Knowing that cure #1 contains 6.25% sodium nitrite (NaNO2) and that Hi Mountain BBB cure contains 0.70% NaNO2, I calculated that I would need to use 2.36331% to arrive at the same amount of NaNO2 as in cure #1. Also, I did not want to go over 1.8% salt content and it just so happens that Hi Mountain BBB cure has 704mg sodium per 2.27 grams which equates to 1.8% salt when using a total of 2.36331% cure mix which is perfect.
Hi Mountain BBB cure consists of salt, brown sugar, sugar, maple sugar and sodium nitrite so nothing else is really needed. Here's the amounts I used with excellent results:
Hi Mountain Buckboard Bacon cure mix_________________ 2.36331%__(23.6g/Kg meat)
Ice Water________________________________________ 8%_______(80ml/Kg meat)
Butcher & Packer Special Meat Binder (phosphates)_______0.5%_______(5g/Kg meat)
Mix above into ground meat of your choice until quite sticky. Then press firmly into a loaf pan that is lined with plastic wrap. Keep the loaf at 2" thick. I used a 9" x 12" loaf pan which was just the right size and could handle probably 5 lbs of ground meat.
Place loaf in refrigerator at least overnight and up to 24 hours.
Unwrap loaf and place on smoker screen and place in smoker. Heat loaf with NO smoke for 2 hours at 120° to 130° F until dry on the surface.
Apply smoke (I used apple pellets in my Amazing pellet smoker) for 2 to 3 hours and a temperature of 155° F.
Stop smoke and increase smoker temperature to 175° F until internal meat temperature is 150° F.
Cool to room temperature and then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. The next day, slice to desired thickness and package.
Cook ground meat bacon just like you would real bacon. It will keep its shape and not shrink much. The flavor, if using ground pork, is exactly like real bacon. Give it a try.
My next venture is to come up with the proper amounts of brown sugar and maple sugar to add to salt and cure #1 to make it taste similar to Hi Mountain's cure mix.
1.2Kg ground pork butt (lighter color) and 900 g 80/20 ground beef (darker color) in 9 x 12 plastic wrap lined pan
After overnight rest in fridge, bacon loaf placed in smoker. Note I sprinkled freshly ground black pepper on the top of loaf.
Finished loaf. Waiting for it to cool to room temp and then will wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Sliced up. The darker colored slices are the ground beef ones.
Waffles with eggs and ground pork bacon. Tastes just like real bacon! Thanks for looking.
