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Makin' Cowboy Buckboard Butt Bacon

thirdeye
thirdeye Posts: 7,428
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
169f9bca.jpg
<p />This morning I was slicing up my most recent batch of home-cured cowboy bacon and figured I needed to share this. Okay, I'm bragging...this batch turned out really nice. For a long time I have been planning to put up a bacon page on my cookin' site, just haven't gotten around to it. So this is kind of a preview. LOL[p]If you are not familiar with buckboard bacon, it is made from a boneless pork butt, pork loin or pork tenderloin. The loins come out similar to Canadian bacon, the butt is a cross between ham and side bacon. You can use Morton's Sugar Cure but I use a cure made right here in Wyoming, the link to their bacon page is below. (At the bottom of the page click on "Instructions" for detailed information). You just bone out the butt, rub with cure, refrigerate for 8 to 10 days depending on thickness, rinse, soak for 2 hours in water, dry and smoke around 200° dome until it gets to about 150° internal (I do mine direct on a raised grate because I add a few chips every 30 minutes). [p]b239e89f.jpg[p]Then you chill, slice and fry. It is so much healthier than belly bacon. The slices are 2-1/2" to 3" wide and you can make it as thick as you want. Best of all, the price is right. This 7 pounds of bacon cost me $1.25/pound.[p]30b8fd71.jpg[p]19d19373.jpg[p]Tenderloins come out like this.[p]7ea1b58e.jpg[p]36d87a4e.jpg[p]1b30387d.jpg[p]One of my favorite things for breakfast.[p]7ea1b58e-1.jpg[p]~thirdeye~
[ul][li]Buckboard Bacon[/ul]
Happy Trails
~thirdeye~

Barbecue is not rocket surgery

Comments

  • thirdeye,
    I think you should brag! That looks great! You've got my attentionon this one.[p]Thanks for sharing.[p]Mike

  • Wow, Nicely done. I've never heard of Buckboard Bacon before. Looks great! Is that a boston butt you are using? I'm very interested in trying this..Thanks for sharing..
  • BENTE
    BENTE Posts: 8,337
    thirdeye
    That looks absolutly DEEEEELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    happy eggin

    TB

    Anderson S.C.

    "Life is too short to be diplomatic. A man's friends shouldn't mind what he does or says- and those who are not his friends, well, the hell with them. They don't count."

    Tyrus Raymond Cobb

  • That looks incredible!!! :woohoo:

    I am going to try this for sure!!!

    Thanks for the tip
  • AZRP
    AZRP Posts: 10,116
    thirdeye,
    Dang that looks good! -RP

  • Wow,[p]This is now on my "To try" list, with a star right beside the name.[p]Thanks for sharing,
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,671
    thirdeye,
    looks good, do you like it better with the butt verse the loin. i followed reg's recipe a while back and it was pretty good, wouldnt mine trying that with a couple of butts to stockpile for the winter.is the buckboard a salty or sweet recipe. my next attempt will be with some maple syrup thrown in

    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • thirdeye,
    You totally screwed up the color on some of those photos. I must come over immediately and show you how to shoot raw and use a gray card to set the white balance. While I am there, I would be very happy to eat all your bacon. :-)[p]TNW

    The Naked Whiz
  • thirdeye, Your cooking skills never cease to amaze me !!!
    Great lookin bacon there as well all the other stuff you post here. Thanks !!!

  • JSlot
    JSlot Posts: 1,218
    Hey, Doug, could you either expound on the gray card/white balance or point me to a link that might help? :) Shoot me an email if necessary. Thanks![p]Jim
  • JSlot,
    Hmmmm, maybe a second web page to add to my "how to post a photo" page? "How to get good color?" :-)[p]Conceptually, it is very simple. Check your camera's manual and see if it has "Custom White Balance" or something like that. Typically, you take a photo of a gray card (standard photography tool available at any serious camera shop) and then tell the camera to use that photo of the gray card as a reference in setting the white balance. Now the camera knows that a gray card looks (for example) orange in the photo and it knows how to adjust the white balance to make the gray card look gray. Then it uses that adjustment on the rest of the photos that you use the custom white balance on. If you change location and lighting, then you have to take a new photo of the gray card in the new lighting and tell the camera to use this new photo. If color is important in a photo, then it is worth the trouble. Usually the auto white balance or using the white balance settings on the camera (sun, cloud, flash, incandescent, flourescent, etc.) does a pretty good job. But when color is important, doing a custom white balance will give better results.[p]Also, if your camera can take raw photos (instead of JPG format) you can shoot a photo of the gray card. Then you need a program to process the raw image. When you process it, you tell the program where the gray card is by pointing to it, and the program now knows how to adjust the orange-looking gray into pure gray. Again, if color is important, then it is worth this trouble. [p]Email me (siggy.gif) if you want to try this out.[p]Doug

    The Naked Whiz
  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
    fishlessman,[p]I like the butts mainly because of the height and the length of the slices and there is just enough fat you don't have to add any when frying. [p]The loins on the other hand, take less cure time and even though the butt bacon is way less fatty than belly bacon, the loins are really lean. And that's good too. I have two vacuum sealed 1/2 loins I'm thawing right now. I will smoke them next weekend.[p]These cures are DRY cures not brine cures, so the maple syrup can't be used. I did smoke this last butt on maple wood, which I liked. The Hi Mountain cure is a "sugar cure" also called "sweet pickling" cure. The ingredients are salt, sugar, brown sugar, maple sugar and 0.7% sodium nitrite. It is similar in nature to Morton's Sugar Cure, which is the sweet version of Tenderquick. Morton's have both nitrate and nitrite. Morton's comes with a separate packet of spices that you have to mix with the curing agent. The Hi Mountain cure has the seasonings already mixed into the curing agent. Plus, the Hi Mountain 16oz box comes with three premeasured 5.3 oz bags. One bag will do 8.3 pounds of meat, so one is perfect for a butt.[p]~thirdeye~

    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
    The Naked Whiz,[p]Man, am I glad JSlot jumped in on that gray card question. I didn't have a clue what you were talking about. The upside is .... I'm shopping and cruising reviews for a new camera. I'm sure there will be all kinds of features to explore. The downside is ... according to those dang 'ol pseudo isochromatic plates, I only have 70% color vision. My green's and brown's are the weak zone. Fortunately, my wardrobe is your basic bluejeans and T-shirts, so there is no matching of slacks and dress shirts. The two ties I do own are from the Jerry Garcia collection and go with the three dress shirts I own.[p]~thirdeye~
    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,671
    thirdeye,
    never done a dry cure before, but will be soon. fishing seasons are closing next week in maine, 3 weeks in nh, so i have a little more time on my hands to start cooking again.thanks for posting this.

    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • bobbyb
    bobbyb Posts: 1,349
    thirdeye,
    Man that looks fantastic! Just ordered some bacon cure and jerky seasoning while I was at it. Will definitely give this a go.[p]Thanks for posting.
    Bob

  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
    bobbyb,[p]Their main business is jerky cure and it is very good too. They sell an electric smoker and some of the cooking instructions are geared toward that type of device, (maybe this has changed with their new packaging) but a lot of people I know use a regular smoker (first) in combination with their oven or dehydrator (for drying). You may need to play around with it to get the exact flavor and product you want.[p]~thirdeye~

    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
  • thirdeye, I'll bring the eggs on over for the morning......helll, I bring the whole chicken while I'm at it......looks great. :<) T

  • thirdeye,[p] Definitely 'fine eats' .... Since my local butcher offers both bone-in and -out pork butts, I assume you suggest bone-out for my first attempt? Sounds like I will get good directions with the cure.[p]Regards,
    Tom B (EggSport)[p]

  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
    Sandbagger,[p]Thanks ..... Hey are you going to Eggtoberfest? A pre-made slab would make a real quick breakfast treat fried up on your griddle.[p]~thirdeye~

    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
    Howdy Tom,[p]The instructions are very detailed. It's as good or better than most how-to's I've seen. There are 10 or 12 photographs showing the whole process. There are 3 or 4 just about boning. There is a scan of them on their website, look at the bottom of the pages for "Instructions" then go to bacon cure.[p]Since you are in a neighbor state, and hunting season is upon us, you might find it locally. All of the sporting goods stores sell it here.[p]~thirdeye~[p]

    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
  • thirdeye, I am going to the big shindig. I'm not sure what I taking, cooking stuff or golf clubs, only got two hands. T

  • Clay Q
    Clay Q Posts: 4,486
    thirdeye,
    Magnificent!
    Keep on smokin,
    Clay

  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
    fishlessman,[p]I got a good tip from ricksegers, another fan of the Buckboard Bacon regarding maple syrup & wanted to pass it along.[p]~thirdeye~[p]Rick sez "I make a fifty/fifty mixture of water and maple syrup and inject the butt. I'll then rub the outside with about a tablespoon of syrup and then put it in the smoker with maple wood in the cooker. I've done the same thing with apple juice instead of syrup and apple wood in the smoker".[p][p]
    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery