Dad gum it. Buckboard bacon set back.

I couldn't find mortons tenderquick but did find Leggs 6.25 cure and spoke to the head guy at the smokehouse about how much to use for my two
porknbutts. Double checked online.

Well i am still a screw up. I dry rubbed the cure on. It's a Prague #1
basically and added black pepper and brown sugar. I turned it in the
fridge for ten days.

I was going to smoke today and did a fry test. Well I learned the pink salt of prague#1 doesn't give bacon much of any of normal bacon saltiness. I slathered about 2.5 tbsp of kosher salt on each 6 pound butt and plan to wait a few days before smoking.


Well at at least it wasn't too salty. Now I just have to wait with my butts in the fridge

No words of wisdom?

My first impression is not enough cure was used, particularly because it was missing some 'saltiness'. I have not attempted to make buckboard bacon but my pork belly bacon recipe calls for 4 Tbs of Instacure #1 per slab. Since we're relying on the cure to penetrate from the surface you'll need plenty more than the 1 tsp/5 lbs GROUND meat requirement.


OW

Sigh. I was afraid of hearing something like that.


Thanks smoked. Two posts here, This must be your trade or passion for me to draw you into posting. (Grin). Good name, who doesn't like
Smoked ribs?

After trimming I have two five ish pound butts and used just over one half ounce of 6.25 Leggs cure. A tbsp of salt weighs 0.64oz according to
Siri.



One thing i see is a lot more online doing a wet cure versus a dry rub cure. I asked the headman at the smokehouse and he was saying they dry rub slab and Canadian bacon with the same product.

I really wanted to find tender quick or even high mountain as that's what i
see in most online recipes.

I rubbed the pink salt on by itself first to make sure I got good
coverage especially into all the bone (removed) side nooks. Then I put on brown sugar and black pepper.


Rechecking some other recipes I'm seeing four
to one ratios of kosher salt to pink.

Well next time i am doing a wet cure. I will also do more trimming beforehand. I made four pounds of breakfast sausage out of the trimmings. A tad lean but that won't hurt.

If your using the butts to make bacon remove the bone before curing . Lessens possibility of spoiling and the bone will have to be removed when finishing later anyway .

I wasn't clear I guess. They came deboned. I just made sure I worked the pink salt into
the crevices left from that process.


I Boiled some water and may calculate a conversion to wet cure this time.

Butterfly the butt so it lays flat, I work into where the bone was on one side and then go from the bone to the non bone side if it is over 4" thick. Try to get it a fairly even 4" thick then dry rub and into a container to cure. I go 14 days and flip once.

I buy my Morton's quick cure online. I just smoked three pork shoulders this weekend that I dry rubbed two weeks ago. It doesn't take that long to cure, but I have been busy and there is no danger of overcuring. I used hickory and cherry in my Masterbilt. Great results every time.

Thank you so much. It sounds like I should be safe then. I'm just under 4 thick. Today is day 11 if my head math is right.

I'm off Thursday and Friday. I'll smoke it then. I am using a basic electric masterbuilt electric smoker too.

How soon before botulism gets ya?


jst kidding. Everything seems to have gone well. Even penetration throughout. I was planning on smoking 6 hours but it was done before that. I tried to maintain the smoker between 200-225. Around mid smoke it would climb to 250. I'd nudge the dial down. Awhile later it would creep up to 250 again. I started taking meat temps at around 5 hours. They were both done. 160 and 180. So much for targeting 145-155.

I chilled them them over night and sliced some for breakfast. Two slices were more than enough with three fresh eggs toast , coffee and OJ. Today is my Sunday.

Thanks for the guidance and hand holding.

ETA. Flavor was nice. Salt level was just right. A bit more sugar wouldn't hurt my feelings but this was very good. The fatty bits were unctuous. Not good as I'm At my winter weight now.