Started with a 4# pork loin and decided I wanted to try Canadian bacon. Found some really good posts by Bear and others. Decided I wanted to use Bear's instructions, but couldn't find Morton's Tender Quick locally. Ordered it from Amazon and had it in about two days. Here's what the loin looked like after being thawed. Sorry for the huge image size; I'll get that figured out.
Next step was to rub on the Tender Quick and brown sugar and put the two pieces of loin into a 1 gal Ziploc. It went into the fridge for 13 days, getting flipped each day. Within the first few hours the salt had pulled maybe 3/4 cup of liquid from the loin, which then acted as a brine.
After 13 days I pulled the loin out, rinsed it, dried it well, and sprinkled on some onion, garlic and CBP. Here's how that looked just before putting it into the fridge overnight to form a pellicle.
The next day, I preheated the smoker, got the smoke tube going with cherry, and put the two loin pieces on the middle rack. I followed Bear's temp stages and hit 145 in about 7 1/2 hours. Here's what the loin looked like coming out of the smoker.
Per the recipe, I pulled the loin, let it cool to 100, wrapped it in Saran, and put it in the fridge for two days. Bear doesn't spell it out, but I assume that fridge rest lets both the smoke and internal moisture equalize throughout the meat. At this point the loin pieces felt a little hard, but I knew the final product would be a lot like ham, so I wasn't worried.
After two days in the fridge, I unwrapped the loin and cut it about 1/8" with my meat slicer. I've since eaten some of it as a hot ham and cheese sandwich, and I added a couple slices to an egg sandwich on toast. Both were great and the meat was tender, with excellent flavor. While there's only a small amount of pepper around the edge of each slice, it makes a difference. Here's what the sliced "bacon" looked like.
I wouldn't have been nearly as successful in this first attempt without the posts by Bear and others. I really appreciate this community and the HUGE amount of information that's available. Responses to queries on this forum are almost always helpful and positive, which isn't true everywhere on the Internet. I plan to become a much more regular member and will do my best to pay forward the help I've received. Smoke on!
Next step was to rub on the Tender Quick and brown sugar and put the two pieces of loin into a 1 gal Ziploc. It went into the fridge for 13 days, getting flipped each day. Within the first few hours the salt had pulled maybe 3/4 cup of liquid from the loin, which then acted as a brine.
After 13 days I pulled the loin out, rinsed it, dried it well, and sprinkled on some onion, garlic and CBP. Here's how that looked just before putting it into the fridge overnight to form a pellicle.
The next day, I preheated the smoker, got the smoke tube going with cherry, and put the two loin pieces on the middle rack. I followed Bear's temp stages and hit 145 in about 7 1/2 hours. Here's what the loin looked like coming out of the smoker.
Per the recipe, I pulled the loin, let it cool to 100, wrapped it in Saran, and put it in the fridge for two days. Bear doesn't spell it out, but I assume that fridge rest lets both the smoke and internal moisture equalize throughout the meat. At this point the loin pieces felt a little hard, but I knew the final product would be a lot like ham, so I wasn't worried.
After two days in the fridge, I unwrapped the loin and cut it about 1/8" with my meat slicer. I've since eaten some of it as a hot ham and cheese sandwich, and I added a couple slices to an egg sandwich on toast. Both were great and the meat was tender, with excellent flavor. While there's only a small amount of pepper around the edge of each slice, it makes a difference. Here's what the sliced "bacon" looked like.
I wouldn't have been nearly as successful in this first attempt without the posts by Bear and others. I really appreciate this community and the HUGE amount of information that's available. Responses to queries on this forum are almost always helpful and positive, which isn't true everywhere on the Internet. I plan to become a much more regular member and will do my best to pay forward the help I've received. Smoke on!
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