1st Canadian Bacon w/ q-view

[rstr hunter]

Tried my first shot at canadian bacon today.  Started last Thurs by rubbing the pork loin with 1 T Tenderquick and 1 T brown sugar for each pound of meat.  Then vacuum sealed it and put it in the fridge until the following Sat night.    

Then took it out of the vacuum sealed bag and rinsed off the tender quick and sugar. 

Then soaked it in ice water for 1/2 hour.

After soaking this, I cut a couple of pieces, one from the end and one from the middle and fried them. 

After frying it tasted just like canadian bacon should, however I tried a little of shooters rub without the ceyenne on a fried piece and thought it would be tasty as a rub.  So I put it on and let it sit in the fridge over night. 

This morning I put it on the MES with the a-mazin smoker and cherry dust. 

Smoked to 160 degrees and let sit until cool and then sliced and packaged.

Turned out OK, but as I put the rub on later, it kind of overpowered the canadian bacon taste so next time will add to the dry cure.  Will be good especially on pizza or sandwiches. 

This is my first attemt at canadian bacon and first time using tender quick.  One quick question, there were a fair amount of little air bubbles in the meat as shown below.  It doesn't do anything to affect the taste, but wondering why that is.  I'd appreciate any ideas.

Thanks for looking and any feedback you have. 

 

[les3176]

Looks good to me.

 

[scarbelly]

Very nice. that is some good looking CB

 

[rstr hunter]

Thanks.  I thought it'd be OK too.  This turned out OK but I learned a lot about how I want to do this in the future. 

 

[tyotrain]

Now that looks great.. Nice job

 

[meateater]

Looks darn good, I oversalted my first batch and ran it through the grinder for pizza toppings.

 

[DanMcG]

Nice lookin CB there Rstr.  Not sure what the air bubbles are, I cant say I ever noticed them before in my CB's. One thought though, any chance the loins you bought were enhanced? (added water, flavor).  They use hundreds of needles to inject the loin with the additional water and maybe it is actually is a air bubble

 

[fpnmf]

Looks good!

  Craig

 

[tjohnson]

Looks great to me.

How's it taste if you rinse off the rub?

Todd

 

[alblancher]

Where/when did you notice the air bubbles?  After vacu packing?  As if the vacuum continued to pull air out of the Canadian bacon after sealing?  Was it enough air to loosen the packaging? 

You may have just put to much rub on the meat.  Try again using half as much or 1/4 as much.  

Al 

 

[skully]

Just drink more beer My doctor told Me, I complained about to much salt in My diet once to him and thats what he said......really....he did.......its true....no word of a lie.....lol....thems gonna make good sammys for sure....dont forget the eggs

 

[alelover]

I drink a lot of beer. I don't have a sodium problem. That CB looks really good. I did most of the spicing in the cure then just hit it lightly with onion powder, garlic powder and a little CBP. Even then I could taste the pepper pretty good. What Al said sounds like good advice.

 

[Bearcarver]

Your CB looks Great!

I agree with Al on the too much rub thought.

I normally just do the TQ & Brown sugar in the cure.

Then add CBP, onion powder & garlic powder before air drying in the fridge the night before smoking.

If the rub overpowered it, just cut back on the rub, but do it like you did.

Most things I have tried adding to the cure were barely even tasted in the finished product.

I never noticed the little bubbles, but I doubt it's anything to worry about.

Bear

 

[papagreer]

Nice looking CB! That is the next thing on my list for the misses. It is her fave and I just got a 20 lb loin from BJ's. Whoo hooo! Gotta order some more dust from Todd first. 

 

[virginiasmokesignal]

Rstr Hunter, that is some fine looking CB, I have never made any but it is close to the top of my list of to-do-things.  It makes sense to me and I trust the folks that said to use less rub, you may also want to use a less spicy rub and use less of it too. It sure looks good to me so keep up the good work!  May all your smokes be great.

Your SMF Friend,

Barry 

 

[scruffdog9]

I have made quite abit of CB and sounds like your pork had a bit of water in it. Also like stated above cut down on the rub or you can add corn meal to your rub if you want better coverage 

great pics. congrats on your first try looks yummy

 

[malisaw]

Thanks for posting this - it looks delicious.  I'm sure CB is in my future and I'll be referring back to your experiences prior to attempting my 1st batch.  Thanks much!