Smoked Canadian bacon.

[RJB]

So, I've never actually made bacon of any kind, but I've wanted to for a good while. Recently we made pizzas here at home and the wife had requested Canadian bacon. Well, I couldn't find any here locally that looked very good, what I found was kind of meh, to say the least. So, I'm going to make some.

My curing brine will consist of the following:

One gallon water.
3/4 cup salt.
3/4 cup white sugar.
1 tsp pepper corns.
3 bay leaves.
1 tbs garlic powder.
2 1/3 tsp #1 curing salt.

This should cure my 3 1/2 pound piece of pork loin. I'll leave it fully submerged in the brine in the fridge for 14 days, then I'll smoke it at 225 degrees till I reach an IT of 145.

[RJB]

Got the brine cooled and the curing salt dissolved in. The piece of pork loin is now in the solution and in the fridge.

[towtruck]

I want to see how this turns out......I want to start making pizza with my own smoked meats.....

[RJB]

I want to see how this turns out......I want to start making pizza with my own smoked meats.....

Well, we'll both know in two weeks.

Rick

[Pete Mazz]

Seems like a lot of cure. I thought it was 1 tsp/5 lbs meat.

[Dirtytires]

Gotta agree....that is a lot of Prague powder.

I make bacon from pork belly on a regular basis and the recipe is custom built each time based on the exact weight of the meat. My last batch was 9 pounds exactly and called for 2.25 tsp Prague powder. This is one of those things you don't want to guess with as too much is a bad thing for your health. I weigh my meat in grams after trimming and calculate the recipe each time.

My brine time is also dependent on thickness of meat. My last batch was 5 cm thick and brined for 5 days and 5 hours according to the recipe. I would definitely keep an eye out for bacteria or signs of spoiling and discard your experiment if needed.

Not trying to be critical but proper use of the curing agent is extremely important.

[RJB]

Seems like a lot of cure. I thought it was 1 tsp/5 lbs meat.

Hmmm.... perhaps I should look into this further. I was simply following a recipe I found on youtube that seemed to turnout really well for the guy who made it.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfzpJsZA8OU[/youtube]

[RJB]

Okay so I've been doing some further research into this subject, specifically the use of #1 curing salt, or Prague powder if you'd rather. I'm finding stuff thats all over the place. For instance I'm linking to yet another recipe that calls for 3 tablespoons of #1 pink curing salt for an 8 to 10 pound piece of pork loin.

https://nwedible.com/how-to-make-canadi ... n-at-home/

I'll continue my search I obviously don't wish to poison myself or my family. As always I appreciate everyones input.

Rick

[RJB]

So, I found another recipe for Canadian bacon (back bacon) on Steven Raichlen's web site. His recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of #1 pink salt for a 2 1/2 to 3 pound piece of pork loin. So I'm using the same basic ratio he is. Tho I should add he only brines his for 4 or 5 days as opposed to the 14 days I've been planning on.

Now, I haven't yet looked into recipes for pork belly bacon, I'd imagine the ratios/amounts for that would be different.

https://barbecuebible.com/recipe/canadian-bacon/

[RJB]

Okay, so I found yet another source of information on the making/curing of Canadian style bacon. It even has a handy calculator for discerning the amount of cure, water and other ingredients to use for a given weight and size (circumference) of your piece of pork loin.

According to the calculator found on this site I should of used perhaps a bit more curing salt. 2.6 teaspoons for my 3.5 pounds of pork loin. Geeze, as I said; the information out there is all over the place.

Mine is in the fridge so I'm not going to change anything. But, I think I'll be okay with what I've done. Fingers crossed.

Rick

https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/ ... con-recipe

[Big T]

The internet can drive you crazy with so much conflicting information. I've never personally cured any meat but I've always found the information from amazing ribs to be trustworthy. Good luck!

[RJB]

The internet can drive you crazy with so much conflicting information. I've never personally cured any meat but I've always found the information from amazing ribs to be trustworthy. Good luck!

I think it should prove interesting assuming I don't die.

[Pete Mazz]

Found this calc.
http://diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html

[RJB]

Found this calc.
http://diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html

That looks to be set up for pork belly bacon by the result I got. I need to find a good, in-depth book on curing.

Rick

[Pete Mazz]

It's just based on weight of meat.

[Dirtytires]

Since this is still an active topic, I broke down and looked up my recipe for Canadian bacon. It should be noted that the recipe stays constant except for the Prague powder which is adjusted for the exact weight of the meat. I convert everything to grams and then weigh the ingredients as you get some pretty weird amounts.

Based on a pork loin with a final trimmed weight of 3.5 pounds....
0.83 gal distilled water
1.9 tsp Prague powder
0.35 cup white sugar
0.35 cup kosher salt
0.5 test garlic powder

The brine time is based on the thickness of the meat. A 3" thick loin would cure for 6.9 days, a 3.25 inch thick loin would cure for 8.2 days and a 3.5 inch thick loin would cure for 9.5 days. (I can can calculate exact if you send me the thickness)

Not saying you're not correct, just wanted to give you another recipe that you can trust. I have not made this Canadian bacon recipe but it is presented by the same person that I get my maple syrup bacon recipe from and I trust it. In fact, I may just have to make up a batch of this as my wife loves it on her pizza....and I make awesome pizza! You sound like you are set for this batch but feel free to pm me if you have any questions.

Also, my recipe calls for smoking at 325 till 145 internal. It recommends the higher temp to avoid the "stall" and allows total smoke time to be about 90 minutes or so. Claims it helps prevent drying out of the meat with the shorter time.

[RJB]

Since this is still an active topic, I broke down and looked up my recipe for Canadian bacon. It should be noted that the recipe stays constant except for the Prague powder which is adjusted for the exact weight of the meat. I convert everything to grams and then weigh the ingredients as you get some pretty weird amounts.

Based on a pork loin with a final trimmed weight of 3.5 pounds....
0.83 gal distilled water
1.9 tsp Prague powder
0.35 cup white sugar
0.35 cup kosher salt
0.5 test garlic powder

The brine time is based on the thickness of the meat. A 3" thick loin would cure for 6.9 days, a 3.25 inch thick loin would cure for 8.2 days and a 3.5 inch thick loin would cure for 9.5 days. (I can can calculate exact if you send me the thickness)

Not saying you're not correct, just wanted to give you another recipe that you can trust. I have not made this Canadian bacon recipe but it is presented by the same person that I get my maple syrup bacon recipe from and I trust it. In fact, I may just have to make up a batch of this as my wife loves it on her pizza....and I make awesome pizza! You sound like you are set for this batch but feel free to pm me if you have any questions.

Also, my recipe calls for smoking at 325 till 145 internal. It recommends the higher temp to avoid the "stall" and allows total smoke time to be about 90 minutes or so. Claims it helps prevent drying out of the meat with the shorter time.

Oh hey, nice. I appreciate the input, DT.

As I've said, and you referred to, I'm going to go ahead and complete this experiment as planned per the recipe I first selected. Now the young man on the youtube video I obtained the recipe from seemed quite pleased with the outcome. Hopefully I have a similar result. I have noticed that his bill of ingredients looks to have more salt and sugar than about any other I've seen to date. I'm praying this doesn't turn out too salty, in fact before it goes on the smoker I'm going to rinse it well and soak it over night in clean, fresh water. I also am not crazy about the 14 day brine time. It seems to me now that the longer it sets in brine the greater the chance of something going wrong, plus its just a longer wait time and I can be notoriously impatient.

Looking at your recipe I see less of everything including brine time. I like that and will most likely give it a try on a second attempt.

Beyond just pizza I think Canadian bacon would be good for breakfast too. I routinely buy city hams on sale and take out as many slices as I can for frying for breakfast. I believe these cured pork loins will be similar to city ham with the added touch of more smoke flavor.

I'll keep this thread going till the end and will probable do a thread on pizza made with the final result as well. I make pizzas sometimes on my kamado grill using a ceramic pizza stone. They're pretty good but I'm still going to build a dedicated pizza/bread oven as part of my outdoor cookhouse I mentioned in my introductory post.

Rick

[Dirtytires]

Just my opinion, I would definitely rinse off the loin after brining (and the directions ask that as well) but would NOT re-soak it in water. Any excess salt on the surface will easily get rinsed away but soaking it in clean water is not going to pull any absorbed salt back out.

[RJB]

Well, its been two weeks! So I pulled this chunk of pork loin out of the fridge, rinsed it thoroughly and put it on the kamado.
I didn't season it further with anything, I'm just going to let a couple of hickory chunks flavor it. I'll get this off when I reach an IT of 145.

[RJB]

Okay, I hit an IT that varied from 144 to 151 so I pulled it off and am letting it cool.

[RJB]

Well I'm going to call this experiment a success. This tastes really good. Not too salty, tho next time I think I'll use a fruit wood like apple or cherry instead of the hickory. I'm looking forward to trying this out with some eggs tomorrow for breakfast.

[Big T]

It certainly looks good!

[RJB]

It certainly looks good!

Thanks T, it was an interesting experiment for sure.

Rick

[dacolson]

Interesting test. Based on all you’ve read since you started the cure, are there changes you’d make on the next one?

[RJB]

Interesting test. Based on all you’ve read since you started the cure, are there changes you’d make on the next one?

Dave I think I'd like to try something that took less time and less salt. I'd also smoke it with either a fruit wood or maple. The hickory is more robust than this needs. Dirtytires shared a recipe in the thread I'm probably going to try to see if I like the result better as well.

Rick