In some prior posts I advised I was putting a smoked gift package together for my brother and his family. In the last post, I had purchased two full pork loins and made Honey Loin Hams from the large ends of the loins. In this post, I will show how I made the final part of the package, back bacon (mysteriously to us Canadians, Canadian Bacon in the USA).
I cut the rest of the two loins into 4 meat chunks.
I measured the cure mix for each piece of meat using the following formula, for each kilogram of pork I mixed:
For one of the chunks, I added 1.5 ml of Berbere spice per kilogram to the cure for Berbere bacon.
I put the pork on a plate and rubbed the curing mix in. Then I put the meat and any cure mix that fell onto the plate into a ziploc bag.
I calculated the length of time to cure the pork by my formula, 4 days for every inch of thickness plus 2 days. The thickest part of the pork was 2 1/2 inches so I cured it for 12 days by putting the bags in the fridge and turning them every day or two.
After the 12 days, I rinsed the pork off and soaked it in cold water for 40 minutes, changing the water once. Then I put it on a tray in the fridge overnight.
I put a grating of pepper over one of the chunks for pepper bacon.
I put it in my pellets smoker with the smoker turned off and my A-Maze-N Tube smoker loaded with hickory. I smoked it for six to seven hours.
I put the bacon in the fridge overnight.
The next day I preheated my pellet smoker to 180 F and smoked the bacon to an internal temperature of 140 F.
I covered the bacon and put it in the fridge for 2 days. Then I sliced it up.
Of course, I had to sample each kind for quality control before I packaged it up.
The Verdict
I am really happy with this batch of bacon. It has a great salt/cure/sweet balance. I went really light on the Berbere spice and pepper as my sister in law is not into spicy and they gave just an interesting note to the bacon they were used on.
I hope my family likes it as much as I do.
Disco
I cut the rest of the two loins into 4 meat chunks.
I measured the cure mix for each piece of meat using the following formula, for each kilogram of pork I mixed:
- 3 grams (2 ml) Prague Powder #1
- 40 ml brown sugar
- 15 ml kosher salt
- 0.05 ounce (1/5 teaspoon) Prague Powder #1
- 4 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
For one of the chunks, I added 1.5 ml of Berbere spice per kilogram to the cure for Berbere bacon.
I put the pork on a plate and rubbed the curing mix in. Then I put the meat and any cure mix that fell onto the plate into a ziploc bag.
I calculated the length of time to cure the pork by my formula, 4 days for every inch of thickness plus 2 days. The thickest part of the pork was 2 1/2 inches so I cured it for 12 days by putting the bags in the fridge and turning them every day or two.
After the 12 days, I rinsed the pork off and soaked it in cold water for 40 minutes, changing the water once. Then I put it on a tray in the fridge overnight.
I put a grating of pepper over one of the chunks for pepper bacon.
I put it in my pellets smoker with the smoker turned off and my A-Maze-N Tube smoker loaded with hickory. I smoked it for six to seven hours.
I put the bacon in the fridge overnight.
The next day I preheated my pellet smoker to 180 F and smoked the bacon to an internal temperature of 140 F.
I covered the bacon and put it in the fridge for 2 days. Then I sliced it up.
Of course, I had to sample each kind for quality control before I packaged it up.
The Verdict
I am really happy with this batch of bacon. It has a great salt/cure/sweet balance. I went really light on the Berbere spice and pepper as my sister in law is not into spicy and they gave just an interesting note to the bacon they were used on.
I hope my family likes it as much as I do.
Disco