Canadian Bacon Bearcarver’s Way

[thebig1]

Well, this is my first attempt at ever making Canadian bacon.

I allowed the meat to cure for 12 days. I got it out this morning, washed and soaked it, and then cut a piece out of the middle of the thickest piece and fried it up for the wife and I. Again, this is my first time. It kind of tasted like a fried pork chop.

I seasoned half of it with McCormick’s seasoning and the other half plain for the ham flavor that Bear has described.

I put it in the smoker for 1 hour at 150* to allow the pellicle form. After an hour I put the AMNPS in filled with 2 rows of AMNPS Maple Sugar pellets. I then bumped the temperature up to 160*.

Now comes the questions to answer my confusion.

How is the color of my cured meat, did it come out right?

I am thoroughly confused, it’s been absolutely frigid cold this past week, today’s temperature is around 15*-20*, the meat has been in the smoker for a total of 3 hours, and th IT of the meat that I’m plugged into is already 131*. Does this sound right?

Will continue to update as my day progresses.

Update: I just plugged my TP20 into a different piece of meat and the temperature is down to 118*.

Chad

 

[TomKnollRFV]

It can be hard to tell from pictures if the curing got in there or not, since it can be a light pink...but I think it did.

As for how long Canadian bacon can take..remember it's pretty lean as a cut, so don't expect it to take 8-12 hours like Buckboard can. I've had Canadian bacon done in 4 hours. Though you are right with how cold it is, sounds like one probe is close to the surface of the meat, or poked through to touch the grating!

 

[SonnyE]

Looks good Chad!
I'm a cold smoker of my Bacon's. Because I'm going to always cook it before use.
Your color looks good to me, but I'm also new at this.
I typically do a 14 day cure. Considered to be a maximum cure time. So I err toward the long side. Your 12 days sounds good to me.
You've hit on why I have multi probe meat thermometers. I have a TP-08, but I added an IBT-XP, and recently the newest Long Range IRF-4S. Which I think I like the best so far, because it is LCD and easy to see, has all 4 probes viewable at all times.
When I did my first bacon's (2 ea - Pork Belly and Buckboard) I stuck all for and monitored the IT. Kind of frivolous for cold smoking, but I was curious.
Now I can almost monitor a chain of sausage links.
You might want to find your most middling chunk and use it as your average, then when you are near your finish, probe them all.
I'd hesitate to open the smoker a lot. It upsets the cook over all.

Incidentally, cured pork is going to be kind of pork tasting. All it has is curing, no smoking yet.

 

[jcam222]

I hot smoked my Canadian bacon that was cured in Pops brine. I have people begging me to make more.

 

[thebig1]

Thank you very much guys, I appreciate your input.

Tom, thanks for bringing up the point about cook times, now I feel better.

Sonny, thank you for touching on my question about taste, I was worried but now I’m not. Also, I think that I might look into cold smoking my buckboard bacon. I literally just got back from the store where I picked up two boneless pork butts to do buckboard. With as cold as it is I can just hang it in my smoker for days since I built a 4’x4’ shed to house it and it’s all protected.

Jcam, I hope that I get at least half that reaction.

Chad

 

[noboundaries]

I ten-day cured eight pork loin chops, about 1 1/2" thick, then smoked them last week. Total weight just under 8 lbs. Set the smoker at 200F, with a bump to 225F for the last hour. Took 4 hours to reach 140F. The temp rise slowed SIGNIFICANTLY once they hit 125F, that's why I bumped the chamber temp. Reminded me of a stall.

 

[thebig1]

Boundaries, thank you for THAT reminder too. Lol. I’m sitting here wondering why I’ve been at 130*-135* for the past hour or two. Now I remember about the stall too.

 

[SonnyE]

No, that is not correct. If I did not see the jar of "Himalayan Pink Salt" on the counter, I would not have been able to answer correctly. HPS is NOT CURING SALT. You need to use Prague Powder #1.

He's done curing. That mixed seasoning you see is for his smoking.
Kind of like Pepper Bacon. The pepper is applied between Pellical, and the smoker.


Read it closer. It is HPS, Black Pepper, and Garlic.

 

[SonnyE]

My mistake, obviously. I just hate to see this Himalayan salt because many people do not understand about curing salts. Thank you.

No sweat. You'll find many watch dogs prowling this neighborhood.

Feel free to ask or correct me if I screw up, too.

 

[Bearcarver]

Boundaries, thank you for THAT reminder too. Lol. I’m sitting here wondering why I’ve been at 130*-135* for the past hour or two. Now I remember about the stall too.

I don't see any brown or gray in the middle of your slices, so the cure must have got to center.

Also: That's probably not a stall.
It's not going to go fast above 130° when your Smoker Temp is only 160°.
If you're following one of my CB Smokes, you should notice I keep my Smoker temp down below 160° for enough time to get plenty of Smoke, but then once I'm happy with the Smoke, I'll go to about 190° to get it to get to an internal Temp of 145°--150°.
I Take all my BBB & my CB to 145° IT, because IMHO it tastes better than cold smoking, and if I want I can eat it cold, or just warm it up a little, without having to worry about getting it to 145°, because it's already been there.

I Smoke my Bellies with 100° to 130° Smoker Temp, until it gets good color & flavor (About 10 to 12 hours---One AMNPS load). I don't worry about the IT, because I always fry my Belly Bacon before eating.

Bear

 

[thebig1]

I don't see any brown or gray in the middle of your slices, so the cure must have got to center.

Thank you for the reassurance.

Also: That's probably not a stall.
It's not going to go fast above 130° when your Smoker Temp is only 160°.
If you're following one of my CB Smokes, you should notice I keep my Smoker temp down below 160° for enough time to get plenty of Smoke, but then once I'm happy with the Smoke, I'll go to about 190° to get it to get to an internal Temp of 145°--150°.

If I’d have known that was the reason for the several hours at 130* I’d have turned up the temperature earlier. Lol You should see how dark the color is. I hope that I didn’t overdo it.

I Take all my BBB & my CB to 145° IT, because IMHO it tastes better than cold smoking, and if I want I can eat it cold, or just warm it up a little, without having to worry about getting it to 145°, because it's already been there.

I Smoke my Bellies with 100° to 130° Smoker Temp, until it gets good color & flavor (About 10 to 12 hours---One AMNPS load). I don't worry about the IT, because I always fry my Belly Bacon before eating.

Bear

 

[thebig1]

It’s been 9 hours and although the ones which were on the right and middle (over the heating element), the two on the left were still at 136*.

Look at the intense color on these. I used 2 rows of Maple Sugar by AMNPS. It’s not their fault, but I hope that I didn’t overdo the smoke and ruin the entire batch.

 

[pc farmer]

They will be good. I smoke for 12 hours. a full tray of smoke

 

[thebig1]

They will be good. I smoke for 12 hours. a full tray of smoke

I’m hoping Farmer. The alarm just went off and I pulled the plug. I’m just going to let them in the smoker which is inside it’s shed instead of putting it in a fridge.

I’ll go check on it sometime tomorrow and then bring it in for slicing and sampling on Monday night.

 

[chopsaw]

What's the internal temp ? I do alot of loin ham using Bears step as a guide line always comes out great . I like to just warm mine up , or eat it cold on a sandwich . I take it to 145 internal

 

[thebig1]

What's the internal temp ? I do alot of loin ham using Bears step as a guide line always comes out great . I like to just warm mine up , or eat it cold on a sandwich . I take it to 145 internal

Yes, it hit 145* when I turned it off. The other pieces were around 150-155.

 

[Bearcarver]

That does look exceptionally Dark, but it could be because of what you had on the surface---Sugar??.
As long as you didn't have too much "Heavy Smoke" it should be fine.
Remember --- Hours & Hours & Hours of light to medium Smoke is good, but even a short time of Heavy Smoke can be bad.

BTW: I alway like to use the Second Rack from the Top, so it's not close to the heating element.

Bear

 

[thebig1]

That does look exceptionally Dark, but it could be because of what you had on the surface---Sugar??.
As long as you didn't have too much "Heavy Smoke" it should be fine.
Remember --- Hours & Hours & Hours of light to medium Smoke is good, but even a short time of Heavy Smoke can be bad.

BTW: I alway like to use the Second Rack from the Top, so it's not close to the heating element.

Bear

I just used that McCormick seasoning with salt, pepper, and garlic. I too have it on the second rack from the top, following your lead as always.

 

[Bearcarver]

Be back to see how you made out & for final Pics.

Bear

 

[thebig1]

I had to open up the smoker to take a peak. It’s VERY dark. I hope that it’s good and not ruined. I’m hoping that it’s just the Maple Sugar wood pellets that made it so dark.

I’ll be slicing and sampling tomorrow evening.