The Other Bacons

I notice that all our bacon discussions focus on pork bellies. That stands to reason, being as pork belly is the most familiar bacon to most of us.

Back when I was making my own, we cured more than just the bellies to make bacon.

Jowl bacon used to be fairly common, at least in the South. And it can still be found in many markets. Less known is bacon made from the hog's neck. I've never seen a commercial version of this, which is a shame, because it makes a really nice bacon.

I've heard of, but have never experienced, bacon made from the butt. Given the ratio of fat to lean in the butt, that has always sounded intriguing.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has experimented with these cuts, and, if so, did you use a cure other than the one you use for belly?

I've made "buckboard" bacon, which is butt bacon and "Canadian" bacon from loin both really good. A little more "hammie" than belly bacon.
I've heard of people making beef bacon but I haven't tried that.....yet.
I've also seen turkey bacon, haven't tried that either.

I've also done "buckboard" bacon...from the shoulder, and like Mark says it's a bit more like ham than like bacon, but very tasty and quite easy to do.

HistoricFoodie wrote: Unfortunately, nowadays, many cuts are unavailable unless you start with a live animal and do your own butchering. My understanding is that the necks, commercially, are used to produce ground pork. Just as, in the South, beef ribs are all but unobtainable because they strip the meat and use it for ground beef.

  I've got half of Berkshire ready in January.  This one will be my half, instead of splitting it, so I'll be able to specify how it's butchered.  Getting hocks, back fat, etc is all in how I order it.  I'll certainly give it a try...if nothing else I could smoke it and use like hocks.