, and I forget that when reading threads on this forum. So my bacons were a little bit smokey, good, but a little too smokey. I did two additions of wood for this smoke, 1st round was hickory, 2nd round was cherry - next time I will half each type of wood, and mix them together in the 1st stage of the smoke - gotta remember this, this is the trick with "my" smoker. Lastly, I will brine and stitch pump my next bacons - Hi mountian cure is nice for the layman, but a bit to salty. With homemade brine, I can control salt.


----------



## deejaydebi (Nov 11, 2007)

Tom they look perfect! Don't you feel prideful looking at all that good suff sitting on the board? Great job!


----------



## cowgirl (Nov 11, 2007)

Thanks for the tip Tom, I have been meaning to try some of that Hi Mountain cure, I just make my own brine too. If/when I try the Hi Mountain, I will watch out for the salt. 

Your bacons look out of this world!! Great job!


----------



## nauidvr1 (Nov 13, 2007)

Debi - it was an awesome feeling to know I did this myself (with alot of PM's between us - Thanks!), and even better when we had homemade BLT's! I think that next time I make Canadian Bacon, I will use Pork Tenderloins (like you do), instead of Pork Loins, I just wasn't 100% happy with the way the Pork Loins turned out - Yeah, they're Canadian Bacon, but not the Canadian bacon I was shooting for......

cowgirl - Thanks for the compliment. I ordered 4 packages of the Hi Mountain BuckBoard Bacon cure, used 1 + 1/3rd of them, but probably will not use the rest. I also ordered Morton TQ, #1 & #2 curing powders - from now on I will just make my own. I am not sure how you could lessen the Hi Mountain cure to reduce the salt, I would be afraid to lessen the reccommended amounts per pound. I did, however, reduce the cure time to 8 days (called for 10), after reading on SMF, that it was a salty cure.

The other thing that may have made me think it was to salty and to smokey was because I had been smoking all day and while slicing, was nibbling quite a bit. I had a bacon cheeseburger last night, with the BB bacon I made, and it was out of this world - not to salty, nor smokey. Maybe, I just needed a day away from all the smoking and nibbling of smoked bacons????


----------

