# Back Bacon Ideas



## mr_whipple (Oct 3, 2022)

One way or the other I'm going to toss a piece of pork loin in a dry cure to make some Canadian / back bacon. I'm on a forced day off as the shipyard and Naval base are essential personnel only today. Oh darn. Anyway, what I'm looking for is a different flavor profile. I usually wet cure pork loins, and I can't remember if I've done a dry cure on one. Either way, it's normally salt, cure, black pepper and some maple syrup in the wet cure. I've been cruising this forum and the web and haven't seen anything that caught my eye other than a cumin paprika and sage combo.  Just looking to do something different so if anyone has any ideas or success stories for different varieties of flavor for loin bacon I'm all ears.  Thanks in advance!


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## tbern (Oct 3, 2022)

sorry, no ideas for you, but will be following along to see what new ones members have here.  enjoy your day off!


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## thirdeye (Oct 3, 2022)

I almost always go with some cracked pepper, but on occasion I'll add some garlic powder. I use various mustards to change up the flavor as I'm eating on the hunk. 






Something I have been doing with pork butt is making Porkstrami.  I have not tried this style of cure on a loin, but if I did I would use the rib end (like the photo above) because it's a hair fattier than a center cut or the sirloin end.


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## indaswamp (Oct 3, 2022)

Pork Loin for Canadian bacon is the one thing I like to wet brine to help with the natural dryness of the meat. I like to put Cajun Ham Rub on them...
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/cajun-spice-ham-rub-recipe.286238/


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## indaswamp (Oct 3, 2022)

Porkstrami....that sounds delicious!


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## mr_whipple (Oct 3, 2022)

thirdeye said:


> I almost always go with some cracked pepper, but on occasion I'll add some garlic powder. I use various mustards to change up the flavor as I'm eating on the hunk.
> View attachment 645015
> 
> Something I have been doing with pork butt is making Porkstrami.  I have not tried this style of cure on a loin, but if I did I would use the rib end (like the photo above) because it's a hair fattier than a center cut or the sirloin end.





indaswamp said:


> Pork Loin for Canadian bacon is the one thing I like to wet brine to help with the natural dryness of the meat. I like to put Cajun Ham Rub on them...
> https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/cajun-spice-ham-rub-recipe.286238/



Yes, the porkstrami looks killer and I'll try getting to that.  Cajun ham rub also sounds like a great idea, but for now I had to make the call earlier so I could have this done and bagged for the ride in the fridge. Had all kinds of ideas running around in my head including some five spice mix... but I came across a recipe over at the meatwave for spice cured bacon that was a mix of paprika, juniper berries, peppercorns and whole coriander that caught my eye. So... I had some coriander that should have been tossed a while back and I wasn't going out on this crappy rainy day looking for juniper berries. I ended up doing this to a 1877 gram pork loin, will post a pic or two later.... busy busy!

1.75% kosher salt
1% dark brown sugar
.25% Prague powder
1.5 TB Peppercorn melange and two bay leaves ground in the mortar/pestle
1 tsp each of garlic and onion powder.

Rubbed it up and vac sealed. I'll let it ride til the following Friday or Saturday which will be 11-12 days.


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## Wet Spaniel (Oct 3, 2022)

For a traditional British back bacon the dry cure usually comprises of salt, sugar and cure#1 only.  I make mine with 2% salt and 1% sugar and the cure at it’s prescribed rate.  Dry rubbed on a loin and then give it 1 day per 1/2 inch of maximum meat thickness plus 2 days for good luck.  After curing, it’s can be either left unsmoked or if it is smoked, it’s cold smoked at a very low temperature so effectively the meat is still uncooked.  It’s a very simple method/recipe but it does make very tasty bacon.


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## mr_whipple (Oct 3, 2022)

Wet Spaniel said:


> For a traditional British back bacon the dry cure usually comprises of salt, sugar and cure#1 only.  I make mine with 2% salt and 1% sugar and the cure at it’s prescribed rate.  Dry rubbed on a loin and then give it 1 day per 1/2 inch of maximum meat thickness plus 2 days for good luck.  After curing, it’s can be either left unsmoked or if it is smoked, it’s cold smoked at a very low temperature so effectively the meat is still uncooked.  It’s a very simple method/recipe but it does make very tasty bacon.


That's interesting. So it's cured then optionally left unsmoked. Maybe next time I'll do a small section of loin that way just to try.


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## SmokinEdge (Oct 3, 2022)

I like going the Italian flavor route with pork from time to time. Basic cure rub of salt sugar and #1 with ground fennel, rosemary and thyme and white pepper With granulated garlic.


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## Wet Spaniel (Oct 3, 2022)

mr_whipple said:


> That's interesting. So it's cured then optionally left unsmoked. Maybe next time I'll do a small section of loin that way just to try.


That’s correct, or if it is smoked, it’s cold smoked at very low temps so the meat doesn’t get cooked at all. This is pretty much the standard for all commercially produced bacon in the U.K.


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## ScottW (Oct 18, 2022)

I often add a few whole star anise and some allspice berries in the wet brine to add a bit of a festive profile to the bacon.


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## mr_whipple (Oct 21, 2022)

I've been trying to get around to updating this, but the combo of lazy and busy is my problem.  This actually turned out very well, and I'm going to do this again but I need to get my game on point with the netting. The mortar/pestle of the Tone's peppercorn melange was very flavor forward. I didn't think it would be that much out front, but I love the taste of fresh cracked pepper and this had no shortage. The bay leaf is there and lends a hand but this is labeled on the vac bags as peppercorn back bacon.

Here we are out of the vac seal dry cure. The peppercorns don't look to be that heavy, but the taste was there.






 So.... I used a cheap place mat to put it in the netting, and either I was drunk or just trying too hard.  Last time I put a loin in the netting I had a nice round consistent size from end to end.  






 Into the pellet pooper on low smoke with Knotty Wood Plum Pellets for a few hours to get some color.  I think this was about 2 hours in. Hit Hi smoke til it was 145 at the fat spot. The thin end hit 150 but was still very moist after slicing and tasting so it's a win.






Done.







A couple of cut shots.














Here's a shot of the smaller end while slicing and sealing. I did it up in 6 oz batches for convenience.







Thanks for looking, and Happy Friday. It's now cocktail hour and time to feed and walk the hounds,


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## Brokenhandle (Oct 21, 2022)

Is it bloody mary time? That looks like a mighty tasty hunk of meat!

Ryan


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## JLeonard (Oct 21, 2022)

Looks good to me!
Jim


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## gmc2003 (Oct 21, 2022)

Now this is something I'm really gonna have to try. That looks fabulous.

Point for sure
Chris


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## tbern (Oct 21, 2022)

Looks delicious!!! Thanks for sharing it!


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## thirdeye (Oct 21, 2022)

Fantastic   The small end is the rib end (the forward end) and the other end is the sirloin end.  The rib end is my favorite.



mr_whipple said:


> So.... I used a cheap place mat to put it in the netting, and either I was drunk or just trying too hard. Last time I put a loin in the netting I had a nice round consistent size from end to end.


Only the center cut is somewhat consistent. The ends are what they are.  I pepper my bacon or loin bacon before the cure, then rinse, dry, net them, and lastly, refresh the pepper after netting, and before smoking.  Remove the net with scissors.

 Here is a netting tip. I use a stainless canister to hold the stretched net in position.  It takes about a minute to stretch the net in place.... then about 30 seconds to push the roast in.


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## tbern (Oct 21, 2022)

Good tip!


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## tbern (Oct 21, 2022)

Where do you guys get your netting from?


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## thirdeye (Oct 21, 2022)

tbern said:


> Where do you guys get your netting from?


The Sausage Maker will sell direct, but they have an Amazon store that is (was) cheaper the last time I bought some.  Size 28 works on a pork loin, or on a stuffed pork loin, and a chicken if you work at it.


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## tbern (Oct 21, 2022)

thirdeye said:


> The Sausage Maker will sell direct, but they have an Amazon store that is (was) cheaper the last time I bought some.  Size 28 works on a pork loin, or on a stuffed pork loin, and a chicken if you work at it.


Thanks for the info!


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## Dave in AZ (Oct 22, 2022)

mr_whipple
 great post,  really nice looking!


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## DRKsmoking (Oct 22, 2022)

Great post and turned out really nice , I will have to get a few more on the go
I have not netted mine before , but want  to get some netting for this and other items ,
 so thanks to 

 thirdeye
 for the info and tip on using

David


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## doongie (Nov 29, 2022)

I dry cure venison to smoke and make like dried beef (like bearcarvers dried beef), and instead of plain salt I use a beef dry rub from Angelo’s BBQ in Ft Worth TX., figure it’s 50% salt (I asked and they told me it was approx that).

I imagine their pork rub would produce an excellent result on a pork loin.  In fact, thanks for the idea, I think I’ll try it.

Edit:  I adapted bearcarvers recipe to use cure #1 instead of tenderquick.  I use diggingdogfarms calculator to figure amounts of cure and salt, but instead of plain salt I use the dry rub, which is 50% salt, so I get seasoning on the bark as well as the correct amount of salt


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## mr_whipple (Dec 4, 2022)

So I ordered some spices online to try a spiced bacon that I had seen elsewhere, but to do it with a pork loin instead of belly. If I didn't like it I'm not out a lot... but this turned out pretty good so I'm happy. 

Standard cure, I went 1% sugar 1.75% salt and .25% #1. Got out the mortar and pestle to crush a mix of bay leaves, coriander, juniper berries and my peppercorn melange. Mixed that in with the cure and some Hungarian half sharp paprika and vac sealed it for what turned out to be 15 days. Was gonna do it yesterday but it was rainy so this morning it was. Couldn't sleep at all so this went on at about 0430. 


Out of the vac bag waiting on the pellet pooper to come up to temp. Started at low smoke for 1 hour then went high smoke for the finish. Used plum pellets. The paprika turned it a nice shade of red.  I gave it a quick coat of fresh ground peppercorns before putting it on the smoker.









Took about 3 hours total.  Just pulled it.







Cut shot. Had a slice off one end and I must say it turned out quite nicely. A more subtle flavor than I was expecting, but the paprika and peppercorns provided a very small touch heat. I throttled back the amount of spices from the original recipe and it still turned out well. Maybe next time I'll up the amounts a little to see how much of a difference it makes.







I'm gonna slice this stuff thick before vac sealing the portions. The crust is super tasty.

Thanks for looking!


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## tbern (Dec 4, 2022)

looks awesome, thanks for sharing this!


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