# Honey Buckboard Bacon (Also tried Maple) Qview aplenty



## disco (Mar 12, 2013)

This is my third attempt at bacon. My first was Maple Buckboard bacon. It was cured in maple syrup and several aromatic spices. I smoked it over maple. It was very nice.

The second was back bacon (Americans call it Canadian Bacon) with sugar, onion and garlic powder added to the cure. It was smoked over hickory. Also very nice.

Both attempts were from recipes. I decided it was time to start tailoring the recipe to my tastes. I started by going basic and eliminating most of the spices and aromatics. I went with salt, cure and sweeteners.

I went for honey and maple syrup but I wonder if anyone has tried molasses. If so, I'd love to hear how it turned out.

I also found maple and hickory were good but I wanted a bit more mellow smoke and tried pecan.

I started with a 3 pound Pork Blade Roast.













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I sliced it in half as I like my bacon in strips and I find it easier to slice.













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I did a different cure for each half to try different sweeteners. On the first half (for 1.5 pounds of pork) the cure was:

1 tablespoon kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon Prague Powder #1

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 tablespoons maple syrup













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On the second half the cure was:

1 tablespoon kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon Prague Powder #1

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon honey

The one problem I ran into was that the honey made a very stiff rub that was difficult to use. Next time, I will add 1 tablesoon apple juice.













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I put the slabs into plastic bags and turned for 9 days.













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I took them out of the bag and let them sit in the fridge to develop pellicle. I loaded a pan with ice as I was going to cold smoke the bacon at first.













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I loaded up the Bradley smoker with pecan, the bacon and the ice tray.













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I cold smoked for 2 hours. I then raised the temperature to 160 F for 20 minutes with smoke. I left it at 160 F but stopped the smoke to an internal temperature of 145 F, about 3 hours. One took a little longer to get to temperature.













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 I let them cool and put them in the fridge overnight. I then sliced them with my handy ham slicer knife.













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I fried some up and made a bacon sandwich. Life s good.













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Final Verdict:

Both these bacons were better than my first efforts. They had a great taste. The pecan gave a good smoke flavour without a harsh smoke edge. They cooked up nice and crisp. I preferred the honey over the maple syrup. It added a stronger sweet taste but not overly so. I think I am getting closer to my personal bacon recipe.


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## smokinhusker (Mar 12, 2013)

Looks good!  I've cured bacon with both Maple and Honey before. I'm now working on getting a good Steakhouse flavor.


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## disco (Mar 12, 2013)

SmokinHusker said:


> Looks good!  I've cured bacon with both Maple and Honey before. I'm now working on getting a good Steakhouse flavor.


Would you mind sharing some of your ideas for that?


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## humdinger (Mar 12, 2013)

Looks good disco. Nice tutorial from start to finish! Thanks for all the good pics.


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## jrod62 (Mar 12, 2013)

Looks good Thumbs Up


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## kathrynn (Mar 12, 2013)

Great job!!!!  I am gonna do some bacon soon!  Love the pics!  Made me drool!

Kat


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## woodcutter (Mar 12, 2013)

Your bacon looks very good!


Disco said:


> I went for honey and maple syrup but I wonder if anyone has tried molasses. If so, I'd love to hear how it turned out.


I have been using molasses in my Canadian Bacon and really like it. I'm going to try it in buck board bacon next time.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/136954/canadian-bacon-pops-brine-ii

Recipe

1 gallon of water

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup of sea salt

1 cup brown sugar

1 Tbs cure #1

1 Tbs garlic powder

1 Tbs onion powder

1 Tbs molasses (mild flavor)


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## disco (Mar 12, 2013)

Humdinger said:


> Looks good disco. Nice tutorial from start to finish! Thanks for all the good pics.


I'm glad to hear that. I don't know what too many pictures is yet.


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## disco (Mar 12, 2013)

Woodcutter said:


> Your bacon looks very good!
> 
> I have been using molasses in my Canadian Bacon and really like it. I'm going to try it in buck board bacon next time.
> 
> ...


Thanks. I have also been thinking about a brine instead of a dry cure so this recipe will be helpful for that experiment.


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## dirtsailor2003 (Mar 12, 2013)

Great Looking Bacon! I gave Pop's brine a try and haven't gone back to dry rub! We really like Buckboard bacon!


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## disco (Mar 12, 2013)

dirtsailor2003 said:


> Great Looking Bacon! I gave Pop's brine a try and haven't gone back to dry rub! We really like Buckboard bacon!


Thanks. I have to admit to being biased to curing. I am quite new to smoking and I have tried cured and brined pastrami. I liked the texture of the cured version better so I have stuck to curing for bacon. However, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I will try brined bacon next time.


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## pgsmoker64 (Mar 12, 2013)

That looks really good!  I might have to give this a try!

Thanks for sharing.

Bill


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## disco (Mar 12, 2013)

PGSmoker64 said:


> That looks really good!  I might have to give this a try!
> 
> Thanks for sharing.
> 
> Bill


The best part of making bacon yourself is you get to make it the way you like. As stated this is only my third attempt and each one is getting better. This one is definitely better than anything I could buy in a store.


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## mountbaldy (Jun 2, 2015)

Hi Disco!

I know this is an older thread but...  Nice looking bacon!  I've got a batch of buckboard bacon curing right now with molasses in it.  I just used Bearcarver's recipe and added molasses to it.  We'll see how it goes!  I'm hoping to smoke it this weekend but we'll see.  I might leave it in another week in the cure.  I've got to make some with maple sugar in it too.  I think my wife would enjoy that.

Cheers!

Joe


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## disco (Jun 3, 2015)

mountbaldy said:


> Hi Disco!
> 
> I know this is an older thread but...  Nice looking bacon!  I've got a batch of buckboard bacon curing right now with molasses in it.  I just used Bearcarver's recipe and added molasses to it.  We'll see how it goes!  I'm hoping to smoke it this weekend but we'll see.  I might leave it in another week in the cure.  I've got to make some with maple sugar in it too.  I think my wife would enjoy that.
> 
> ...


Thanks for taking me back! I will advise that I was never successful getting a maple flavour in bacon with a dry cure. The maple syrup just didn't get into the meat when you apply the cure. I did get a decent maple taste buy using Pop's Brine. I took 1/2 cup of the brine and added 1/4 cup of maple syrup to it and then injected it in the loin. If you need more information, let me know.


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## Bearcarver (Jun 3, 2015)

Disco said:


> Thanks for taking me back! I will advise that I was never successful getting a maple flavour in bacon with a dry cure. The maple syrup just didn't get into the meat when you apply the cure. I did get a decent maple taste buy using Pop's Brine. I took 1/2 cup of the brine and added 1/4 cup of maple syrup to it and then injected it in the loin. If you need more information, let me know.


Hi Disco,

If it's the injecting that does it, you can inject & Dry Cure too. Injecting doesn't only go with brine curing.

I know some guys who say they had success with TQ and Maple *Sugar* in a Dry cure.

I bought some Maple Sugar from the Internet, but have not tried it yet.

Bear


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