Picked up some pork loin on my last rip to Sam's and have had a 3 lb piece waiting to do Candian Bacon via Habanero Smoker's Dry Cured Canadian Bacon (http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?311-Canadian-Bacon) recipe.
Took a 3.0 lb well trimmed piece and used the Basic Dry Cure (http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?441-Basic-Dry-Cure-Morton-s-Tender-Quick-substitute). I deviated a bit from HabS recipe, leaving out the garlic and onion powder, and using 1.5 Tbl of Steen's Pure Cane Syrup instead of 1 tsp dark brown sugar. After 7 days of curing in the refrigerator, the loin got a rinse under cold running water and then soaked for 30 min's in 1 gal of ice water, then removed and quickly dried with paper towels. Looked like this:
(http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll27/divedaddy/Smoke2010/CanBacCured.jpg)
It dried on that rack in the refrigerator for ~18 hours, then tied with butcher's twine to help shape it up a bit. It had a good pelicle but being cold was prone to sweating and the dewpoint outside was about 50 °F, so I gave it one hour of further drying in the Bradley at 125 °F. After the dry time temp to 145°F for 2 hours 20 minutes of apple smoke, then temp to 225 °F to finish with a target IT of 145 °F.
Unfortunately, I was "fixin' to" get squeezed on time for a family commitment, and after an hour at 225 ° I realized I wasn't going to make it, so called an audible and put the loin in the kitchen convection oven at 250 °. Made it to an IT of 145 with 5 minutes to spare. Out of the oven with a bit of cooling
(http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll27/divedaddy/Smoke2010/CanBacSmoked.jpg)
Sliced this morning
(http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll27/divedaddy/Smoke2010/CanBacCut.jpg)
This turned out excellent. Just the right salt and cured taste, not really sweet but well balanced, and is it ever moist. I wrestled for about 15 minutes trying to figure what to change and I finally gave up and decided nothing. I might experiment adding some other flavors to the cure sometime, but this was just about perfect as it was.
Thanks, HabS for the great recipe!
Looks fantastic!
Quote from: hal4uk on November 15, 2010, 08:50:40 AM
Looks fantastic!
Yes it does!
I've used coconut extract and maple extract and I enjoyed them all.
That is A+++ ....... But what else would I expect from you.
Quote from: classicrockgriller on November 15, 2010, 09:01:19 AM
That is A+++ ....... But what else would I expect from you.
Uh ... I won't go there if you won't. ;) ;D
Nice work BLSH. Good looking CB. Thanks.
Very nice Eric!
Man does that look nice. I have about 8 lbs curing right now and hope to get it in the obs on Sunday. I followed Hab's recipe except that I switched to some maple crystals on about half of it. Can't wait :)
That's what I'm talking about! Very, very nice!
Excellent job BLSH. The DW loves her Canadian Bacon so I need to do me one of those soonest. If you don't mind, I have a couple of questions:
Habanero Smokers recipe places the loin into a 225º F preheated Bradley, applying Maple smoke for 1:40 to 2:00 hours, until IT reaches 140º F - 150º F. You smoked it in steps - gave it one hour of further drying in the Bradley at 125 °F. After the dry time temp to 145°F for 2 hours 20 minutes of apple smoke, then temp to 225 °F to finish with a target IT of 145 °F. ... Any big reason you chose to smoke it in steps? Using Apple vs Maple - a personal preference?
HabS recipe calls for using a plastic bag and removing as much air as possible then curing is fridge for 6-7 days. Could I use my FoodSaver for this step?
Pete,
I can answer the Foodsaver part of your question. Yes, you can. I have done it before and thought it actually sped up the curing process by about a day. Could have been my imagination as well. You do have to be careful to make sure you don't suck a bunch of moisture up into your vac sealing unit when you go to seal it.
Man that is some nice lookin' bacon bling right there. Nice job BLSH
Quote from: KyNola on November 15, 2010, 10:26:27 AM
Pete,
I can answer the Foodsaver part of your question. Yes, you can. I have done it before and thought it actually sped up the curing process by about a day. Could have been my imagination as well. You do have to be careful to make sure you don't suck a bunch of moisture up into your vac sealing unit when you go to seal it.
Thanks KyNola. As soon as I can find Morton Tender Quick around here I'm going to get a Pork Loin and go to town. Going to surprise SWMBO and not tell her what I'm doing with that Loin till I 'get er done ...' ;D
Quote from: smoker pete on November 15, 2010, 10:19:30 AM
Excellent job BLSH. The DW loves her Canadian Bacon so I need to do me one of those soonest. If you don't mind, I have a couple of questions:
Habanero Smokers recipe places the loin into a 225º F preheated Bradley, applying Maple smoke for 1:40 to 2:00 hours, until IT reaches 140º F - 150º F. You smoked it in steps - gave it one hour of further drying in the Bradley at 125 °F. After the dry time temp to 145°F for 2 hours 20 minutes of apple smoke, then temp to 225 °F to finish with a target IT of 145 °F. ... Any big reason you chose to smoke it in steps? Using Apple vs Maple - a personal preference?
HabS recipe calls for using a plastic bag and removing as much air as possible then curing is fridge for 6-7 days. Could I use my FoodSaver for this step?
Pete,
KyNola has you covered on the bag. I use a 2 gal Ziplock, put the loin in the bag, sprinkle on about 1/2 of the cure, rub it in a bit, rotate the loin and do it again. Keeps everything clean and all in the bag.
On the smoke - My own bias is to get the smoke on before the meat temp gets to 140. At the point the cooking process produces a lot of moisture from the meat and things can get quite wet. I try to get the smoke on before that happens. I've had pork loins that wanted to cook faster than I liked, so for the smoking process I backed the temp down to 145. At the end of 2 hrs 20 min of smoking I had an IT of 101 °F. I met my objective with a lot of room to spare but left myself with more time to get the cook finished than I had. Hence the kitchen turbo move.
I used apple because I really like apple smoke on pork. Just a personal preference. That bias has probably kept me from buying maple. Use whatever you prefer.
Thanks BLSH. I like your bias on the smoking process and will use it for my first Canadian Bacon. The PID will make it easy to make the steps. To date, I have used Apple more than other bisquettes so I may go with that also.
Dang Eric, that is nice!
Will be trying this in the near future!
Thanks
BLSH you're welcomed.
I have now switched to using pecan for the smoke.
Pecan and apple are the two I use the most. We have so much native Pecan in our region that it is heavily used by the local commercial smokehouses in the area.