Canadian/Back Bacon I Guess

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disco

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Oct 31, 2012
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I was looking at a a boneless pork rib roast in the supermarket. It was on sale for a decent price. It is quite lean like a loin but has better marbling like a butt. I decided to try it as bacon as it about the same size as a loin. I don't know what to call it. It isn't back (Americans call it Canadian) bacon as it is not made from a loin. It isn't as fatty as buckboard bacon. I think I will stick to back bacon. Anyway, I am still working on my cure. The last time I made bacon I used a cure that I'd changed some of the sweetener for honey. It was delicious but the honey bound the cure up so it was hard to rub in. This time I added some apple juice to make it more of a slurry. I think I will use less apple juice next time as it was a bit too liquid. I also cut back on the salt from my last effort. The bacon was delicious but just a little salty for my taste.

This time I used the following ingredients for a cure for a 2 1/2 pound pork rib roast.

20 ml (4 teaspoons) Kosher salt

3.5 ml (a little more than 1/2 teaspoon) Prague Powder #1

25 ml (2 tablespoons) packed brown sugar

25 ml (2 tablesoons) honey

25 ml (2 tablespoons) apple juice

I mixed them up into a slurry and rubbed the roast. I put it in an oversized Ziploc bag and made sure to scrape all the slurry in. It will sit in the fridge for 10 days being turned daily.



I will post more Qview as I go and would love any comments on my process and suggestions.
 
10 days in the cure and the bacon is nice and firm.


I gave it a thorough rinsing.


Then I put it in clean water for a 30 minutes soak.


I had a visitor outside my window while it was soaking.


I dried it off with a paper towel.


Onto a rack to sit, uncovered, in the fridge overnight. Tomorrow I smoke!

 
Does your disappear as fast as mine does? I did my first piece that size and vac sealed into bags, was pulling them out of the freezer every few days. Waste of vac seal bags we went through it so fast. Doubled the batch and just sliced it up last night, vac sealed roughly triple the quantity per bag this go around, so hopefully it works better. Took the little end pieces which tend to be really smokey in flavor, minced and threw into a box of mac and cheese for lunch - killer. Nothing fancy, just Kraft M&C, but those super flavorful ends really made it good. Love the homemade CB with some smoked cheese, perfect combo.
 
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Does your disappear as fast as mine does? I did my first piece that size and vac sealed into bags, was pulling them out of the freezer every few days. Waste of vac seal bags we went through it so fast. Doubled the batch and just sliced it up last night, vac sealed roughly triple the quantity per bag this go around, so hopefully it works better. Took the little end pieces which tend to be really smokey in flavor, minced and threw into a box of mac and cheese for lunch - killer. Nothing fancy, just Kraft M&C, but those super flavorful ends really made it good. Love the homemade CB with some smoked cheese, perfect combo.
There is just She Who Must Be Obeyed and myself around here so we go through about 20 slices a week but that is supplemented by homemade breakfast sausage. My missus likes a good breakfast so we tend to be hearty eaters at breakfast and lighter at lunch. We package bacon in 4 servings in zip loc sandwich bags. It keeps fine for as long as it lasts. I am less trusting of sausage in the fridge though and I wrap 4 patties in cellophane and then bag the lot in a large ziploc. They come apart easily even frozen and I can cook them from frozen if company shows up or I forget to take some out.

I love home made soups and I have taken to sauteing the end bits with the onions, garlic, celery, carrots at the beginning of making the soup. I do the same thing for chili and stews. I consider them my flavour boosters!

I hadn't thought of them in Mac and Cheese but I will have to give them a try. I have been thinking of putting them in salads chopped fine and cooked crisp. A buddy of mine uses commercial bacon cut fine and cooked crisp in his Ranch Dressing. He makes a great Ranch Dressing and I think I will have to give that a try with the end bits.

I love this form for getting great ideas like yours in Mac and Cheese. Thanks for posting.
 
Enjoy! I cut my CB as thin as my old POS slicer will let me, as we either just eat it by itself or use it as lunch meat a lot. Good idea on the soup, I'll have to give that a shot. I've done them in salads before as well, just need to be sure to get them really small or they boost the flavor of a bite a bit much.
 
Enjoy! I cut my CB as thin as my old POS slicer will let me, as we either just eat it by itself or use it as lunch meat a lot. Good idea on the soup, I'll have to give that a shot. I've done them in salads before as well, just need to be sure to get them really small or they boost the flavor of a bite a bit much.
I don't have a slicer. I use my old chef's ham slicer knife and I can't get it much thinner than 1/8 inch. I am thinking of purchasing a slicer but She Who Must Be Obeyed says I can't have anymore toys unless I throw an old one out. Sadly, she is right. I love my toys!

I can see what you mean about the strong flavour for a salad. Good advice! Maybe I'll try it in the dressing first.
 
I pulled it from the fridge and gave it an hour at room temperature.


Then it was into the Bradley for 1:40 minutes of cold cherry smoke. I add an ice tray when I want to cold smoke, it keeps it around 70 F.


After a 1 hour 40 minutes of smoke (She Who Must Be Obeyed prefers a light smoke flavour, I am gradually working her up) I put the bacon in a 230 F oven for about 3 1/2 hours to an internal temperature of 140 F. I know most do 150 F but I like the texture better at 140 and it will not be eaten raw. It looks great! the extra fat makes it look much better than smoking a lean loin. I will let it sit in the fridge over night and will slice it tomorrow. I can hardly wait to try it.


 
Finished product sliced after a night in the fridge:


From my reading, bacon made from a boneless rib roast (The loin piece from the rib end of the loin) is what Irish Bacon is made from so I guess that's what this is. Notice the increased fat over the centre cut loin.


I cooked it up with some potatoes and IMHO it is a superior product to back (Canadian) bacon made from the centre of the loin. The fat keeps it moister on cooking and gave it a very nice texture.


Final verdict: I love this cut! it isn't as fatty as buckboard bacon but has enough to keep it cooking nicer than back (Canadian) bacon. I think I have found a bacon that She Who Must Be Obeyed and I can agree on. She usually prefers back bacon and I prefer buckboard. With regard to the cure changes I made, I may have cut back a bit on the salt. It was very lightly salted. I will increase by 1/2 what I took out last time. There was just a touch of the honey sweet. I like the cherry smoke on the bacon but I even have permission from my better half to increase it a bit more next time. Overall, a great experiment, a lovely product. MMMM.
 
Looks Great Disco!!!

Looks just like my CB. I use the whole loin---usually about 22" long.

One of the very few smoked meats Mrs Bear loves!!!

Bear
 
Last edited:
Looks Great Disco!!!

Looks just like my CB. I use the whole loin---usually about 22" long.

One of the very few smoked meats Mrs Bear loves!!!

Bear
Here, you can hardly ever find a whole loin and those you find are invariably centre cut. Now that I know about this, I will be on bended knee to the butcher for the rib end of the loin. I have found I am more into smoked meat than She Who Must Be Obeyed. Maybe it's genetic.
 
Your bacon looks perfect! CB is one of my favorites.
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