Pork Loin into Canadian Bacon

[SuperDave]

I bought my pork loin this morning on sale at Cash & Carry for $1.77/lbs.  The plan is to make some Canadian bacon or also known as back bacon.  The first step is to trim it up.  There is a fatty skin layer and then a sinew tissue layer.  The fatty skin layer comes off rather easily.

Sinew layer trimmed and loin ready to be split into 2" X 2" sections.

Strips in the brine bucket.

Meat will sit in brine a minimum of 48 hours.

Brine recipe:
1 gallon of water
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups kosher salt
8 teaspoons instacure powder #1
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 cup maple syrup

I simmered in 1 quart of water until salt & sugars are dissolved and then allow to cool.  Mix with 3 quarts of cold water and the brine is ready.  Put meat in the brine, weigh down with a plate if necessary and refrigerate.

 

[Barrel99]

Looking forward to see what you do with this.

 

[SuperDave]

C&C sucked me in for 20 lbs of cheese when I went in to get the loin so another cheese smoke looming out there too.  8)

 

[DivotMaker]

8 tsp. of #1 cure seems pretty hefty for a gallon of water.  I only use 3 (1 Tbsp.), but brine longer.  I guess that also explains the short 48-hour brine time.  Be interested to hear how this goes.  Is this an old recipe of yours, or something new?

 

[SuperDave]

Tony, one of the guys on my fishing board is supposed to be hard core into meat curing.  He thinks this book is one of the better ones out there.

 

[DivotMaker]

The Ruhlman book is one of the curing bibles, Dave, so I'm sure you're OK!  It just struck me as a lot of cure, which can be a bad thing.

 

[SuperDave]

The Ruhlman book is one of the curing bibles, Dave, so I'm sure you're OK!  It just struck me as a lot of cure, which can be a bad thing.

Curing is like smoking I guess.  Everyone has their own opinions.  My buddy says he'd run away from recipe that called for a 2 week brine.  I'm of the same opinion as you and figure the curing powder must have a pretty direct impact on cure time. 

 

[DivotMaker]

I believe you're right, Dave!

 

[SuperDave]

Meat is going to air dry until tomorrow evening and then get smoked.

 

[SuperDave]

So, here's the results. First samples seemed a little salty but as Pork Belly pointed out to me, that seemed to dissipate by the next day.  It wouldn't be hard to sit down and eat a log of this in one sitting. 

 

[NDKoze]

That looks awesome! I love the dark pink color.

I do a lot of Canadian Bacon as I don't really like smoked or grilled pork loin.

I can tell you that the salt levels do go down after resting for a while.

 

[SuperDave]

Since I generally buy pepper bacon at the store, I tried a little garlic pepper on the outside just before putting in the smoker.  It gives just a nice accent to the flavor. 

 

[es1025]

Looks great Dave. I need to make some cb. Going to try ruhlmans method.

 

[DivotMaker]

Looks great, Dave!

 

[ChuckV309]

Hey Dave, what was your smoking routine for the CB.  That looks awesome.

Chuck

 

[SuperDave]

After allowing to dry in the refrigerator for 24 hours, I sprinkled with a little pepper rub and smoked at 230 until it reached an internal of 145.

 

[ChuckV309]

Simple enough.  What wood? Amount?
Thanks again.

Chuck

 

[SuperDave]

It is a relatively short smoke, about 3 hours, 1.5 - 2 oz. of wood is plenty.  I used apple for flavor and cherry for color. 

 

[SuperDave]

One more money shot!

 

[Walt]

Beautiful