I've been using the basic Morton recipe for Canadian Bacon for a while now for the Mrs and she practically inhales it.
A few weeks ago I enjoyed Disco's post on Back Bacon using cure #1and thought I'd give it a try. Not stopping there, I did a loin both ways to compare.
I started with a whole loin cut into 4 pieces.
I did two of them using the TQ formula (one with white sugar and one with brown sugar) and two with the cure #1 route:
1/5 tsp #1
4 tsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
(Per pound)
Instead of zip lock bags I vac-seal. I think it holds things to the meat better.
After 6 days I rinsed and soaked the TQ batch (about a 1 hr soak) dried in the fridge overnight, sliced and bagged.
I figured 4 days per inch of thickness + 2 days cure time for the #1 cure batch for 12 days and let them dry in the fridge overnight after a rinse and soak.
I cold smoked one of them for 6 hours with Pitmaster's Choice.
I let the smoked one air out in the fridge for 2 days. The others were bagged and refrigerated of course.
I sliced the #1 cure batch.
Time for the taste test!
We fried them with a bit of Pam Original.
Clockwise from top left: smoked #1 cure, unsmoked #1 cure, TQ with white sugar, TQ with brown sugar.
I liked the smoked version (go figure), the Mrs declared we would use brown sugar from now on but didn't care for the smoked. We didn't notice any difference between the TQ or the #1 cure batches as far as saltiness. I'll keep using TQ because it's cheap and I can buy it down the street. I didn't cook any of it in the smoker because we always cook it anyway.
Also, if the weight was over an even pound I rounded up on the ingredients to the next pound and instead of 1/5 tsp of cure I used 1/4 tsp (I don't have a 1/5 tsp measure and fractions of grams wear me out). Let the chastisement begin, but the color was good. I hate all that math.
I didn't see a forum for this is why it's here...
For Disco,
Dan
I started with a whole loin cut into 4 pieces.
1/5 tsp #1
4 tsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
(Per pound)
Instead of zip lock bags I vac-seal. I think it holds things to the meat better.
I cold smoked one of them for 6 hours with Pitmaster's Choice.
I sliced the #1 cure batch.
We fried them with a bit of Pam Original.
I liked the smoked version (go figure), the Mrs declared we would use brown sugar from now on but didn't care for the smoked. We didn't notice any difference between the TQ or the #1 cure batches as far as saltiness. I'll keep using TQ because it's cheap and I can buy it down the street. I didn't cook any of it in the smoker because we always cook it anyway.
Also, if the weight was over an even pound I rounded up on the ingredients to the next pound and instead of 1/5 tsp of cure I used 1/4 tsp (I don't have a 1/5 tsp measure and fractions of grams wear me out). Let the chastisement begin, but the color was good. I hate all that math.
I didn't see a forum for this is why it's here...
For Disco,
Dan
