BBB-Corned Beef-Pastrami: The cure for a November day-[PRON Heavy}

[Plowboy]

I really like your pastrami rub. That sounds killer.

 

[SirPorkaLot]

I really like your pastrami rub. That sounds killer.

It was even better than it sounds. I am hoping for a meat slicer for Christmas, and I will be making a lot more of that

Just picked up the cure its called Legg's old Plantation Seasonings by AC Legg Inc. Its a 6.25% cure. Says 1 OZ is for 25 LBS of meat. Since i am doing only 8 pound butt, i was thinking maybe i should wet cure it? Is it possible? Any downsides? What should the recipe be? Same amount of time?

Thank you!

1 OZ = 2 Tablespoons. I am not familiar with that brand, but I would think that is pretty strong stuff for a mere OZ to cure 25lbs of meat.
I would cut it proportionately - 8/25 = .32. .32 of an ounce = .64 or a little over half of 1 tablespoon.

It seems to me that if you cook it too high of a temp you'll end up with more of a ham than BBB... Maybe someone else can correct me on that??

True that. You can also over cure it and have a very hammy taste

Great looking eats! Personally when it comes to Buckboard Bacon i would not even fry it, looks too delicious coming out the smoker!

I am extremely interested in making it and if you don't mind i have couple of question about it.

1. Do you de-bone the meat before you cure it? Yes
a. is it a good idea too? Make it easier to slice
2. Is there a need to cut it in half, to make the meat thinner? - looked kind of thin in the picture. I did not cut mine in half, after I deboned it I molded it into a ziplock baggie and put it into a pan with weight on it to give it a narrow profile
3. You said 12 -14 days is good curing, is there some kind of suggestion on how long to cure it by pound? I bought a 9 pound boston butt (with bone) for .99 cent a pound! Its not too big is it? How long should i cure it? Nope not to big. I could have cured mine for less time, but it was at my convenience
4. Also, it looks like the sell by date on it, is withing couple of days, will it be an issue since i will be curing it well past that date? Nope, should not be an issue.
5. You also recommended smoking it at 175F - I will be cooking it in my UDS and have quite a bit of cooking space, therefore i was thinking of smoking some ribs or something else with it? Will it be an issue if i am using this temp? Ribs would not be cured.
I agree with that the lower temperature you smoke it, the betterer. i wouldn't go past 175 - 150 is better, my smoker just won't idle that low
Sorry to bombard you with questions, i am just extremely excited to try this, I've been doing some hot smoking on my freshly build UDS (thanks to the other threads!) And this seems like a perfect step towards cold smoking.

Thank you!

 

[pomah25]

It was even better than it sounds. I am hoping for a meat slicer for Christmas, and I will be making a lot more of that


1 OZ = 2 Tablespoons. I am not familiar with that brand, but I would think that is pretty strong stuff for a mere OZ to cure 25lbs of meat.
I would cut it proportionately - 8/25 = .32. .32 of an ounce = .64 or a little over half of 1 tablespoon.



True that. You can also over cure it and have a very hammy taste

Thank you again!!! If i use .64 of a table spoon, how do i make sure i have enough cure to cover the whole cut of meat? Or is that not important with a powerful curing salt? Should i cover it all up with salt to be safe (prevent bacteria growth - since i will not be frying it)? I was also thinking of using your rub of brown sugar instead of maple syrup, gp, op, bp + maybe chilly pepper, will that be an issue with that cure? As far as time, they say 2 days per pound of meet, is that a good estimate? I will try smoking it at 150 - in this cold, keeping low temp should not be a challenge . You would still recommend dry cure correct?

Thank you so much in advance!

 

[SirPorkaLot]

I do not use the curing salt by itself, it is just an ingredient in the rub.
Also I re-applied the curing rub halfway through my cure time (per thirdeye's recommendation) to make sure all was well.

I would still recommend a dry cure, but only because I have no experience with a wet cure.
if it is 9 lbs with bone it will be much less after it is deboned. Mine started out as a 8lb bone-in butt

 

[pomah25]

Well did the deed last night. First thing first, i wish i would of looked up how to debone pork butt. I butchered the hell out of it (and not in the good way). So after i removed the fatcap, trimmed some additional fat and deboned (if you can call it that) i was looking at a 4.5 pound of butt. Threw the bone with way more meat then it should've had in the crock pot to make sure nothing was wasted.

Covered the 4.5 pounds in a little more then a third of table spoon of cure (tried to give as much coverage as i could) rubbed the hell of it. Then i made my rub it consisted of Brown Sugar, GP, OP, BP and Kosher Salt (add a small dash of cumin and cayenne pepper) rubbed the butt in that. I have a really nice maple syrup that was a gift, but did not want to break it out on the test run. Threw it in a ziplock bag and the fridge... 2 days per pound so i am thinking 9 days to cure.

Next steps i guess: After curing period, soak it in fresh water for couple hours, patt it dry, let it dry (uncovered) in the fridge for a day. Then smoking and one more day of rest. Should be ready to eat 28/29th. If i don't get sick or die, will share it with other two days later, wish me lukc! I will still take any advice you have

Should i reapply cure again half way through the process? Was not sure, sicne i am using a pure pink salt and its very concentrated. What will happen if i use too much cure?

Thanks again, i took some pron, will post after the process is done (assuming i will live to talk about it)

 

[pomah25]

Well did the deed last night. First thing first, i wish i would of looked up how to debone pork butt. I butchered the hell out of it (and not in the good way). So after i removed the fatcap, trimmed some additional fat and deboned (if you can call it that) i was looking at a 4.5 pound of butt. Threw the bone with way more meat then it should've had in the crock pot to make sure nothing was wasted.

Covered the 4.5 pounds in a little more then a third of table spoon of cure (tried to give as much coverage as i could) rubbed the hell of it. Then i made my rub it consisted of Brown Sugar, GP, OP, BP and Kosher Salt (add a small dash of cumin and cayenne pepper) rubbed the butt in that. I have a really nice maple syrup that was a gift, but did not want to break it out on the test run. Threw it in a ziplock bag and the fridge... 2 days per pound so i am thinking 9 days to cure.

Next steps i guess: After curing period, soak it in fresh water for couple hours, patt it dry, let it dry (uncovered) in the fridge for a day. Then smoking and one more day of rest. Should be ready to eat 28/29th. If i don't get sick or die, will share it with other two days later, wish me lukc! I will still take any advice you have

Should i reapply cure again half way through the process? Was not sure, sicne i am using a pure pink salt and its very concentrated. What will happen if i use too much cure?

Thanks again, I took some pron, will post after the process is done (assuming i will live to talk about it)

Sorry took so long, but finally got the pics downloaded to my pc. I did realize i don't have a pic of the cooked product sliced open... sorry.

Did not even bother cooking it, just sliced it and ate. Buckboard bacon was absolutely fantastic! Thanks to everyone who provided feedback and special thanks to SirPorkaLot for inspiration!

In couple of weeks i will try pastrami and BBB out of pork loin

 

[SirPorkaLot]

Sorry took so long, but finally got the pics downloaded to my pc. I did realize i don't have a pic of the cooked product sliced open... sorry.

Did not even bother cooking it, just sliced it and ate. Buckboard bacon was absolutely fantastic! Thanks to everyone who provided feedback and special thanks to SirPorkaLot for inspiration!

In couple of weeks i will try pastrami and BBB out of pork loin

Glad it worked out for you.
It does look delicious