Buckboard Bacon?
- Thread starter Mud Creek
- Start date
Here is what I will be using and will inject, I plan to make Canadian bacon
Many folks here run Pop's brine and have wild good success. There are a lot of discussions about nitrite concentrations and how we agree that 156ppm nitrite are the standard prescription. With brines things swerve off the track a bit because we have to calculate uptake in the meat. Sadly there is no good way to calculate that and it's more of a guess. FSIS suggests that a 10% uptake is maximum. You can also inject for a more known quantitative measure, but let's look a little deeper into what is actually in Pop's brine to get a better understanding of what we are potentially applying to our meat.
Pop's Brine.
1 gallon of water.
1 cup of salt (pickling or granulated salt no iodide)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 heaping Tbs of cure #1
That is the original brine mix and is all I'm dealing with here. There are other formulas and I can and will address those if asked to.
Your mileage may vary on my weights but they will be in the park.
solve for nitrite in the brine: with 1 heaping Tbs of cure #1 and 1 Gallon of water with 1 cup of pickling canning salt.
1 gallon of water weighs 8.33 pounds or 3781.82 grams
1 heaped Tbs of cure #1 weighs 26g on my scale
1 cup of pickling salt weighs 288g on my scale.
SOLVE for NITRITE:
26 x .0625= 1.62 x 1000000= 1625000 / 3781.82= 429.6 ppm nitrite in the brine.
SOLVE for SALT PERCENTAGE:
1 cup = 288g
288g + 26g (cure #1) = 314g
314+3781.82=4095.82 total weight.
314/4095.82 = .076 x 100% = 7.66% salt.
So with Pop's brine we are working with 429 ppm nitrite and 7.66% salt.
Sugar matters no for curing.
So in cure the FSIS / USDA says that 10% uptake is maximum.
If we apply that 10% maximum we will get about 43 ppm nitrite and about .76% salt from Pop's brine.
Maybe it works fine but just giving you a base line of where it is. Clearly no way close to 156 ppm. It is on the absolute minimum scale, does it work, yes it does, but this gives you a scale of what works with cure and salt. This is absolutely the minimum I would suggest. Curing happens over a range not just one set value. Use this information to your benefit.
Many folks here run Pop's brine and have wild good success. There are a lot of discussions about nitrite concentrations and how we agree that 156ppm nitrite are the standard prescription. With brines things swerve off the track a bit because we have to calculate uptake in the meat. Sadly there is no good way to calculate that and it's more of a guess. FSIS suggests that a 10% uptake is maximum. You can also inject for a more known quantitative measure, but let's look a little deeper into what is actually in Pop's brine to get a better understanding of what we are potentially applying to our meat.
Pop's Brine.
1 gallon of water.
1 cup of salt (pickling or granulated salt no iodide)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 heaping Tbs of cure #1
That is the original brine mix and is all I'm dealing with here. There are other formulas and I can and will address those if asked to.
Your mileage may vary on my weights but they will be in the park.
solve for nitrite in the brine: with 1 heaping Tbs of cure #1 and 1 Gallon of water with 1 cup of pickling canning salt.
1 gallon of water weighs 8.33 pounds or 3781.82 grams
1 heaped Tbs of cure #1 weighs 26g on my scale
1 cup of pickling salt weighs 288g on my scale.
SOLVE for NITRITE:
26 x .0625= 1.62 x 1000000= 1625000 / 3781.82= 429.6 ppm nitrite in the brine.
SOLVE for SALT PERCENTAGE:
1 cup = 288g
288g + 26g (cure #1) = 314g
314+3781.82=4095.82 total weight.
314/4095.82 = .076 x 100% = 7.66% salt.
So with Pop's brine we are working with 429 ppm nitrite and 7.66% salt.
Sugar matters no for curing.
So in cure the FSIS / USDA says that 10% uptake is maximum.
If we apply that 10% maximum we will get about 43 ppm nitrite and about .76% salt from Pop's brine.
Maybe it works fine but just giving you a base line of where it is. Clearly no way close to 156 ppm. It is on the absolute minimum scale, does it work, yes it does, but this gives you a scale of what works with cure and salt. This is absolutely the minimum I would suggest. Curing happens over a range not just one set value. Use this information to your benefit.
I've never made buckboard bacon, but have cured a few hundred pounds of pork belly over the years, and have only ever used one "recipe", which would work perfectly fine for whatever meat you're trying to make. Mike243 goes into tremendous detail on nitrite concentrations, but I prefer a dry brine with no water, and I use grams to measure out my salt/sugar/pink salt concentration every time.
For mine, I use:
2.0% Kosher salt (I prefer Diamond Crystal flakes for this since they dissolve easier. But Mortons Kosher will be fine. So will sea salt or Himalayan Pink salt. Just don't use iodized table salt).
1.5% Dark Brown Sugar
0.25% Pink Curing Salt (sodium nitrite) --- Pink Curing Salt is NOT pink Himalayan salt
For buckboard bacon, assume you have a 3lb pork butt. 3lbs = 1,361 grams. Easy to convert your sale weight off the tag into grams.
From there, you need a kitchen scale. Mine is a 10lb scale. Work in grams, use a bowl, and zero out your weight on the scale.
0.25% by weight pink curing salt is 1,361 x 0.0025 = 3.4 grams. This is important as too much nitrite is considered toxic. Your pink salt number shouldn't exceed 5 grams, which often is about 1 teaspoon.
2.0% by weight Kosher Salt = 1,361 g * 0.020 = 27 grams
1.5% by weight dark brown sugar = 21 grams
That's the basic cure for anything I use. Pink Curing Salt is possibly available in the cooking section at Academy. If not, I use Butcher & Packer to order mine in Butcher & Packer Pink Curing Salt. You'll pay more for shipping than you will for the actual salt. I keep it stored in a glass jar.
Seasoning for me is always red pepper flakes, chopped garlic (one clove per lb of meat), 2-3 large bay leaves rough torn up, and as much fresh ground pepper as my forearms will tolerate. Usually it amounts to about 10 grams of pepper.
Mix your cure up with the seasoning, and liberally apply. For a roast this size, you're easily going to fit into a gallon ziploc bag. Cover the meat well, then dump the entirety from the bowl into the bag. Roll it around and refrigerate. It's going to release a good bit of liquid, so move it around each day so that it gets well covered. You'll need every bit of 10 days in the fridge with this method. Might ought to plan on 14 just to be sure.
After it's cured, rinse off the granular stuff (shouldn't be much) and pick off the bay leaves. You're not going for pristine clean, just get the gritty off if you can. I like to re-apply more black pepper at this point. Let it rest in the fridge for a few hours, up to a whole day, on a rack over a pan. From there, smoke it. I like a 250° - 300° smoke for about 2 hours. Heavy smoke is good. Internal temp "should" get to 160°, but I don't typically worry about it. It'll get to at least 135°, and if you want, finish it in a 250° oven to finish.
Let it cool, and slice to your desired thickness. Since the meat is already cooked, you don't have the same "raw bacon" considerations as you would otherwise. I've found that cooking in a low-heat skillet is best because the higher heat will scorch the sugars.
For mine, I use:
2.0% Kosher salt (I prefer Diamond Crystal flakes for this since they dissolve easier. But Mortons Kosher will be fine. So will sea salt or Himalayan Pink salt. Just don't use iodized table salt).
1.5% Dark Brown Sugar
0.25% Pink Curing Salt (sodium nitrite) --- Pink Curing Salt is NOT pink Himalayan salt
For buckboard bacon, assume you have a 3lb pork butt. 3lbs = 1,361 grams. Easy to convert your sale weight off the tag into grams.
From there, you need a kitchen scale. Mine is a 10lb scale. Work in grams, use a bowl, and zero out your weight on the scale.
0.25% by weight pink curing salt is 1,361 x 0.0025 = 3.4 grams. This is important as too much nitrite is considered toxic. Your pink salt number shouldn't exceed 5 grams, which often is about 1 teaspoon.
2.0% by weight Kosher Salt = 1,361 g * 0.020 = 27 grams
1.5% by weight dark brown sugar = 21 grams
That's the basic cure for anything I use. Pink Curing Salt is possibly available in the cooking section at Academy. If not, I use Butcher & Packer to order mine in Butcher & Packer Pink Curing Salt. You'll pay more for shipping than you will for the actual salt. I keep it stored in a glass jar.
Seasoning for me is always red pepper flakes, chopped garlic (one clove per lb of meat), 2-3 large bay leaves rough torn up, and as much fresh ground pepper as my forearms will tolerate. Usually it amounts to about 10 grams of pepper.
Mix your cure up with the seasoning, and liberally apply. For a roast this size, you're easily going to fit into a gallon ziploc bag. Cover the meat well, then dump the entirety from the bowl into the bag. Roll it around and refrigerate. It's going to release a good bit of liquid, so move it around each day so that it gets well covered. You'll need every bit of 10 days in the fridge with this method. Might ought to plan on 14 just to be sure.
After it's cured, rinse off the granular stuff (shouldn't be much) and pick off the bay leaves. You're not going for pristine clean, just get the gritty off if you can. I like to re-apply more black pepper at this point. Let it rest in the fridge for a few hours, up to a whole day, on a rack over a pan. From there, smoke it. I like a 250° - 300° smoke for about 2 hours. Heavy smoke is good. Internal temp "should" get to 160°, but I don't typically worry about it. It'll get to at least 135°, and if you want, finish it in a 250° oven to finish.
Let it cool, and slice to your desired thickness. Since the meat is already cooked, you don't have the same "raw bacon" considerations as you would otherwise. I've found that cooking in a low-heat skillet is best because the higher heat will scorch the sugars.
This isn't my recipe but a well known 1 that works for bacon or anything you want to cure, if bonein or a thick cut it's recommended to inject to make sure it reaches to the center, they do it with butts to make buckboard bacon or Canadian bacon . chicken or turkey or hams ect. I think I read it will penetrate 1/4" per day, I will use loin to make the Canadian bacon.
Last edited:
My method is dry-brine & hot smoke.
Most commercial bacon is wet brine & cold smoke
Any mix of the above will work perfectly fine, although I'm very partial to the dry curing method for pork. Grocery store bacon lets off a bunch of water when you cook it, and it's really soggy. Give the dry cure method a try
Most commercial bacon is wet brine & cold smoke
Any mix of the above will work perfectly fine, although I'm very partial to the dry curing method for pork. Grocery store bacon lets off a bunch of water when you cook it, and it's really soggy. Give the dry cure method a try
Harold Money jr
Well-Known Member
I'm gonna to expand my bacon making, the method I've used very successfully is the bearded butchers wet method in a meat lug stored in the refrigerator. I particularly like the celery salt for curing. (It might not be salt its celery something) turned out great!
Now that I have a chance to elaborate, "uncured" meat utilizes celery salt as its curing agent. The big not-so-secret secret is that celery salt = nitrite. But they aren't using a manmade nitrite, it's "natural". But the level of nitrite in celery can be wildly varying, so the thought is that using celery salt is less consistent than actually using the nitrite (without the celery)
But it's more expensive. And still nitrite. So it's still cured. But the hippies think they're doing themselves a favor, and the Whole Foods label maker is able to put a pricier sticker on nitrite-cured meat. 'Scuse me, "uncured bacon"
But it's more expensive. And still nitrite. So it's still cured. But the hippies think they're doing themselves a favor, and the Whole Foods label maker is able to put a pricier sticker on nitrite-cured meat. 'Scuse me, "uncured bacon"
TAFKAP is 100% correct and your better off using the cure that is of a known percentage. The brine I posted is a safe known recipe that you don't have to know the weight of the meat but it's at the lower safe limits. On anything to do with nitrites please stay safe by following known formulas.
With my calculated cure, time isn't an issue. It can go for days or (a couple) weeks.
With Mike243's wet brine, you can modify slightly by weighing out your water and adding it to the total calculation basis. 3000 g of meat + 3000 g of water = 6,000g calculation basis. 2% salt = 6000*0.02 = 120g, 1.5% sugar = 90g, and 0.025% pink salt = 15 g
When you calculate this out, it's called an "equalization" brine, where the salt content is fixed and will eventually even out between the meat and the water. If you have a highly concentrated salt brine, even if it's dry, your cure is time dependent because the salt-box method will over-cure the outside, then you pull the meat, and it redistributes internally . If you leave it too long, it's too salty. Not long enough, and it's under-cured
With Mike243's wet brine, you can modify slightly by weighing out your water and adding it to the total calculation basis. 3000 g of meat + 3000 g of water = 6,000g calculation basis. 2% salt = 6000*0.02 = 120g, 1.5% sugar = 90g, and 0.025% pink salt = 15 g
When you calculate this out, it's called an "equalization" brine, where the salt content is fixed and will eventually even out between the meat and the water. If you have a highly concentrated salt brine, even if it's dry, your cure is time dependent because the salt-box method will over-cure the outside, then you pull the meat, and it redistributes internally . If you leave it too long, it's too salty. Not long enough, and it's under-cured
