I have been making back (Canadian) bacon using Pop's brine for awhile. I add some maple syrup to it and inject the loin. It is very good but I found some loin rib ends on sale at the supermarket. I like them for back (Canadian) bacon because they usually have some fat lines in them. Also, they are thinner than the centre loin which makes them perfect for a dry cure.
Here are the loins I picked up.
The first thing I did was measure the thickest part of the loins.
The thickest part were two inches thick. I usually don't dry cure a loin that is thicker than 2 inches. I have slightly modified Bearcarver's formula for how long to dry cure bacon. I multiply the thickest part in inches by 2 and add 5. So, 2 inches times 2 plus 5 equals 9 which is the number of days I will dry cure the bacon.
Next, I weighed each loin to determine how much Mortons Tenderquick I would need for each loin. It is important to get the amount of cure right if you are dry curing. The first loin was just over 1 kilogram. You need to use 15 grams of Tenderquick per each 500 grams of pork loin. So I needed just over 30 grams of Tenderquick for that loin.
Following Bearcarver's recipe, I added 10 ml of brown sugar to the Tenderquick. My own addition was 15 ml of maple syrup to the Tenderquick and brown sugar.
Then, I rubbed the mixture all over the pork loin. Before doing this, I put the pork loin on a plate. It is important that you get all the mixture of the cure into the plastic bag you cure the bacon in and the plate makes that easier.
I put the pork in a large Ziploc bag and made sure I got all the cure mixture in the bag. I sealed it and put it in the fridge.
I repeated this procedure with the second loin.
Both loins went in the fridge for 9 days. I turned the bags and rubbed the liquid that came out into the loins every morning.
After 9 days, I took the loins out of the bags and rinsed them of under running water. Then I soaked them in water for 20 minutes. I changed the water and soaked them for another 20 minutes.
I dried each loin with paper towels and put them in the fridge, uncovered, for 5 hours.
I like to make a new smoke with a version of the old smoke so I can compare. So I only took one loin to make into pepper bacon. I rubbed maple syrup into it and sprinkle a liberal amount of coarse ground pepper over it.
It went back into the fridge with the unpeppered version overnight.
The next morning I put them on the rack for my Bradley and put in the probes of a little present I got myself for Christmas, a Thermoworks BlueTherm Duo. I think I purchased the Rolls Royce of remote thermometers but I will write a review later.
The loins were nice and dry so I did not put them in the smoker without smoke at 140 f for a couple of hours to develop pellicle.
I put the loins in a 180 F Bradley over maple smoke. I only left the smoke on for four hours. The unpeppered loin was ready after five and half hours and the peppered took six hours. I took both to an internal temperature of 145 F.
I put them in the fridge under plastic wrap overnight.
The next day I sliced them with my trusty ham slicer.
Of course, you have to fry some up and try it.
The Verdict
As usual, Bearcarver's recipe worked great. The straight up bacon has a great but not overpowering salt taste and a nice sweetness. However, here is where my advanced age and stupidity caught up to me. I had forgotten how the maple syrup just adds sweetness and not much maple flavour. Considering the cost of maple syrup, I will just double the brown sugar to 20 ml per kilogram of pork next time and leave out the maple syrup. It will be easier to rub in a totally dry rub as well.
As for the peppered version, it is the best bacon I have made. It had way more pepper flavour than I expected and the touch of heat with the sweet salty bacon taste is magnificent. I love it!
Put some spice in your life and make peppered back (Canadian) bacon.
Disco
Here are the loins I picked up.
The first thing I did was measure the thickest part of the loins.
The thickest part were two inches thick. I usually don't dry cure a loin that is thicker than 2 inches. I have slightly modified Bearcarver's formula for how long to dry cure bacon. I multiply the thickest part in inches by 2 and add 5. So, 2 inches times 2 plus 5 equals 9 which is the number of days I will dry cure the bacon.
Next, I weighed each loin to determine how much Mortons Tenderquick I would need for each loin. It is important to get the amount of cure right if you are dry curing. The first loin was just over 1 kilogram. You need to use 15 grams of Tenderquick per each 500 grams of pork loin. So I needed just over 30 grams of Tenderquick for that loin.
Following Bearcarver's recipe, I added 10 ml of brown sugar to the Tenderquick. My own addition was 15 ml of maple syrup to the Tenderquick and brown sugar.
Then, I rubbed the mixture all over the pork loin. Before doing this, I put the pork loin on a plate. It is important that you get all the mixture of the cure into the plastic bag you cure the bacon in and the plate makes that easier.
I put the pork in a large Ziploc bag and made sure I got all the cure mixture in the bag. I sealed it and put it in the fridge.
I repeated this procedure with the second loin.
Both loins went in the fridge for 9 days. I turned the bags and rubbed the liquid that came out into the loins every morning.
After 9 days, I took the loins out of the bags and rinsed them of under running water. Then I soaked them in water for 20 minutes. I changed the water and soaked them for another 20 minutes.
I dried each loin with paper towels and put them in the fridge, uncovered, for 5 hours.
I like to make a new smoke with a version of the old smoke so I can compare. So I only took one loin to make into pepper bacon. I rubbed maple syrup into it and sprinkle a liberal amount of coarse ground pepper over it.
It went back into the fridge with the unpeppered version overnight.
The next morning I put them on the rack for my Bradley and put in the probes of a little present I got myself for Christmas, a Thermoworks BlueTherm Duo. I think I purchased the Rolls Royce of remote thermometers but I will write a review later.
The loins were nice and dry so I did not put them in the smoker without smoke at 140 f for a couple of hours to develop pellicle.
I put the loins in a 180 F Bradley over maple smoke. I only left the smoke on for four hours. The unpeppered loin was ready after five and half hours and the peppered took six hours. I took both to an internal temperature of 145 F.
I put them in the fridge under plastic wrap overnight.
The next day I sliced them with my trusty ham slicer.
Of course, you have to fry some up and try it.
The Verdict
As usual, Bearcarver's recipe worked great. The straight up bacon has a great but not overpowering salt taste and a nice sweetness. However, here is where my advanced age and stupidity caught up to me. I had forgotten how the maple syrup just adds sweetness and not much maple flavour. Considering the cost of maple syrup, I will just double the brown sugar to 20 ml per kilogram of pork next time and leave out the maple syrup. It will be easier to rub in a totally dry rub as well.
As for the peppered version, it is the best bacon I have made. It had way more pepper flavour than I expected and the touch of heat with the sweet salty bacon taste is magnificent. I love it!
Put some spice in your life and make peppered back (Canadian) bacon.
Disco
