First attempt at Bacon / Canadian Bacon

[meatnbeer]

You guys and your bacon posts,  Look what you made me do!

I went to the store and bought a 11.5lb pork belly and a 9lb pork loin.  I was going to remove the skin from the belly, but after a few minutes into it, I scrapped the idea.  I don't relly like skin on anything, so hopefully it will be easier to take off after I smoke it.  I cut the belly and the loin into more managable pieces and weighed them.  I added 1/2 oz of tender quick per pound of meat and about the same of brown sugar.  I added a little extra brown sugar to each one because I like sweet bacon.  Not sure if it will make a difference, but I might as well try.

Some of the pork loin I cut into chops for dinner last night.  Smoked them with a 50/50 mix of apple/cherry.  Yum!  Very juicey!  I also smoked some vegetable skewers.  Wasn't sure about this, but they turned out great.  Some dirty rice, buttered bread, a tossed salad, and we had a nice dinner.

The bacon's went into the fridge where I am going to turn them daily until next weekend.

Can you see the nipples?

Dinner from last night.

It is going to be a long wait to throw those bacons on the smoker, but good things come to those who wait, right?

See you next weekend!!!!!

 

[scarbelly]

That is some great looking bacon you have going. Dinner looks good too

 

[meatnbeer]

I forgot to mention, there is a local grocery store that carries a rub out of Florida called a bourbon rub.  It is fantastic!  The name of the company that makes the rub is Lysanders.  The have a couple of other rubs that I need to try, but I have not had a chance yet.  This is the rub that I put on last nights dinner.

On another note, there is a cook book that I received for Christmas 2009 that I think everyone should own.  It's called Still Smokin' by cookshack.  That is were I found the recipe for the veggies and I have made a couple more out of it.  Everything that I have made from it is excellent.  I have no connection to this book, just thought I would share a good smoking cook book.

 

[meateater]

Looking good I added a Tbs of raw sugar per pound of bellie on my last one and was happy. Good Stuff!

 

[eman]

Never made belly bacon , so i'm asking someone who has . Dpoes leaving the skin on  affect the curing and/or smoking of the bacon???

 

[meatnbeer]

Eman I wish I could tell you.  I hope someone else can shed some light on this subject.  Maybe next time I will do an expierement and skin half to see if there is a difference.  Kind of wish I had done that this time. 

The only thing I can say so far, is that I was loosing some of the fat when I was trying to skin it.  I'm sure that was just my bad technique.

I have heard that the skin is easier to take off after smoking, so that is my plan right now.  I will not eat the skin.  Especially after seeing those nipples. 

My plan right now is to smoke it at about 100 degrees for about 8 hours.   I am not sure what wood I will use, but as you can see from my other posts, I have a tendency to do a 50/50 apple/cherry.  I am debating weather I want to do hickory or not.

 

[xjcamaro]

I can see your nipples!. You will probably find people split on the skin off/skin on question. Some people leave it on till after the smoke, some take it off before. I take mine off before i do anything, i get some of the fat coming off with mine too, not a big deal, i could probably use a little less fat anyway! I think you willl be very pleased with your bacon, and you might possibly never buy store bacon again!

 

[meatnbeer]

Tomorrow is smoke day.  I was thinking about doing a long cold smoke, but now I ma starting to have second thoughts, since I will have the canadian bacon in there also.  I wouldn't want to cold smoke the canadian bacon would I?  CB should be able to be eaten without cooking, right?  Maybe I cold do a long cold smoke, then take the bacon out and hit the CB with heat. Or should I just smoke it with heat the whole time?

Thoughts? 

 

[cowgirl]

Tomorrow is smoke day.  I was thinking about doing a long cold smoke, but now I ma starting to have second thoughts, since I will have the canadian bacon in there also.  I wouldn't want to cold smoke the canadian bacon would I?  CB should be able to be eaten without cooking, right?  Maybe I cold do a long cold smoke, then take the bacon out and hit the CB with heat. Or should I just smoke it with heat the whole time?

Thoughts? 

I always cold smoke both slab and canadian bacon. Leaves SO many more options for how you are able to cook it later on.

Keep in mind too that pork fat starts rendering at a temperature of 82 degrees... cold smoke under that temp to keep from over heating the meat while cold smoking.
 

 

[mballi3011]

Well I have made a fair amount of bellie bacon but I'm not the expert. I always cut the skin off the bacon. It will make it impossible for the cure to penetrate it and the smoke too. Now it's like filleting a fish just it tougher. Think about it they make footballs out of the skin. Now your dinner looks awesome and I bet you really liked it to. Another thing you will have to smoke the bacons separate for they need to be smoked differently. The bellie bacon you want to cold smoke it so you have to cook it to eat it, you know fry it to eat it. Then your Canadian bacon you want to smoke it to a temp of 165° and that way you can eat it right out of the smoker. Your bellie bacon I would smoke it as low as you can and I mean low. I have a smoker just for this type of smoking and I use a single hot plate and I can get smoke at about 70°. Then as the hours click bye you want to raise the temp up 10° an hour. So your bellies will smoke about 8-10 hours. For you want the flavoring not the cooking this bacon. Believe me thou after it's all over you will never want to buy store bought bacon again. We haven't bought bacon in maybe a year or so now. Neither have we bought lunch meat in a longtime too

 

[cowgirl]

Meatnbeer...this stuff will make you whimper. lol  Cold smoked bacon wrapped canadian bacon....   http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/81770/smoked-bacon-wrapped-bacon   

It's sooooo good!

Also this one.... Chickenfried Cold smoked canadian bacon... http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/81643/chickenfried-canadian-bacon  ... It's one of my absolute favorites!!

 

[meatnbeer]

Meatnbeer...this stuff will make you whimper. lol  Cold smoked bacon wrapped canadian bacon....   http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/81770/smoked-bacon-wrapped-bacon   

It's sooooo good!

Also this one.... Chickenfried Cold smoked canadian bacon... http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/81643/chickenfried-canadian-bacon  ... It's one of my absolute favorites!!

Wow!  Those look awesome!  You sure do make a convincing arguement for cold smoking. 

 

[cowgirl]

Meatnbeer...this stuff will make you whimper. lol  Cold smoked bacon wrapped canadian bacon....   http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/81770/smoked-bacon-wrapped-bacon   

It's sooooo good!

Also this one.... Chickenfried Cold smoked canadian bacon... http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/81643/chickenfried-canadian-bacon  ... It's one of my absolute favorites!!

Wow!  Those look awesome!  You sure do make a convincing arguement for cold smoking. 

lol You need to give it a try! I'll never hot smoke canadian bacon.

 

 

[meatnbeer]

Pulled from the fridge, trimmed the skin off the belly, soaked in cold water for 30 minutes, patted dry, racked and placed in front of a fan for 1.5 hours.

Cold smoked the belly for 8 hours with apple wood.  The smoker temp never rose above 73*.

removed the belly from the smoker and put the canadian bacon in.  Smoked at 225* with apple wood until the internal temp of the meat was 165* (opted for hot smoke based on what I want to do with the meat, I will cold smoke next time)

Placed everything in the fridge overnight, then sliced, and fried up some belly for BLT's

I might have cut the belly a little thick, but the flavor still almost brought a tear to my eye when I first tasted it.  Everyone is right., once you have homemade bacon, you will never want store bought again.  Also, I love burnt ends from brisket, but the end pieces of the canadian bacon might be my new favorite.  Flavor explosion!

 

Drying

Smoked

Sliced

....and fried....

 

[0331grunt]

That looks mighty good!  I am going to have to smoke me some bacon soon....

 

[Bearcarver]

Looks Great Meatnbeer!

As for your skin on or off, that's a matter of choice.

Lots of guys leave it on, but if you are going to throw it away anyway, I figure "Why cure it & Smoke it".

Like Mark said, it'll cure easier, quicker, and with less cure without the skin (rind), and the smoke will be getting on the part you're going to eat, instead of the part you're gonna throw away.

Bear

 

[beer-b-q]

Meatnbeer, Your Bacon Looks Great ...

 

[cowgirl]

Great looking bacon Meatnbeer... nice job!  Don't forget to use that cold smoked bacon on abts and fatties. or anything else you want to wrap and smoke.

 

[meatnbeer]

Great looking bacon Meatnbeer... nice job!  Don't forget to use that cold smoked bacon on abts and fatties. or anything else you want to wrap and smoke.

Will do, Packers Superbowl? 

One thing I have to say is that both of the bacons turned out to be more like a ham, the canadian bacon more so.  Is there something I did wrong?  Or is this just what homemade bacon tastes like?  The sweetness of the brown s ugar and apple wood definately came thru......maybe I am just ruined by mass produced bacon.....

 

[cowgirl]

Great looking bacon Meatnbeer... nice job!  Don't forget to use that cold smoked bacon on abts and fatties. or anything else you want to wrap and smoke.

Will do, Packers Superbowl? 

One thing I have to say is that both of the bacons turned out to be more like a ham, the canadian bacon more so.  Is there something I did wrong?  Or is this just what homemade bacon tastes like?  The sweetness of the brown s ugar and apple wood definately came thru......maybe I am just ruined by mass produced bacon.....

 You probably didn't do anything wrong. Mortons calls for 1 tsp of sugar per pound of meat for a basic recipe... but if you like it sweeter then it more is okay.

I like brine cured canadian bacon, it's not hammy. I need to re-read your post, see how long you cured......you might want to check your bacon after 5 days and see if it's ready then instead of curing for 7 days.  I do the slice and fry test at day 5 to see how it's doing.

Yours looks really tasty Meatnbeer.