After seeing everyones Q views and threads on Canadian bacon I decided to do a feature on mid loin bacon.
This is a very popular bacon cut here in NZ, Similar to Canadian as it uses the sirloin.
I started by buying a 2 Kg cut of loin ( it was on special for $ 9.99 a Kg ) I had to remove the chine bone myself ( but thats no biggie) and used that to make "bacon bones" for soups and cooking etc
Here is the start of the process 1 X loin
Chine bone removed
As the cure usually takes a bit of time to get under the fat / skin layer I wanted to try and get a better coverage by opening up slots between the meat and fat
I put the rub on, which had the addition of pepper and rosemary and a 50/50 mix of molasses and sugar.... I was going for a savory style
Before it all went into the zip lok bag I used a chopstick to push cure into the slots I had prepared
After a week of sitting in the fridge in its bag I took it out and washed it down and let it soak in water for 2 hrs
Then back into the fridge for a day to get a good pellicle forming
I then rolled and tied it and trimmed the ends
Here we are in the good ol' Brinkman with a light TBS going on for 7 hrs
I then added the charcoal and let it gently heat away for another 4 hrs at about 120 then a ramp up of heat for the last 3/4 hrs to get the temp up around 145
I think it turned out O.K.
Oh and just because I hate to waste smoke and heat, I threw in a rubbed piece of top side beef, this was just heated but no slow smoke applied ....so there was no smoke ring to impress y'all with
This is a very popular bacon cut here in NZ, Similar to Canadian as it uses the sirloin.
I started by buying a 2 Kg cut of loin ( it was on special for $ 9.99 a Kg ) I had to remove the chine bone myself ( but thats no biggie) and used that to make "bacon bones" for soups and cooking etc
Here is the start of the process 1 X loin
Chine bone removed
As the cure usually takes a bit of time to get under the fat / skin layer I wanted to try and get a better coverage by opening up slots between the meat and fat
I put the rub on, which had the addition of pepper and rosemary and a 50/50 mix of molasses and sugar.... I was going for a savory style
Before it all went into the zip lok bag I used a chopstick to push cure into the slots I had prepared
After a week of sitting in the fridge in its bag I took it out and washed it down and let it soak in water for 2 hrs
Then back into the fridge for a day to get a good pellicle forming
I then rolled and tied it and trimmed the ends
Here we are in the good ol' Brinkman with a light TBS going on for 7 hrs
I then added the charcoal and let it gently heat away for another 4 hrs at about 120 then a ramp up of heat for the last 3/4 hrs to get the temp up around 145
I think it turned out O.K.
Oh and just because I hate to waste smoke and heat, I threw in a rubbed piece of top side beef, this was just heated but no slow smoke applied ....so there was no smoke ring to impress y'all with
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