Loin ham (AKA Canadian Bacon) for slicing.Sam's had, fresh - all natural - boneless pork loins for $2.28/lb. This was a 7.6 pounder.
Most of the fat trimmed off & cut into three sections.
Brown sugar brine-cure.1.5 gallons filtered Water
1 1/4 cup Pickling/Canning Salt
2 cups Brown Sugar
6 tsp. Cure #1 (6.25% Sodium Nitrite)
► Inject at a 30% rate (that equals: inject 4.8 liquid oz per each lb of meat)
To avoid boiling, use distilled or purified water and just mix vigorously in a tall stock pot for a couple minutes until all is dissolved (no waiting for it to cool).
Remember: if you do boil - DO NOT add the Nitrite Cure until AFTER the brine has cooled!
I love Maple ham, but the wife doesn't, so two sections were injected with the brown sugar brine. The third section also had 2 TBS. of Ohio Maple syrup mixed in the injection.
The remaining brine was poured into the container and it went into the fridge for 5-6 days (flipped/rotated once per day).
Catching some Apple & Hickory smoke on the MAK smoke mode (170°) until an Internal temp of 120° then the pit temp was bumped to 225 until the hams reached an I.T. of 150°
Vac-pack & put in the fridge to rest for 48 hours to let the smoke permeate.
After the 2-day rest - ready for slicing.
We ended up with roughly 7 1/2 pounds of sliced ham, most of which got vac-packed & tossed in the freezer to pull out as needed.
The Best Part - The Final Cost:Whole Boneless Pork Loin (7.6 lbs) - $17.33
Salt/Sugar/Cure - approx. $2.00
Approx. 5 lb. Pellets - $5.00
Total cost - $24.33That works out to a meager
$3.20/lb. Well worth the time & effort considering I'd spend twice that amount
or more at the Deli for ham this good!
This was so worth doing!
