Note: This product was purchased by me personally. No payment (or even contact) was made by the company, other than to state my order was received and the tracking info on the shipment. This is an unbiased, unpaid opinion.  MY opinion.

A while back, I purchased some cure kits from Hi Mountain, based on advice from my meat pro, BlueTang. He wanted to try out some Buckboard bacon cure, so I purchased it for him. Knowing how he operates, I knew I’d be sampling it anyway, may as well help a brother out.

A most excellent move on my part.

BlueTang seems a bit compulsive to outsiders in the fact that he normally have as many as 5-10 pork butts in his freezer at any one time. Seems like overkill to the unknowing, but there IS a method to his madness.

• First, buying in bulk gets him a better price. Smart.
• Second, trichinosis a disease caused by eating undercooked meat containing cysts of Trichinella spiralis, can be prevented by freezing the pork for a month or so. Buy buying in bulk, and freezing it, he’s preventing a nasty disease in the case of eating undercooked pork.
• Third, he just likes pork. Can’t say that I blame him.
• Fourth, he tends to use me as a test-tester, and knows how much I can eat. Joyous!

So a couple weeks ago, he decided it was time to try out some buckboard bacon.

The process is fairly simple, he told me. Trim the bone out, remove the excess fat, saving it for future ground pork products, of course, since pork fat can be hard to find. Apply proper amount of cure (based on weight). Wait ten days. Rinse. Soak. Rinse. Smoke off. Call me over to taste it.

“You now have the leanest and most flavorful bacon you ever ate.”

Seems like a pretty big brag…but after today, I’ll agree..it was fantastic!

BT sent some home with me, and I HAD to try it out as soon as I hit the door. As the cast iron skillet heated up, I opened the package.

Soon, the smell of cooking bacon permeated the house. The subtle smoke aroma mixed with the heating grease made for an intoxicating combination. OK, maybe not to a rabbit…but the carnivore in me wanted to HOWL! Oh how my mouth was watering….

BT informed me that the flavor changed depending on the method it was cooked, as well as how crispy it was cooked. I opted for a crispy profile, as I like it that way. Ok, I also like it slightly underdone. And ground up and added to coffee grounds. And dipped in butter. Or wrapped in bacon.

Or….bacon wrapped in bacon, and dipped in butter. Damn that sounds GOOD!

Sorry, got carried away with my Bacon Dreams.

So as it crisped up, I pulled it off to a plate to cool, then added more slices to the pan. As fast as I cooked it, it was eaten, first by me, then my wife, then my daughters, with the youngest starting to try to sneak more than her share away from me.

Watch as it cooks:

Needles to say, we ate it all. It was a bit on the salty side, but made for some fantastic bacon. I no sooner swallowed my lat bite, when i picked up the phone to call BT to rave about his product……and order some more from him. Just like a drug dealer, the first one was free 🙁  I’ve contracted him to make more for me….and I cannot wait for it. So much for calling in favors…

The Hi Mountain product itself is simply the spices and cure, along with the instructions. The 1lb box is enough to cure 25 pounds of lean meat. They also offer a bulk package of 5 pounds of spices and cure…enough for 125 pounds of bacon!

The price for the one pound kit is about the cost of a pound of high end of store bought bacon. Time to cure a product is about ten days. If you started now, it would be done in time for New Years Eve….and what better way to celebrate the new year than Bacon Flavored  champagne…..

So in closing, I’d say this,  Not only would I buy it again, but the 5lb bag sounds like a good item to stockpile….just in case!

Peace,
db