BBB and Canadian Bacon with Pop's brine

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mriversinco

Fire Starter
Original poster
Oct 24, 2013
35
11
Michigan
Decided to do a big batch of bacon this month.

Started with a 12 pound pork loin for Canadian Bacon and 3 butts at about 8 pounds each for some Buckboard.

Trimmed most of the loin and left a section with fat cap to see how it tastes:


Took the bone out of the butts:


Put them in two separate buckets for the brine.  Followed Pop's to a T with 3/4 cup of the salt with the loins and one of the butts, added some garlic into the brine for the other bucket:


Had them in the brine for 22 days.  No specific reason for the brine time but it's when I had the time to get them out.  I know it was long enough, but hoping it's not too long (if there's such a thing).

Stirred up the buckets every few days, and opened them up today and everything looked great.

Put them into fresh water for a little over an hour to get the surface salt off and did a test fry.  Took one end off a loin and took a middle slice on another as well as a couple of slices of the BBB:



Wow, it wasn't salty at all and I had a hard time not cutting more to eat.  It was that good and I can't wait to see what it's like with smoke on it!

Now they're on racks for a time in the fridge.  Will probably smoke in two days when I've got a little time.  Still not sure if it's going to be a cold smoke, or a warming smoke that ends with the loins at 145.



Put some cracked pepper on one of the half loins and one of the half butts.  Also made up a cracked pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder rub and put it on a few as well.  Gonna see what turns out the best, but 36 pounds of bacon has to be a goo thing.

Thanks for viewing and I'll post the smoking pics on another post.
 
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Shoot, just realized I posted this in the pork section and meant to be the bacon section and I can't seem to figure out how to move it, so if there's a moderator that can, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks
 
Great Start !!!
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If you're taking votes, I vote for smoking BBB & CB to 145° IT.

That way it's safe to eat it cold or just warm it a little (My favorite way) without having to worry about burning it in a pan, because it's more lean than Belly Bacon.

Bear
 
Canadian Bacon is done.  Followed Bear's advice and took it to 149 exactly.  Here's the time table with

10am put it in the smoker at 130 degrees

12 had to turn temp down since it kept wanting to jump up to 140, beat was at 70

6pm was afraid it was going to take forever so bumped smoker up to 190, meat was at 105

8pm pellets were gone, bumped smoker up to 220

midnight it finally hit 145, got to 149 during rest.

Still don't know why everything seems to take longer than other people at my temps, but It still turns out well.  (have the maverick with dual thermos and they are accurate in boiling water)

Here's the pic with BBB coming up tomorrow or the next:

 
 
Canadian Bacon is done.  Followed Bear's advice and took it to 149 exactly.  Here's the time table with

10am put it in the smoker at 130 degrees

12 had to turn temp down since it kept wanting to jump up to 140, beat was at 70

6pm was afraid it was going to take forever so bumped smoker up to 190, meat was at 105

8pm pellets were gone, bumped smoker up to 220

midnight it finally hit 145, got to 149 during rest.

Still don't know why everything seems to take longer than other people at my temps, but It still turns out well.  (have the maverick with dual thermos and they are accurate in boiling water)

Here's the pic with BBB coming up tomorrow or the next:
That wasn't all that long----Here's one of mine ------Took 12 hours too:

Boneless Cured & Smoked Pork Chops and Canadian Bacon       

Tip for next time:   If you would have moved up from 140° a few hours earlier you would not have had to go to 220°.

Bear
 
This morning I got all the BBB done in the smoker.  I don't know why, but yet again it took forever to smoke them.

10:30am put them in the smoker at 130 with pecan this time

12:00 turned the smoker up to 140

6:00pm the bacon was only at 90 degrees so bumped up the smoker to 160

8:00 pm still really low temp on bacon so bumped smoker up to 190.  The pellets were gone at this point.

6:30 am it finally reached 145 degrees and pulled it

That's an 18 hour smoke.  Kind of disappointed that some of the fat rendered out and the outer crust is very dry but I should've realized it with that long of smoke.

The fry test, the bacon was very good but if I don't slice if thin then it's really chewy.  I simply have to get my slicer going (still waiting for the sharpener)

The meat is cooked and tastes ok sliced cold, but it really pops once I fry it up in the pan.  I think next time I'll try a cold smoke since I think I have to cook all this to get the good flavor anyway.

Now I've got 30 something pounds of bacon waiting to be sliced but my knife skills aren't up to the task so I'll have to wait until that darned sharpener arrives.

Tried both the CB and the BBB.  I really like the CB with the garlic, onion and pepper on it.  I can't tell the difference with the BBB that was in the original pop's brine compared to the garlic one.  I like the pepper crusted BBB the best, but my family doesn't.



Thanks for viewing and now on to some andoullie and linguica before our big sausage party this monday.
 
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I cold smoke all my bacon unless I am giving it away, and then I will hot smoke only the Canadian bacon. Info that since most store bought Canadian bacon comes pre cooked. I do a Multi day smoke. I smoke 6-8 hours, rest the bacon in the fridge overnight repeat until I get the color I want. Usually takes 18-24 hours of smoke.

As far as slicing goes I use a knife, you can make a jig like a jerky slicer if you don't like to freehand it. Freezing the meat for 45mins. will make it easier to slice. Or you can freeze what you have until you get your slicer running and then slice the frozen as needed.

BBB is our favorite bacon.
 
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This morning I got all the BBB done in the smoker.  I don't know why, but yet again it took forever to smoke them.

10:30am put them in the smoker at 130 with pecan this time

12:00 turned the smoker up to 140

6:00pm the bacon was only at 90 degrees so bumped up the smoker to 160

8:00 pm still really low temp on bacon so bumped smoker up to 190.  The pellets were gone at this point.

6:30 am it finally reached 145 degrees and pulled it

That's an 18 hour smoke.  Kind of disappointed that some of the fat rendered out and the outer crust is very dry but I should've realized it with that long of smoke.

The fry test, the bacon was very good but if I don't slice if thin then it's really chewy.  I simply have to get my slicer going (still waiting for the sharpener)

The meat is cooked and tastes ok sliced cold, but it really pops once I fry it up in the pan.  I think next time I'll try a cold smoke since I think I have to cook all this to get the good flavor anyway.

Now I've got 30 something pounds of bacon waiting to be sliced but my knife skills aren't up to the task so I'll have to wait until that darned sharpener arrives.

Tried both the CB and the BBB.  I really like the CB with the garlic, onion and pepper on it.  I can't tell the difference with the BBB that was in the original pop's brine compared to the garlic one.  I like the pepper crusted BBB the best, but my family doesn't.

Thanks for viewing and now on to some andoullie and linguica before our big sausage party this monday.
You did Great---Looks real good from my house!!!
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I smoke my BBB and my CB to 145° IT too. Then I can either eat it cold or throw it in the frying pan for seconds on each side, or even nuke for 30 seconds.

Once you smoked it to 145° gently, you don't have to actually fry it before you eat it----Just warm it up. That way you don't have to worry about burning it, while trying to fry uncooked meat to 145°.

Bear
 
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