# Maple Cured Canadian Bacon recipe/cure question



## txhawghunter (Sep 26, 2012)

Below is a recipe I found.  Please take a look at the ingredients.  I plan on using it but, it appears to me that the amount of cure# 1 is too little for 1 gallon of brine.  I looked at Pops brine recipe and according to his recipe, the cure is way low.  I will be doing 2 four pound loins in this, a total of about 8 pounds of meat.  What are your thoughts on it.  Should I increase the amount cure?  They will be in the cure for 7 days.

Thanks,

Don

*MAPLE CURED CANADIAN BACON*
[h2]Ingredients[/h2]
1 gallon water

1 cup kosher salt

1 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup light brown sugar

2 teaspoons pink salt (aka InstaCure, Prague Powder)

4 bay leaves

3 medium cloves garlic, smashed

1 tablespoon black peppercorns 

1 boneless pork loin, trimmed of excess fat (about 4 to 5 pounds)


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## chef jimmyj (Sep 26, 2012)

I and many others have used Pops Curing Brine and can verify it works flawlessly. I would bump the Cure to 1Tbs. The rest sounds good...JJ

BTW:  [color= rgb(0, 0, 205)](Borrowed statement)[/color][color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]  Curing times: You should figure 1 day cure time per ¼ inch from center of meat out. In other words measure the total thickness of the meat and divide by 2. Divide this result by 0.25. The result of this is the minimum number of days suggested to cure. [/color][color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]I add a few days to this formula to be saf[/color][color= rgb(24, 24, 24)]e.[/color]


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## diggingdogfarm (Sep 26, 2012)

Yeah, on the cure #1, that's not a safe amount to ensure control of botulinum bacteria, some of the meat science books recommend a minimum of 100 ppm, 2 tsp. is only ~86ppm nitrite with equalization in your situation.

The safe maximum level of nitrite when brining is 200ppm, which would be *23.22g cure #1 (which is approximately 4 level teaspoons + 2/3 level tsp. of cure #1)* when adding the weight of the water and the meat (16lbs. total) and doing an equilibrium brine.

Do you have an accurate gram scale?

I would be careful with the kosher salt, there can be a big difference in the salt level depending on what brand you use!

Morton's Kosher Salt:................248 grams per cup
Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt:.....181 grams per cup

The brining time of 7 days is not enough for loins.
Unless you're injecting, I would give them *at least 14 days* to ensure good equilibrium.

Cheers, peace and bacon grease,

~Martin


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## txhawghunter (Sep 26, 2012)

Thanks,

I do not have a gram scale available to me.

I'll have to get as close as possible.

I do have the ability to do injections and will do that.

On the salt issue,  I will be using Morton's, should I back it off to around 3/4 cup?

Don


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## diggingdogfarm (Sep 26, 2012)

If you use 3/4 of a cup of Morton's Kosher and the 23.22g cure #1 (which is approximately 4 level teaspoons + 2/3 level tsp. of cure #1) that would give you a salt level of 2.85% which is more than what I like to use, but it's an acceptable level of salt for some who like it salty, I don't like more than 2.5% salt.

2/3 of a cup of the Morton's Kosher and the 23.22g cure #1 (which is approximately 4 level teaspoons + 2/3 level tsp. of cure #1) would give you approximately 2.5% salt

~Martin


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## fpnmf (Sep 26, 2012)

From Pops6927...

real simple curing brine:

 for every 1 gallon of water, add:

1/3 - 1 cup sea salt (depending if you're on a lo-salt diet)

1 cup granulated sugar or Splenda[emoji]174[/emoji]

1 cup brown sugar or Splenda[emoji]174[/emoji] brown sugar mix

1 tbsp cure no. 1 pink salt

stir thoroughly until clear amber color, pour over meat, inject if necessary to cure from inside-out as well as outside-in

weight down with a partially filled 1 qt or 1 gal. ziploc bag or bags to keep meat immersed

Curing times vary with meat, but generally overnight to 2-3 days for chickens and turkeys, 8-10 days buckboard bacon, 10-14 days belly bacon, pork shoulder, whole butts, 3-4 weeks whole hams, 10-20 days corned beef (fresh beef roasts, briskets, rolled rib roasts, etc.)   If whole muscle is more than 2" thick, then inject so it can cure i/o as well as o/i, and/or in and around bone structures, etc.

You can add any other flavorings you'd like, this is just the basic curing brine. 1 heaping tablespoon of cure is about 1 ounce.  The maximum concentration allowed safely is 3.84 ounces per 1 gallon of brine (24 lbs.per 100 gallons: 16 oz. x 24 = 384 ounces, 1/100th is 3.84 ounces).  You can experiment with different concentrations as long as you keep it between those parameters.


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## realtorterry (Sep 26, 2012)

So couldn't we just use Pop's Brine & stick the loin in for 10 days & have Canadian Bacon?? Could it be that easy?


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## smokinhusker (Sep 26, 2012)

Pops Brine is pretty easy and works great!


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## txhawghunter (Sep 26, 2012)

Thanks Martin for doing the math for me.

This hobby could turn into a pretty large science project if ya wanted it to.

Just ordered a gram scale online.

Don


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## diggingdogfarm (Sep 26, 2012)

realtorterry said:


> So couldn't we just use Pop's Brine & stick the loin in for 10 days & have Canadian Bacon?? Could it be that easy?



Sure, nothing wrong with that, but I like to have more control over the salt and sugar levels.
Most importantly, everyone should know about safe maximum nitrite levels and how to calculate them, no matter what curing method they use.

~Martin


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