My First Smoke in many months—Canadian Bacon

[couger78]

After nearly a year hiatus from any sausage-making or smoking of fine meats, I was finally able to get back into 'it' with something relatively easy— Canadian Bacon!

I had about 12 pounds of fresh pork loin—3lbs went to making a large batch of Chile Verde—the rest I claimed for smoking.

I created a brine of kosher salt, brown sugar, molasses, bay leaf, black peppercorn, whole allspice berries, and Cure#1.

I cut there loin into 4 manageable hunks and submerged them in the brine. After 5 days, I pulled the loin and soaked & rinse them in fresh warted for a day. A couple of fried slices to taste-test: no too salty, a hint of sweetness, slightly 'hammy'—good to go to the smoker! First I netted and hung them overnight in the fridge to dry & form a good pellicle.

Next day: Into there smoker with no smoke for the first hour @ about 100-110°F.

For smoke; I'm using my A-Maze-n tube with a pit master's blend of pellets, plus some applewood.

Here they are about an hour or so into the smoke:

I

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• couger78
• Jul 30, 2014

I slowly ramped the temps up to eventually land @ 180°F in the last hour or so to bring the IT up to 152°F.

Getting close after almost 9 hours...

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• couger78
• Jul 30, 2014

I pulled the loins at 152°F and plunged them into an ice bath. They were then hung back in the fridge overnight to firm up and mellow.

NEXT DAY: Showtime! 

The bacon was nice and firm to the touch and sliced beautifully. The flavor is outstanding! A hearty 'smokiness' to this bacon that just can't be duplicated by those supermarket CBs. Richly sweet & slightly salty...my taste-testers all stated this batch was my BEST CB I've made, so I think I'll keep the recipe.

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• couger78
• Jul 30, 2014

It feels good to be back at the smoker again—especially if the results turn out so dern tasty!

Kevin

 

[chef jimmyj]

Welcome back Kevin. Some fine looking CB you got there. I thoght 5 days sounded a bit shy but looks like it was cured all the way through. Looking forward to your future projects...JJ

 

[chef willie]

Welcome back Mr. Cougar.....I have missed your informative postings and awesome looking sausages. You are an inspiration to many, like it or not, past and future sausage heads. I understand the hiatus though, this site can eat up some time.....Willie

 

[disco]

Terrific looking back bacon. I can believe it was popular.

Disco

 

[couger78]

 
Welcome back Kevin. Some fine looking CB you got there. I thoght 5 days sounded a bit shy but looks like it was cured all the way through. Looking forward to your future projects...JJ

Thanks, JJ! 

Yeah, Five days is cutting it close—especially as I did no injecting, and generally for larger cuts I will leave them longer. The diameter of these cuts was under 3.5" and after cooking up the test pieces and seeing the color, I thought it ready for the smoker.

Kevin