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Canadian Bacon
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Hoser View Drop Down
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    Posted: 26 February 2013 at 02:01
Well the powers that be out here finally put whole pork loins on sale this week for $1.88 so I figured it's about time to make some Canadian bacon.


As you can see, it's a good sized loin (9 lb) so I decided to portion it up and freeze a bit of it.

From left to right a nice roast, 4 thick cut chops, and two pieces to be cured on the far right.


I'm using tenderquick to cure, with some turbinado sugar added, and a host of other spices as well...I don't remember for sure where I got this recipe, but it may be from Shooter Rick.

Of course I trimmed the fat so the cure will be directly on the meat surface, and gave it a good rub...also added some dried basil, granulated garlic, cayenne pepper and coarse black pepper to the mix. I was toying with the idea of adding some very strong grade B maple syrup to one of the pieces, but was afraid it might get too sweet. I may still open one up and do that for one or two days of the4 cure.

Measured the pieces to calculate the cure time ....first piece (slightly smaller) will cure in 5 days and the second in 6. I always add 2 days to the cure time for safeties sake, so they will be in the fridge for 8 days before smoking.



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Isn't that done yet?
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LOL....The waiting is the hardest part!Wink
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Looking good so far, Dave -
 
I've got a 2-pound Canadian bacon that is going to be smoked this weekend, in apple-wood, for my appelfläsk project. I'm really looking forward to trying the new Amaze-N-Smoker That I got from Marty and Tanya Owens at www.owensbbq.com.
 
 
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Originally posted by TasunkaWitko TasunkaWitko wrote:

Looking good so far, Dave -
 
I've got a 2-pound Canadian bacon that is going to be smoked this weekend, in apple-wood, for my appelfläsk project. I'm really looking forward to trying the new Amaze-N-Smoker That I got from Marty and Tanya Owens at www.owensbbq.com.
 
 

Ron...you are absolutely going to fall in love with the amaze-n-smoker. I love mine and use it all the time. I will cold smoke my CB for about 12 hours and then light the gosm and slowly bring it to temp of about 145°-150°
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Originally posted by Hoser Hoser wrote:

Originally posted by TasunkaWitko TasunkaWitko wrote:

Looking good so far, Dave -
 
I've got a 2-pound Canadian bacon that is going to be smoked this weekend, in apple-wood, for my appelfläsk project. I'm really looking forward to trying the new Amaze-N-Smoker That I got from Marty and Tanya Owens at www.owensbbq.com.
 
 

Ron...you are absolutely going to fall in love with the amaze-n-smoker. I love mine and use it all the time. I will cold smoke my CB for about 12 hours and then light the gosm and slowly bring it to temp of about 145°-150°

yup it is a great product love it too good for smoking salmon( low heat) 
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Well we pulled the CB out of the cure yesterday and it was looking very nice.
It attained a nice color after an 8 day cure.


Rinsed it off really well and then let it dry as I sliced and did a quick fry pan test.
YUM! Just right...not too salty but just enough. Nice and pink all the way to the middle...cure penetrated just as it should.


Ok...into the fridge it went for 18 hours to build up some pellicle, and then we fired up my favorite toy...my a-maz-n-smoker that I got from Tod. Gave it cold smoke for about 8 hours and then lit the GOSM and slowly brought it up to 152° F internal.


It's been in the fridge overnight again firming up ...today we'll slice and vacuum seal for storage.
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Looks really good, Dave -
 
I smoked mine last weekend with a simple dusting of cracked pepper; it got at least 8 hours over my AMNPS, with apple smoke. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of coming down with a bad virus on the same day, so I wasn't able to do anything with the Canadian bacon after that, just put it in a ziplock bag and into the refrigerator to firm up and equalise the smoke flavours. I cold-smoked mine, so it will need to actually be cooked when I use it for my Äppelfläsk project, slated for this weekend.
 
As I recall, TenderQuick is a product you don't use too often - how did you like it for this project? To me, it is an easy product to use, with no hassles and consistent results, especially for large, whole cuts of meats.
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You know Ron...I just may be a convert to the Tenderquick system. Didn't have to soak the bacon at all before smoking, it was right on. It will take me a few more projects before I make up my mind for sure.
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And finally...all sliced into 1/4" pieces and packaged for storage or delivery. LOL...seems I always wind up giving half of it away in care packages.
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G'morning, Dave - it looks like this Canadian bacon turned out very well! I am a believer in the TenderQuick, and am very glad that it worked with its usual near-perfect results!
 
If you want to feel like a Swede, that Canadian bacon would work really well for Äppelfläsk ~ Wink
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Don't know if I want to feel like a Swede, Ron.
 
But there was that blue-eyed, blond-headed goddess on the beach once.....uh, oh. Better quit right there. Cool
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I have to ask!  What is Canadian bacon????

I live in Canada and I have never heard of it.

We have normal belly bacon, and "peameal" which is a pork loin, cured & then rolled in cornmeal.
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Darko, In the States, bacon made from the loin is referred to as Canadian bacon.
 
I suppose, by all rights, it should be called "Canadian style bacon," and maybe it was at one time. Typically, what we have here is not rolled in cornmeal.
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My first try at Canadian bacon this week, I did a 4 lb loin (after trimming).  Started the cure using Tender Quick last Monday.  Today I took it out of the bags rinsed it well and then took a slice from each piece and fried them (I had split it into two pieces). I did half of it based loosely on Dave's recipe here using dark Muscovado sugar and some herbs and spices and when I fried a slice it tasted fantastic.  The other half I used only the Tender Quick and no sugar and it tasted very salty, I'm guessing sugar is needed to balance the salt.  I soaked that half in cold water for an hour hoping to remove some of the salt.  I smoked them over apple pellets and then kicked up the heat and got them to 145 degrees.  Just took them off the smoker and they are in the fridge cooling.   Haven't tasted them yet after smoking and cooking.  
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I've never cured loins, Andy. But with hams, if you don't include some sugar in the mix the salt draws out so much moisture that the meat turns brick hard.

I don't know the chemistry behind this, but the sugar helps keep the meat softer.
But we hae meat and we can eat
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Thanks Brooke,

I agree, the sugar is apparently an integral part of the process and the half I cured using only the cure was hard when it came out of the bag.  After soaking for an hour then smoking it and cooking the result is very nice, not salty at all and very good.

I'm new to curing meats and have a lot to learn but look forward to the journey.
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Keep us in the loop with your experiments, Andy. I'm sure lots of members would like to share the journey with you.
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Originally posted by HistoricFoodie HistoricFoodie wrote:

Darko, In the States, bacon made from the loin is referred to as Canadian bacon.
 
I suppose, by all rights, it should be called "Canadian style bacon," and maybe it was at one time. Typically, what we have here is not rolled in cornmeal.
See, that's where I'm having an issue. I've never seen smoked pork loin sold as bacon? We do have normal belly bacon, and we have the loin cured (not smoked) and then rolled in cornmeal(although, that's wrong. It should be rolled in yellow pea meal).
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Originally posted by AK1 AK1 wrote:

See, that's where I'm having an issue. I've never seen smoked pork loin sold as bacon? We do have normal belly bacon, and we have the loin cured (not smoked) and then rolled in cornmeal(although, that's wrong. It should be rolled in yellow pea meal).

Depends on a lot of things ... where you are (East - West) .... the demographics ... the butcher .. the cliental ... where you (family) come from ... and possibly a host of other things ..

As for pork loin cured and sold as bacon and to boot .. smoked ... and that would be 'cold smoked' which is the correct way ... I do about 100 kg a week and thats not including the non smoked stuff Smile

Traditional English Gammon shortback bacon ... cold smoked 


    
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