Good Afternoon Fellow BBQ Brethren,
It’s been a whole day since my last post which included my spare rib dinner and if you read it, you would recall the ribs were the 1[sup]st[/sup] of two smokes…so here goes the 2[sup]nd[/sup]….10lbs of Canadian Bacon!!!
First I would like to give thanks to SQWIB for not only posting a very well documented step-by-step process of the curing process and smoking of the meat, but for also taking the time to respond to my private messages. Thanks SQWIB! Here is his post which I followed to a T.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/128074/canadian-bacon-by-sqwib
So here goes! I purchased a 10lb pork loin from Sam’s club and immediately went to work, trimming as much fat off as possible. I wanted this bacon as lean as possible and I know a lot of my family won’t eat the fat. Thereafter I quartered the meat which each piece weighed approximately 2.5lbs. The weight is very important when it comes to the cure. The cure and brown sugar was mixed based on the specifications and directions (I used Morton’s tender quick cure) which is 1 tablespoon per pound with equal amounts of sugar. The meat was then placed in zip lock bags and coated in the cure.
Based on SQWIB’s formula, I figured it would require 10-days in the fridge to cure. The meat was approximately 5 inches thick so…5 inches divided by 2 (to figure radius) and then divide by 0.25 (or ¼ inch) to determine time to cure. Once the meat was placed in the fridge, it was massaged everyday to make sure complete coverage of the cure.
10 grueling days later, the meat was removed, rinsed, and places in cold water for an hour to remove some of the cure and saltiness. After the fry test, my wife and I decided it was too salty, so I popped them into the water for another 30minutes. Thereafter, the meat was placed in the fridge on a rack to form the pellicle.
Now for the big day! I removed the loins from the fridge and decided on my glaze. Since this meat was going to be primarily eaten for breakfast, I chose to coat 2 in a honey, brown sugar, and pepper glaze and the other two in a maple syrup, brown sugar, and pepper glaze. Wood of choice for the smoke was hickory as well.
I did cook them a little hotter than SQWIB since I have a hard time keeping the coals at bay below 200 degrees in the drum, so that’s the temp they cooked at. The loins (or bacon at this point) were pulled at an internal temp of 145 and wrapped in foil and put in the fridge once cool.
Almost a day and half was gone before I felt it was time to slice (smoked in the am on Sunday). I wanted to keep them about ¼ inch thick which would give me enough to give away to friends and family (about 8 people) for at least one good breakfast and of course a bunch for my wife and I. I also had to borrow my meat slicer from my in-laws which work perfectly for a 1970’s vintage Krup!
All in all, this was a lot of fun and will definitely be smoked again! Thanks to SQWIB again and everyone else on the board for the motivation…enjoy the Q-View! Sorry, the initial pictures are terrible, they were taken from a picture of a picture with a phone…don’t ask J
Rip…
Trimmed off majority of the fat...
Placed in the bags with the cure and brown sugar...
Fry Test...I soaked the loins in water for an hour and a half since the first hour we felt wasn't enough.
After the fry test...they were left out to form the pellicle...
All glazed up ready to go to the sauna! Maple glaze in rear, Honey glaze up front...
Smoked! Ready for foil!
An oldie but a goodie!!! Time to Slice!
Ain't that beautiful!
This pig was not wasted!
This is one happy guy here!
It’s been a whole day since my last post which included my spare rib dinner and if you read it, you would recall the ribs were the 1[sup]st[/sup] of two smokes…so here goes the 2[sup]nd[/sup]….10lbs of Canadian Bacon!!!
First I would like to give thanks to SQWIB for not only posting a very well documented step-by-step process of the curing process and smoking of the meat, but for also taking the time to respond to my private messages. Thanks SQWIB! Here is his post which I followed to a T.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/128074/canadian-bacon-by-sqwib
So here goes! I purchased a 10lb pork loin from Sam’s club and immediately went to work, trimming as much fat off as possible. I wanted this bacon as lean as possible and I know a lot of my family won’t eat the fat. Thereafter I quartered the meat which each piece weighed approximately 2.5lbs. The weight is very important when it comes to the cure. The cure and brown sugar was mixed based on the specifications and directions (I used Morton’s tender quick cure) which is 1 tablespoon per pound with equal amounts of sugar. The meat was then placed in zip lock bags and coated in the cure.
Based on SQWIB’s formula, I figured it would require 10-days in the fridge to cure. The meat was approximately 5 inches thick so…5 inches divided by 2 (to figure radius) and then divide by 0.25 (or ¼ inch) to determine time to cure. Once the meat was placed in the fridge, it was massaged everyday to make sure complete coverage of the cure.
10 grueling days later, the meat was removed, rinsed, and places in cold water for an hour to remove some of the cure and saltiness. After the fry test, my wife and I decided it was too salty, so I popped them into the water for another 30minutes. Thereafter, the meat was placed in the fridge on a rack to form the pellicle.
Now for the big day! I removed the loins from the fridge and decided on my glaze. Since this meat was going to be primarily eaten for breakfast, I chose to coat 2 in a honey, brown sugar, and pepper glaze and the other two in a maple syrup, brown sugar, and pepper glaze. Wood of choice for the smoke was hickory as well.
I did cook them a little hotter than SQWIB since I have a hard time keeping the coals at bay below 200 degrees in the drum, so that’s the temp they cooked at. The loins (or bacon at this point) were pulled at an internal temp of 145 and wrapped in foil and put in the fridge once cool.
Almost a day and half was gone before I felt it was time to slice (smoked in the am on Sunday). I wanted to keep them about ¼ inch thick which would give me enough to give away to friends and family (about 8 people) for at least one good breakfast and of course a bunch for my wife and I. I also had to borrow my meat slicer from my in-laws which work perfectly for a 1970’s vintage Krup!
All in all, this was a lot of fun and will definitely be smoked again! Thanks to SQWIB again and everyone else on the board for the motivation…enjoy the Q-View! Sorry, the initial pictures are terrible, they were taken from a picture of a picture with a phone…don’t ask J
Rip…
Trimmed off majority of the fat...
Placed in the bags with the cure and brown sugar...
Fry Test...I soaked the loins in water for an hour and a half since the first hour we felt wasn't enough.
After the fry test...they were left out to form the pellicle...
All glazed up ready to go to the sauna! Maple glaze in rear, Honey glaze up front...
Smoked! Ready for foil!
An oldie but a goodie!!! Time to Slice!
Ain't that beautiful!
This pig was not wasted!
This is one happy guy here!
