# My run at Canadian Bacon



## bad santa (Feb 22, 2013)

Had been wanting to make some bacon, but locating  good pork bellies around here, have been few and far between. So I found some pork loins on sale and decided that I'd try and make Canadian bacon. After reading and searching thorugh the threads of what people have used and seemed to have good luck with, and enjoyed their results, I decided to use Pop's brine. Had 10lbs of loins that I trimmed and portioned so that I could try several different add ons with.













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__ bad santa
__ Feb 22, 2013






Then I soaked them for 14 days and then tried a slice/fry test for saltiness, but they were fine. Actually I only used 1/3 cup of the salt in the recipe to see where I would end up with in taste. They were good and know I will increase the salt on the next bacon batch to 2/3 cup. (I have since found some pork bellies for my next go round) Let them dry in fridge to form the pellicle and seasoned some with Tony's cajun seasoning, some with cracked black pepper, and even tried some of Uncle Chris' steak seasoning that I like to use when grilling pork chops, so I thought that it would work on bacon too.













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__ bad santa
__ Feb 22, 2013






Using an equal amount combination of cherry, apple, and pecan pellets in the amznps, I cold smoked them for about 4 hrs. then adding heat and slowly brought the internal temps. to 145 degrees. Ended up being a total smoke time of 9 1/2 hrs. 













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__ bad santa
__ Feb 22, 2013


















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Finished product, they were all good and tasty, but I liked the 2 that I rolled in Tony's cajun seasoning the best. So I definetly will be using that seasoning for bacon again.

I would like to thank all of the folks on here who have posted pictures of their cooks and wrote in threads what they did, so those of us who come along later and want to try some of these many different recipes and the variations of them, can benefit from them, like I did. Couldn't have done it as easily or with the "happy ending" results without your input. 

My next cold smoking project is smoking up some nice belly bacon that I have finally crossed paths with and have in the fridge now waiting to be portioned and brined this weekend for a smoke in a couple of weeks. 

To the moderator's...if I have over sized my photos and used too big of a resolution, my apologies and understand if they are taken down or resized. Thanks for all the help...


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## smoke happens (Feb 22, 2013)

Looks awesome! Nice job.


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## roller (Feb 22, 2013)

Looks tasty...


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## sound1 (Feb 22, 2013)

I'm addicted to that stuff, Nicely done.

Did you brine in the aluminium pan???


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## kathrynn (Feb 22, 2013)

Bad Santa....I think the elves will be eating pretty good for a while!  Yummmmm


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## woodcutter (Feb 22, 2013)

Bacon looks great! I recently tried Pop's brine for the first time for Canadian Bacon. It was very good but just a little salty with 1 cup of salt. I put 2 more loins in the brine 13 days ago with 3/4 cup of salt this time. Tonight I will start forming the pellicle and smoke tomorrow. (_going to get it perfect or I'll make another batch_) I brined and smoked some venison hams in Pop's brine and used 1 cup of salt and that turned out perfect.


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## disco (Feb 22, 2013)

Thanks for posting. I have only tried Canadian bacon (we call it Back Bacon here in Canada) twice, once brined and once in a dry cure. However, I wouldn't have thought of some of your choices on the rubs. I did one with an onion/garlic/herb mix and one with honey and maple syrup. However, you have inspired me to try some non traditional rubs. Thanks.


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## bad santa (Feb 22, 2013)

Thanks for the replies everyone and  to Sound1, I did not brine in the aluminum pan, that was just for ease of containment when portioning the loins. I use plastic food grade buckets with tight sealing lids for all my brining needs.

@ Kathryn I've always tried to keep the Elves happy, I've always maintained that a well fed Elf is a Happy Elf.

@Woodcutter good luck with your project, In using the 1/3 cup of salt to start with, it gave the bacon a sweeter taste instead of saltiness, I went for a lower salt content in the brine since I would be adding extra salt in using the add-on seasonings. I do think though that I will be using 2/3 cup in the next batch of brine since I do like a certain saltiness to my belly bacon, and I'll be adding Tony's (which is really salty) so I think that the final product will be right about where I would like for it to be. 

@Disco, that is what I enjoy about smoking and all of it's properties, only a few things set in stone. The imagination can run wild, and swapping tales of what we've tried and how it turned out is what I enjoy. For instance, I was eating some spicey Firecracker crackers I had made up the other day and had finished smoking some cheese and still had plenty of smoke rolling. So I thought how would it be to throw some of theses crackers in there and see what happens. Put a bunch on a splatter screen I use to smoke salt on and let 'em go for about an hour or so...whoa!...will be doing those again for sure. So keep thinking of things to try, some will work and others ...well, might need just a few tweeks to become something you really enjoy...Good luck...


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## dirtsailor2003 (Feb 22, 2013)

Nice looking Canadian Bacon!!! Give Buck Board Bacon a try, we really like it better than belly bacon.


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