Makin' Bacon! (Literally...)

[Redstar]

Alright, now that I have your attention...

After bribing me for two years with his awesome homemade bacon, Mr. Woodchuck finally convinced me to try making my own bacon this year. I started the process yesterday!

Starts out simple enough, measure out enough cure for the weight of pork. I'm doing about 14.5 lbs, and that translated to about 1 and 2/3 cup of cure. Rub the cure all over into the pork. In this case I'm using a pork butt instead of pork belly so I'm technically making "buckboard" bacon. I did this because where I am pork belly costs almost as much $ per lb as a decent steak...

Cover and stick in the fridge for 10 days. After that, smoking.

(Pork side tangent... Boston or picnic butt is actually a shoulder, I've never understood why they call it a butt... maybe because shoulder butt sounds funny?)

Here's the pork butts covered in cure marinating in the fridge:


Here's the bacon cure I'm using
https://www.amazon.com/Hi-Mountain-Buckboard-Bacon-Cure/dp/B004RDON22

Instructions say we flip the bacon on Friday and then wait at least another 5 days before smoking it. I'll post another picture of what it looks like after the flip!


((Side-side tangent, "cure" seems to be a fancy word for "salt, but not the normal kind of salt + some other stuff." Wonder if it would cure my wife's stuffy nose...))

** I had some technical difficulties with the original post. All better now. No, the beer had nothing to do with my interneting abilities...**

[garrett89]

Save your picture to your desktop and post. Picture host apps/websites occasionally fail. Hard saved picture to desktop, never fail.

[Redstar]

Save your picture to your desktop and post. Picture host apps/websites occasionally fail. Hard saved picture to desktop, never fail.

Thanks for the tip! I didn't realize I could upload directly to the forum from my desktop!

[NRA4LIFE]

A good start!  Curing time depends on the thickness of the pork.  A whole butt will take probably 10 days.  Soak for at least 2 hours in water, changing water a couple times, before smoking or it will be way too salty.  I soak my BBB cured bellies for 2 1/4 hours, changing water after every 45 minutes.  That is about the right saltiness for me.

[garrett89]

Save your picture to your desktop and post. Picture host apps/websites occasionally fail. Hard saved picture to desktop, never fail.

Thanks for the tip! I didn't realize I could upload directly to the forum from my desktop!

NP, I've always been frustrated with online based photo storage. Stuff goes missing, forgot password, change from free to charge. I got used to doing it direct from the desktop.

[Blacklab]

Great start, what flavor of wood lots to choose from 

[Redstar]

A good start!  Curing time depends on the thickness of the pork.  A whole butt will take probably 10 days.  Soak for at least 2 hours in water, changing water a couple times, before smoking or it will be way too salty.  I soak my BBB cured bellies for 2 1/4 hours, changing water after every 45 minutes.  That is about the right saltiness for me.

Do you let the meat dry after soaking or put it right into the smoker?

[Redstar]

Great start, what flavor of wood lots to choose from 

I'm partial to hickory, I'll probably stick with that for my first attempt. What's your favorite?

[Blacklab]

Hickory by it's self or mix in some apple 50/50. Pecan is a great one as well.

[Rick]

((Side-side tangent, "cure" seems to be a fancy word for "salt, but not the normal kind of salt + some other stuff." Wonder if it would cure my wife's stuffy nose...))

The cure is sodium nitrite, AKA Pink Salt #1,  or Prague Powder #1

Its an essential part of the curing process.  It helps prevent Botulism.  Skipping the sodium nitrite is a good way to end up really sick/dead

[Redstar]

((Side-side tangent, "cure" seems to be a fancy word for "salt, but not the normal kind of salt + some other stuff." Wonder if it would cure my wife's stuffy nose...))

The cure is sodium nitrite, AKA Pink Salt #1,  or Prague Powder #1

Its an essential part of the curing process.  It helps prevent Botulism.  Skipping the sodium nitrite is a good way to end up really sick/dead

Thank you for the extra info.

I'm having fun trying this for the first time, but you bring up a good point. There is potential to make yourself and others sick.

I re-read the ingredients on the high mountain box, it does have sodium nitrate in the cure.

[Woodchuck]

Great start, what flavor of wood lots to choose from 

I'm partial to hickory, I'll probably stick with that for my first attempt. What's your favorite?

Mine was with apple. I did let the meat air dry after rinsing. 

[NRA4LIFE]

After soaking, I dry mine off with a clean towel and then air dry until the surface is no longer tacky.  For me, if it's hog meat, it gets hickory.

[Redstar]

The bacon is amazing.
I might be makin' all my own bacon from now on...

If you haven't tried it yet, do it. It's not hard and it's way better than store bought bacon!

[Boss .300 winmag]

Looks wonderful, how long did you smoke it for and what temp?