Canadian Bacon

[charcoal junkie]

I have a couple loins in the freezer to try my hand at Canadian bacon. I have a couple questions first do I need to smoke it cause it is 20° here. And after it has cured and mellowed out should I steam it or boil it to use it on pizza. Any help would be great.

 

[daveomak]

Scott, evening....   If you choose not to smoke it, it won't be bacon....   Not all bad..  Still has good flavor, just missing the smoke....  How about putting a few briquettes and some chips in one of your smokers.... get the temp up to 50-70 deg and cold smoke for a few hours for flavor....  Be sure to get the loin up to room temp and dry before putting in the smoker..... otherwise, condensation will form....  that is not good for smoking meat....   

Yes you can steam it...  bring the IT up to 145 deg for eating as is.... hold the temp there for a bit to insure all is killed...   If you want, when putting the loin in the cure, liquid smoke(PAH-Toohey) will add flavor.... don't add too much cause the stuff is powerful and can taste horrible if too much is added....  OK, I just washed out my mouth for saying that.....   Sometimes a guy has to do what a guy has to do..... know what I mean....  Hope something works out.... let us know the outcome....   Dave

 

[charcoal junkie]

I was thinking about throwing some charcoal and apple wood chunks in the Performer. Or maybe just some wood in my baskets and turning the gas assist on to get it up to temp. Do you guys think that is the way to go?

 

[smokinhusker]

I've cold smoked it and then you have to completely cook it before eating and I've hot smoked it taking it to an 145 IT, then of course it doesn't have to be cooked any more. The way you want to smoke it will work, if cold smoking though you don't want your smoker temps above  70 degrees or so.

 

[diggingdogfarm]

If you don't want to smoke it, make some Canadian peameal bacon, it's not smoked.


~Martin

 

[charcoal junkie]

I was hoping to use my Performer as a make shift cold smoker. It is in the 30's here so I should be safe on not getting to high of temps.

 

[charcoal junkie]

I will be using Fast Mixture Cure on my loin. The loin weighs 2.17 lbs so will 1/2 tsp be enough. Should I cure the loin 1 day an inch or what is the general thinking on the time in cure?

 

[daveomak]

Scott, morning....  I have searched "fast mixture cure" and can't find out what it is....  I can find references and that is all.....   What is it ??  How much nitrate and or nitrite ?? What else is in it ??   

About curing time, a loin surrounded in cure should cure at the rate of 1/2" thickness per day and add a couple days for insurance and equilibrium of the cure and salts in the meat...  For reference, cure will penetrate at 1/4" per day or somewhere close to that.... that is assuming curing from one side of a hunk of meat...  Dave

Scott, I did some searching..... Here is what I have found.....

charcoal junkie Joined: 12 May 2012 Posts: 17

Posted: Wed Nov 21 12 2:41 am      Post subject:   What if u don't have tender quick? I have some Fast Mixture Cure and all it says is 4oz for 100 lbs of meat. The ingredients are as follows---  Salt, 6.25% sodium nitrite, 17 ppm red #3 and less than 1% glycerine. The pork loin I am going to cure weighs 2.17 lbs. Will 1/2 tsp be enough cure and for how long should I have it in the cure?

Harry Nutczak BBQ All-Star Joined: 28 Feb 2007 Posts: 7512 Location: The Northwoods

Posted: Wed Nov 21 12 6:05 am      Post subject:   charcoal junkie wrote: What if u don't have tender quick? I have some Fast Mixture Cure and all it says is 4oz for 100 lbs of meat. The ingredients are as follows---  Salt, 6.25% sodium nitrite, 17 ppm red #3 and less than 1% glycerine. The pork loin I am going to cure weighs 2.17 lbs. Will 1/2 tsp be enough cure and for how long should I have it in the cure? 1 LEVEL teaspoon of that cure per each 5 pounds of meat, supplement with .75TBS/LB Salt, & .75TBS/LB sugar and you'll be fine.  figure cure penetration at .25" per 24 hours from all sides, so if you have a piece of meat 4" thick, cure for 8 days, rinse well, let air dry, and smoke until 145-152 internal is met. Lots of info here, do a search or read through the titles for more info _________________

Your question has been answered on the forum "The Smoke Ring".....  

 

[charcoal junkie]

So I just got done putting a cure on my loin. It is 2 inches thick so in 4-6 days I will take it out of fridge and see how it looks.