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Cured Meats & Food Preservation => Cured meats & Food Preservation => Charcuterie: Ham, Bacon, Sausage, etc. => Topic started by: Pam Gould on September 29, 2017, 10:47:02 AM

Title: Need help with Canadian bacon recipe
Post by: Pam Gould on September 29, 2017, 10:47:02 AM
Hi..I'm making a pork loin into Canadian bacon. I don't like the maple syrup in it so I left it out..will it be OK? I think O got the recipe from in here and it sounded real good, so I'm experimenting..was also surprised it had no peppercorns in it. Can I add some of fresh cracked ones. I love lots of pepper in my ground sausage and sausage gravy. Thanks in advance ..Pam   .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.
Title: Re: Need help with Canadian bacon recipe
Post by: rexster314 on September 29, 2017, 01:24:37 PM
Dry or wet cure?

Dry, you can pretty much put anything in the cure you want with good results. Sometimes I'll dust cracked black pepper on the loin before putting in the smoker

Wet cure, nothing will stick to the meat, and you'll have to at least double up on the condiments you put in the brine.

For me, I have been dry curing for about 5 years
Title: Re: Need help with Canadian bacon recipe
Post by: Pam Gould on September 29, 2017, 01:26:34 PM
I am doing a wet brine for 72 hours then drying in frig for 24 hours before smoking..I think I will fc pepper before smoking. Thanks   .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.
Title: Re: Need help with Canadian bacon recipe
Post by: teesquare on September 29, 2017, 07:08:19 PM
If you let the pellicle form well ( the sticky surface which remains after wet brining - as it is drying) - you can get anything to stick. I like to roll mine in red pepper flake - then smoke. About half of it will remain on the loin. I could see using some Italian herbs, rosemary, whatever you like.....
Title: Re: Need help with Canadian bacon recipe
Post by: Pam Gould on October 03, 2017, 09:48:29 AM
Hi..I'm making a pork loin into Canadian bacon. I don't like the maple syrup in it so I left it out..will it be OK? I think O got the recipe from in here and it sounded real good, so I'm experimenting..was also surprised it had no peppercorns in it. Can I add some of fresh cracked ones. I love lots of pepper in my ground sausage and sausage gravy. Thanks in advance ..Pam   .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.
Thanks Tee.. I am letting it sit in frig for 24 hours then will smoke with the fresh cracked pepper. Starting this afternoon.   .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.
Title: Re: Need help with Canadian bacon recipe
Post by: Pam Gould on October 04, 2017, 08:27:10 AM
I got my Canadian bacon done and it is pretty...the only thing is that it is a lil salty...not bad, but I was thinking that maybe if I cut back on the salt in the brine and maybe some of the pink salt also. Not sure how much to cut back. But will definately be doing this again..gotta get the slicer out and work it up. .  .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.
Title: Re: Need help with Canadian bacon recipe
Post by: akruckus on October 04, 2017, 01:34:35 PM
When I did bacon with a dry brine I used 1/4 cup instead of 1/3 cup (4-5# slab), but left the pink salt as is. Not sure about a wet brine but I would leave the pink salt as is.

That looks really good.  I bet some egg ebennies would be darn tasty with some of that!
Title: Re: Need help with Canadian bacon recipe
Post by: Pam Gould on October 04, 2017, 06:12:28 PM
Thanks Akruckus...will try that and leave the pink salt alone..I forget who posted the recipe but it's a good one specially with poached eggs for breakfast..thanks again.   .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.
Title: Re: Need help with Canadian bacon recipe
Post by: Juste on November 17, 2017, 06:45:16 PM
​Canadian Bacon
 
- 7-8 lb. Pork loin roast
- 1 Gallon water
 
- Curing ingredients,
- 3 oz Con Yeager Curing Salt or comparable brand (it is pink, and should contain 6.25% sodium nitrite.) If you use Morton’s Tender quick, use their directions…I believe they do not use the additional pickling salt, but check to be sure!
- 1 cup Pickling Salt or Kosher salt
- 3 bay leaves
- 1.25 cups brown sugar
- 3 garlic cloves (whole)
- 3 tablespoons of My Rub
- 1 tablespoon juniper berries, slightly crushed
- 1/2 tablespoon black peppercorns
 
Oh, a quick note on the curing agent; it is intentionally dyed pink so that it is not mistaken for 'regular' salt.
 
First of all, use a non-reactive pot to make your brine in…no aluminum or cast iron. In addition, the same goes for your brining container, I use a large Tupperware like container (big enough to hold a loin cut into 2 equal pieces comfortably.
 
Bring all ingredients together with the 1 gallon of water and boil hard for about 10 minutes to ensure everything is dissolved and flavors captured from the garlic, bay leaves berries and peppercorns.
 
Remove pot from heat, strain curing brine if you prefer (I do not), and let cool to 38°F, which is your ideal temp. (I put mine on the deck overnight to cool, so as not to melt everything in the fridge!) Add the loin(s) and weigh down with a plate if necessary to ensure they remain submerged in the brine.
 
If using large loins, you can use a cooks' syringe to inject strained curing brine into the heart of the meat every 2” along the length to ensure complete curing. With the ones pictured here, I just did a straight soak for 4-6 days. If using multiple pieces of pork that might be resting on each other, it wouldn't hurt to flip them within the brine about halfway through the curing process to allow brine to reach all surface area of the meat.
 
After the 4-6 days of soaking, remove the pork loins from the curing brine. At this point they can be rinsed/soaked in clean, cold water to remove some of the saltiness of the brine (I did this for 30 minutes). Depending on your taste/tolerance of the salt content in cured meat, you may want to skip this step entirely or soak/rinse for up to 2 hours (change the water a couple of times if going this length of time).
 
Next, pat the loins dry with paper towel and put in fridge overnight till a dry pellicle (crust) results. Apply a thin coating of yellow mustard followed by the CB Rub (or your Rub)
 
Now if you want the canadian bacon to be nice and round, you must use a salami net or truss it with butcher string, although it doesn’t affect the taste one smidgen either way!
 
Prepare an indirect fire in your smoker, aiming for a temperature of 225°F. Use the smokewood of your choice. I've chosen to go with a few good-sized chunks of hickory and a chunk of cherry/apple or pear (no mesquite!)
 
The target internal temperature of the cook will be determined largely by your finished intention for the pork loins. If you are looking for a breakfast bacon to be fried before eating, then an internal of 140-145°F will be ideal. For a finished fully-cooked product, keep cooking to internal of 155-160°F.
 
The loins came off the cooker at 145°F internal, as it's my intention to use them as a breakfast bacon. After the Canadian Bacon is cooled I scrub most of the rub off with my bare hands under the kitchen faucet and dry with a paper towel, it just makes slicing the bacon slippery if you don’t, it already has done it’s job, and leaving it on just makes for a messy time trying to cut and shrink wrap. I don‘t slice all my bacon up like some people, I eyeball it and try to cut into one pound hunks before I wrap.
 
The bacon can be fried up immediately or kept in the fridge with much the same shelf-life as other commercial cured bacons. It also freezes well.
 
For breakfast bacon, fry the cured pork loins using a bit of (butter/lard/oil/Pam) for a just a bit over medium heat until outside caramelizes a little and loins are heated through. Remember it was already cooked once.For paninis, I like it sliced real thin and piled high.
 
I think you will like this version, it’s also great on pizza or my breakfast panini, or even good cold on stone ground crackers with coarse mustard and peppercinis!