First Canadian Bacon (Qview!)

[pearlheartgtr]

Just finished smoking 10 lbs of my very first CB. I divided the slab into 4 pieces and tried some different things with them while they napped in the cure. All were cured with TSM Country Brown Sugar Ham and Bacon cure with extra brown sugar rubbed on. On 2, I added Onion powder and garlic powder.

With the curing all finished, I wanted to experiment with some flavors so I rubbed 1 plain and 1 onion and garlic with clover honey and the other two with pure maple syrup.

After all was said and done, the plain honey tastes just like ham. Plain with maple has no maple flavor and sorta tastes like ham. Both garlic and onion are a bit strong on the garlic and I only sprinkled, I'd say 1/2 tbsp or less on each (didn't measure, just sprinkled), and I don't really taste the honey or maple. I know they'll all get eaten up just the same but I think I'll stick with the honey next time around.

For xmas, I'm going to be slicing and vac sealing a bunch of samplers for the family along with some of last week's belly bacon and possibly some summer sausage or salami (I'll get around to that next week).

In the meantime, here's a few pics.

CB1.jpg

• pearlheartgtr
• Dec 13, 2012

CB2.jpg

• pearlheartgtr
• Dec 13, 2012

I was too busy getting the bacon labelled and bagged and ended up crisping the edges a little. But still good stuff!

CB3.jpg

• pearlheartgtr
• Dec 13, 2012

 

[smoking b]

I have some loin in the fridge right now curing for some CB. Yummy stuff & yours looks plenty good 

 

[chef jimmyj]

Next on the list. Looks awesome...JJ

 

[pwillie]

Looks great..........Mine is in the fridge and in Pop's brine.  It will come out today to start a pellicle.  I think I will stick with a honey and cracked black peppercorns for a glaze.  This is my first stab at Canadian Bacon........

 

[driedstick]

That looks great.

 

[kitt]

Looks awesome makes me hungry

 

[chix-boy]

Looks awesome, I really like the glaze look it takes it to another level.

 

[pops6927]

Looks wonderful!

 

[rstr hunter]

Was just thinking that I aught to do some more of this after the holidays,  If you cut them bigger you have smoked pork chops as well.  They are a big hit at our place and when I make CB I always lose about half the loin to smoked chops as well.  Looks great,  gets me in the mood to do some more.  Thanks Pearl. 

 

[samuel trachet]

I would eat that!

 

[tennsmoker]

PEARL,

I am about ready to do CB now and yours looks wonderful, 

     I just finished making my 1st bellie bacon

"two total bellies",  you can read about doing it for ever but really gain knowledge from actually doing it, tip of the day.

al

 

[dgilley]

My mouth started watering looking at the pics.  Have never done CB but would like to give it a try.  I would appreciate tips and/or recipes on how to do CB, what cut of meat to use and so on.  Also, your idea of taking samples of different cuts of smoked goodies to Christmas parts is a great idea. Thanks for your  post.

 

[pearlheartgtr]

My mouth started watering looking at the pics.  Have never done CB but would like to give it a try.  I would appreciate tips and/or recipes on how to do CB, what cut of meat to use and so on.  Also, your idea of taking samples of different cuts of smoked goodies to Christmas parts is a great idea. Thanks for your  post.

The loin is what is used for CB. Thankfully, it's relatively cheap. I picked my 10 pounder up for $12. There are a lot of recipes on the forum, dry and wet cure. I happen to have a 2 lb jar of TSM Country cure that I want to use up so I went that route and I have no complaints with the product. I've only had generic CB from the diner and wanted to try some other flavors I've seen in recipes on the forum.

 

[flammenwerfer]

I am new to this and am brining some loins now but I am trying to find out more about hot vs cold smoking for CB and Belly Bacon.  I am assuming yours was a hot smoke?  Other than a need to thoroughly cook/fry before consuming are there other concerns with cold smoking bacon? 

I can only hope my product looks half as good as your bacon turned out....

Thanks,

Ken K

 

[pearlheartgtr]

This was a hot smoke. For belly bacon, I cold smoke with just the AMNPS for up to 8 hours. I only hot smoked the CB because most of the threads I'd read had hot smoked. I also liked the idea that I could take a few pieces and throw them on a sandwich cold.

I set the MES to 200F and got the AMNPS going with applewood pellets. I had them in the smoker until 145/6F internal temp. The whole smoke and cook took about 4 hours with smoke for the first 2-3 hours. The texture, color, and smoke was perfect.
 

 

[flammenwerfer]

Awesome results...I am going to try to emulate your successful formula.  I also agree that having slices you can throw on a sammich cold is great justification for a hot smoke, I was fearful of an overly dry product but yours looks perfect.

Thanks for sharing,

Ken K

 

[sqwib]

Looking good.

If freezing the CB do not slice too thin or you risk it drying out once reheated.

 

[rtbbq2]

Looks super good. I like to use honey, a little brown suger and some Heinz 57. I think it is my favorite basting sauce for ham.......