OK, technically, its not "belly" bacon - the kind we're all used to buying at the grocery store, but I'll put this up for flavor, texture, and quality over anything you can buy, anywhere!
This is called "buckboard bacon" and it's made from pork shoulder (Boston butt) as opposed to belly. It's a little leaner and cooks (renders, actually) in about half the time.
It's still cured and smoked, just like regular belly bacon, only Buckboard is "warm" smoked and belly bacon is usually cold smoked.
I also made about 3 pounds of Canadian Bacon (also called back bacon) which is made from the loin. It's very lean and fully cooked.
Started with half a loin - trimmed - for the Canadian Bacon (about 4lbs), and a half a boneless Butt for the buckboard (7lbs).
Used Hi-Mountain cure and let them sit in the fridge for 2 weeks in vacuum bags, turning the bags over every few days.
After two weeks, I took them out of their brine, soaked them in cold water for a few hours to remove the salt layer from the surface, and rinsed completely. Then patted dry and git them ready to put on the smoker.
Ran the smoker for 30 minutes with no smoke to make sure the surface of the meat was dry at 150º, then bumped to 175º and added oak and apple wood to begin the smoking process.
When the Internal temp of the meat was at 155º for the Canadian and 140º for the Buckboard (about 6 hours), I took them off the smoker, wrapped, and rested.
First slice of the Buckboard. Perfectly cured and smoked.
Used the electric deli-style slicer to get nice, even pieces. Ended up with 60 slices of Canadian, and enough buckboard to separate into eight 1/2lb bags.
I put six 10-count packs of Canadian: Bagged, marked, and ready for the freezer.
This is my second time making both of these. I had made buckboard once before and smoked it at too high a temperature. They ended up being a little chewy... This time I kept a very low temp in the smoker and when these were rendered - I HAD to test them! - they were perfect. Smokey and tender!
The Canadian was perfect. And now I have plenty to last me for a while.
Bon Apetit. And Have Fun Storming the Castle!
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