My first Canadian Bacon

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Bearcarver

Gone but not forgotten RIP
Original poster
OTBS Member
Group Lead
Sep 12, 2009
45,279
18,182
Macungie, PA
Here's my first pork loin/Canadian Bacon. It turned out great thanks to many of you on this forum. I stole the two 2 1/2 pound loins from the freezer ( Yeah--I asked my wife first ! ). She had gotten them on a "two for one" sale, so the 5 pounds cost just under $10.



After dry curing 8 days:
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A little sample taste before chilling over night:
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Slicing:
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Not very much out of 5 pounds of pork loin:
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Next time I have to get a much bigger pork loin!
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Thank You,
Bearcarver
 
Great job, your first attempt looks like you've been doing it for years.
Great job on the cure.
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Now that it looks like you got the hang of it have you thought about trying your hand a capicola?
 
For the first time you did a great job there Bear.
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For sure you did a good job with the cure it looks that it went all the way thou so you did good. How long did you cure them.? We love them here so I'm getting better at them myself.
 
I cured them with 5 TBS of TQ, plus 5 TBS of brown sugar for 8 days at 37/38 degrees. Then I soaked them for 1 1/2 hours, draining 3 times.
Fry tested---not too salty.
Sprinkled a little garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper.
Put in fridge unwrapped over night.
Started smoking (Apple dust, chips, and chunks) at 120*, and moved up slowly for 6 1/2 hours to 230*, finishing with an internal 160*.

The reason I went to 160* was;
I couldn't figure out if I wanted to remove at 140* or 160*. There were all kinds of comments on the subject, but Dawn (IrishTbear) swayed me. I read the one where she was doing 3 portions of loins. She was going to pull two at 140*, and leave to other one in until 160* (if I remember correctly). She ended up leaving them all in until 160*. So I figured I'd keep checking after 140* to make sure they didn't get to hard & dry. They didn't !

Now I can eat them cold, but I threw a couple slices in the butter after I pulled my fried eggs out of the pan, gave the slices a minute on each side, and they melted in my mouth ! MMMMmmmmmmm...........

Thanks,
Bearcarver


Fire it up: I'm not ready for Capicola yet----Only "Pepsi Cola"


TxBigRed: I love it on pizza!
 
Nice C B there.
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Now you're hooked! Nice looking CB.
 
Great !

Thanks,
I'm trying to pay back for all the guys who inspired me !


Bearcarver
 
Oh yeah, that looks fantastic. Great job Bearcarver. Better than anything I've ever seen in the store, thats for sure.
 
Thanks Meat Hunter !

BTW: I wore the Tropic Lightning patch for about a year (August, 69 to August, 70), but only on my right shoulder.


Bearcarver
 
Wow, very impressive for your first time out of the gate. You've got me sold, I'm going to try that real soon. It's all good my friend.
 
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