always kind of wondered about that. So i did . Yes you need to sort through it a bit. But I do like it and for me so far. Seems like a good value, anyone else?

Use bacon end 5 lbs value packs for grinding up with venison. It's makes for extra tasty venison.

My son discovered these just recently. He says they're great for mixing into one pot meals when he's camping.

I used to buy the 5 lb. value box and then divide it into smaller portions and freeze it. I haven't purchased raw bacon in decades now.

When I can find them cheaper I do buy them for using in the grind with sausage or mooseburger.

Lately if I can find them at all, they're more expensive that buying decent thick-cut bacon on sale.

I'm sure that's just a supply/market issue for us locally though.

I used to revel in the econo ends packages.
Haven't see such in years now.

I use bacon more often for seasoning meat for greens, green beans and pintos, etc. The “ends and pieces” are great for this, and they also work well for eating if you aren’t worried about having perfect “strips.”

If you're planning on chopping/cutting up your bacon and mixing it into a dish, I opt to use ends/pieces. Lately, the only time I've bought bacon is if I have guests over; I'm good with the menagerie of uneven pieces you get with ends, I like the variety.

Before they stopped, Trader Joe's Uncured Pieces was my favorite. Most brands, ends/pieces have big hunks of fat with 'some' meat; cheating on weight. I like Hempler's, which tends to be a bit leaner than the cheaper brands but, by no means is lacking in fat and has a flavor I like.

Slight thread drift:

I’ve been buying Hemplers Brand Center Cut Shoulder Bacon link

It’s more or less round cut bacon, or close to it, to oval etc. They also list it as European Bacon. Great also on burgers and sandwiches. I’ve been making my own homemade versions of the Egg McMuffin in a variety of styles with the different ingredients. Sausage, bacon, smoked salmon, lox & cream cheese, avocado, various cheeses, capers etc etc etc.

This is good bacon. I’ve been getting it at Sam’s. They have a locator on their website for retailers near you.
.

I started making my own a little while back. This is what they call buckboard bacon made from pork shoulder (Boston butt). It really isn't that hard to make if you are willing to invest a little time.

Daaaaaahhhhhaaaaaaammmmmm Doug. Tell us what to buy and how to proceed. I am on board. That looks absolutely awesome. You da man!

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Daaaaaahhhhhaaaaaaammmmmm Doug. Tell us what to buy and how to proceed. I am on board. Tha
t looks absolutely awesome. You da man!

I will go into more detail tomorrow, well, later today on how to make it.

Younger days I liked bacon ends for beans, German potato salad, etc

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Daaaaaahhhhhaaaaaaammmmmm Doug. Tell us what to buy and how to proceed. I am on board. That looks absolutely awesome. You da man!

I'm on board right behind him. I'm in Bacon Envy.

I like to grab a package of it for camping trips; it can keep the Dutch Oven lubed up all weekend.
s

quote:

Originally posted by DennisM:

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Daaaaaahhhhhaaaaaaammmmmm Doug. Tell us what to buy and how to proceed. I am on board. That looks absolutely awesome. You da man!

I'm on board right behind him. I'm in Bacon Envy.

How about I start with what you need to do it, and then go into the how to?

What you need:
Instacure #1, may also be called Prague powder #1 or may just be called cure#1 ... 6.25% Sodium Nitrite, it's all the same stuff. You do not want anything that says Cure#2 for bacon. Cure#2 is mainly for things like fermented sausages and the like that are going to cure over a long period.

A good scale. I'm not fond of the metric system, but it is the easiest system to use when calculating the amounts of the ingredients that you will need, so a scale that has the capacity to weigh in grams, down to the hundredths of a gram, as well as be able to go high enough to weigh the meat. I have one scale that will handle any piece of meat I want to cure, but it only weighs in whole grams. I use my reloading scale, which does grains and grams for weighing out cure, salt, sugar, etc.

You need a hunk of boneless pork shoulder (Boston butt). You can either buy a boneless pork shoulder(Boston butt) roast, or buy a whole bone in Boston butt (same piece of meat you make pulled pork from), debone it, and cut to size. I have been buying the boneless roasts when I find a good deal since it's less work Either way you go, you want a slab between 2 and 3 inches thick. If you go beyond 3 inches in thickness, the cure really needs to be injected into the meat.

Plain old salt. Not iodized table salt, but any other salt that doesn't contain iodine. Kosher, sea, non iodized table salt, whatever, so long as it's pure salt.

Sugar: I use dark brown sugar in my cures, but that's my preference. You can use plain white sugar, light brown, turbinado, sugar in the raw, etc. I'm pretty sure you could use splenda or other sugar substitutes, but I haven't done it.

Refrigerator space! This hunk of meat is going to be curing for 2 weeks in your fridge, and again for a few days after it's smoked.

This probably should have been at the top of the list ... a way to smoke the meat once it's cured. Ideally something you can keep the temps around or below 160 degrees. You need to smoke the bacon without rendering the fat. Right now I'm using my Camp Chef pellet grill, which will run at 160 at the lowest setting, and it does a decent job of it. I plan on doing a smokehouse build this spring to give me more flexibility, temp wise, but what I have makes good bacon.

There are a lot more variables like hot smoking vs warm smoking vs cold smoking, but what I've detailed here is enough to get y'all making bacon.

If y'all are still on board, I'll go into how to calculate the amount of cure#1, salt, and sugar.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DougE,

So I guess nobody really want's to make their own?