First Time Canadian Bacon and Black Ham

[solaryellow]

This will be my first try at Canadian Bacon. I am using Ruhlman and Polcyn's recipe as my baseline from the book Charcuterie.

My 9lbs pork loin that I picked up from Sam's Club:

Bringing the brine ingredients to a simmer. I had to bastardize the recipe a bit to suit my tastes.

The pork loin trimmed and cut in half. I like to use 5 gal ziploc bags placed inside a bucket when brining.

The meat and brine meeting for the first time. 5 more days of brining before they get tossed onto the smoker.

More to come...

 

[bassman]

Keep us posted.  That'll be some good stuff.

 

[bluebombersfan]

looking forward to see how it turns out with the brine............

 

[meateater]

C.B. Tease. 

 

[chefrob]

where the hell did you get 5 gal. zip locks? i like 'em!

 

[SmokinAl]

What's the brine recipe? Also I'm with Rob, where did you get the bags? We have the 2 1/2 gallon bags here at Walmart, but not big one's like yours.

 

[solaryellow]

The ziploc bags came from Target. They have as big as 20 gal bags.

The recipe is the same one that is in the 2nd post in this thread. http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/87283/canadian-bacon I have tried a number of the recipes from the book Charcuterie and haven't had anything bad or tasteless yet.

 

[Bearcarver]

Great start, Solar !!!

Bear

 

[venture]

Looks good so far.  I have also used what they sell as "pork sirloin roasts" for Canadian Bacon.  It is a tender and lean cut which is usually cheaper than the "pork loin" for those who are budget conscious.

Good luck and good smoking.

 

[killnsmoke]

funny, i just took mine out of the smoker lastnight.  I used the same recipe, gonna slice it up tonight when i get home!!

 

[solaryellow]

Out of the brine:

Into the plywood smoker along with the black ham that has been curing for the past 50 days.

 

[solaryellow]

Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics. The canadian bacon turned out pretty good. I think this has to be one of the simplest things to make.

Decided not to steam the ham and tossed it on the drum with the canadian bacon yesterday.

Did some thin slices and made an awesome sammich.

The flavor and texture is great. Since this one took 50 days to cure I will probably start another one tonight because it isn't gonna last long.

edit: Here is the recipe that I used for the black ham should you want to give it a try. http://www.localfoodheroes.co.uk/weblog/pivot/entry.php?id=599

 

[boykjo]

Awesome black ham and canadian bacon joel.... 

Joe