Back Bacon aka Canadian Bacon - thoughts

[jjmoney]

Just pulled off my second batch of back bacon. I prepared it as per Ruhlman's brine cure from Charcuterie.



And here she is all packed up:



Now for some reflections:

Both times, the larger diameter cuts didn't seem to take very much cure in. The first time was even more pronounced; it was a very large diameter loin and the middle inch or so was white in some areas. On this batch, everything was pink, but the largest diameter pieces were barely pink, and the thinnest pieces were very pink. There were also some pieces that had a gristle membrane running through them, and the part on the outside of the gristle line was very pink, and the parts on the inside of the line were not very pink. Also, you can see in one of the photos that the largest diameter piece had a lot of boogering out. This all suggests to me that Ruhlman's 3 day brine cure isn't perfect for all cuts. It might work better with another day or two of brining, or I might just need to dry cure. Thoughts?

By far the best tasting was the thinnest part of the thinnest area. It wasn't dried out at all; it was very juicy, nice and hammy tasting, salty, sweet, spicy, everything I was looking for. I need to figure out how to get the larger pieces closer to this.

Other observations:

1. Using a drip tray really improved the flavor. The first batch (likely because of undercuring) dripped a lot, and the drips burned on the v-tray, giving everything a kind of a slight dirty diner grill taste. I used a pan underneath the pieces this time, and the flavor was much cleaner. Drip tray highly recommended.

2, I would wager that the brined smoked tenderloin would work just fine with beef, and even be amenable to kind of a montreal smoked meat spice crust before smoking - so next time, I'm using beef tenderloin and some rub before smoking.

Question: would the same 5% brine in Charcuterie work just as well for beef tenderloin (provided the diameter was reasonable)? Anyone done this before?

[Saber 4]

I'm no expert, but I wonder if injecting the 10% of the brine technique talked about in other posts would have helped your thicker pieces. I am certainly interested in hearing from the experts on this one.

[Gafala]

I always brine mine 7 days and have never had a problem.

[devo]

I go any where from 7- 11 days depending on when i can smoke it and i never had any problems. You need to adjust your brine time if your meat in the middle is not getting cured.

[jjmoney]

Thanks for the tips guys, rest assured I will press on and update on subsequent efforts. Although next time I will most likely do it with beef.

[Habanero Smoker]

The piece with white meat in the center did not fully, cure. As far as getting more color in the pieces that were fully cure, longer curing times generally do not help.

The recipe you use have very small amount of cure, which will provide color, but will be lacking somewhat in taste. The variance in color you are seeing on a few pieces is because a whole pork loin has different muscle groups. The amount of color is not only determined by the amount of nitrites, but also the meat itself. The more myoglobin protein that is in the meat the darker it will cure. The myoglobin in the meat is higher in the areas that the muscle is used more frequently, therefore on the loin, you will see darker meat on the end that attaches to the shoulder. As it gets to the center and sirloin cut, the color will be lighter. The part of the loin I usually use, is the end that attaches to the shoulder. As with most muscles that are used a lot, it develops a lot more flavor.

You can increase your brine times, but as Saber4 pointed out, you can inject the larger pieces and all pieces will cure within the 3 days that Ruhlman recommend. I prefer using a dry cure. To me it is more favorable and I prefer the texture better.

As far as the "boogering", try letting the pieces rest in the refrigerator, at least 8 hour after you remove them from the brine, and allow to air dry (uncovered) for at least that time period. What temperature did you cook them at, and what was the final internal temperature? Along with the air drying, lowering both may prevent that from happening.

I don't have his book in front of me, but if you want to make corned beef, use his recipe in the book, or check out the recipes on the recipe site. There are a couple of recipes for corned beef. Look for the pastrami recipes, and the first stages are turning beef into corned beef.

[KyNola]

I too am curious about the cooking temp and finished internal temp.  Did you smoke/cook these in your Bradley?

[jjmoney]

Pieces were rested overnight in the refrigerator. The boogering only happened on the largest piece. In the first batch, the boogering happened badly on both pieces - pieces that were undercured in the middle.

Cook temp was as hot as I could get it, up to 210 or so, for 4+ hours to a final IT of just over 150.

I think that next time I will simply brine longer for the larger pieces. Thanks for the tips guys.

[KyNola]

Looking at the photos and the boogering, did you trim all of the fat off of the loin prior to curing?  What were you using to monitor the smoking temp and the IT temp?

I use Hab's dry cure rub and have never ever had a problem with what you are describing.

[jjmoney]

I didn't trim the fat at all. I used a RediChek dual probe for the IT and oven temp, and an Auber for the oven temp (and temp control). The auber and the RC probe matched each other pretty closely. Oh and I also cross reffed the IT with another KitchenAid probe when it was finishing.

Dry cure sounds pretty tempting, I'm a little skeptical of Ruhlman's brine cure. Mind you, the first night, the brine pot was out in some pretty cold temperatures out in the garage and probably got below 30°F by the time I moved it in in the morning, so that may have reduced the effective cure time somewhat.

Maybe I'll poke around for Hab's dry cure and try that another time. Thanks very much for the questions and advice guys, I sure appreciate it.

[KyNola]

Not trimming the fat might account for some of the boogering.  I tried to post the link of Hab's Canadian Bacon recipe from the recipe website but the website is down because it is being transferred to a new server.(YAY!) Give it until Monday and then go to www.susanminor.org and look for Hab's recipe.

[Saber 4]

Not trimming the fat might account for some of the boogering.  I tried to post the link of Hab's Canadian Bacon recipe from the recipe website but the website is down because it is being transferred to a new server.(YAY!) Give it until Monday and then go to www.susanminor.org and look for Hab's recipe.

Here you go Larry, I happened to copy and paste it into a word document so I wouldn't have to go to the forum each time I needed it, so here it is in it's original form minus pictures and formatting lines and text colors.

1.   Canadian Bacon - Dry Cure
From Habanero Smoker




Ingredients:
o   Boneless pork loin (size will depend on how much bacon you want to make.)
o   1 Tbl. Morton Tender Quick (or Basic Dry Cure) per pound
o   1 tsp. dark brown sugar per pound
o   1 tsp. garlic powder per pound
o   1 tsp. onion powder per pound

Directions:
6.   Trim fat and silver skin from pork loin.
7.   Cut into 3 to 4 pound sections.
8.   Weight each section.
   Make a note of the weight of each piece before measuring the dry ingredients.
9.   Measure all dry ingredients for each section of meat based on the weight of each section, and thoroughly mix.
   Example if you have two sections; one weighting 4 pounds and one weighting 3 pounds, measure all the dry ingredients for the 4 pound piece and place that in one bowl; and measure all the ingredients you will use on the 3 pound piece and put that in a separate bowl.
10.   Rub the entire mixture on to the loin.
   Make sure to cover all surfaces, and work the dry cure into any crevices in the meat.
11.   Place loins into separate one gallon sealable plastic bags, and remove as much air as possible.
12.   Cure meat in the refrigerator at 36- 40 F
   My refrigerator was at 38 F.
13.   Due to the thickness of the loin you will need to cure them for 6 days.
14.   Once a day turn meat over.
   You do not have to open the bags, if some liquid has formed give the bag a few shakes to redistribute the liquid.
15.   When the loins are fully cured, remove loins from plastic bags and thoroughly rinse off.
16.   Soak loin pieces in about three gallons of cool water for 30 minutes; remove from soak and pat dry. Slice a small piece off the end; pan fry and test taste for saltiness. If it is too salty for your taste, give it another 30 minute soak.
17.   Refrigerate uncovered overnight, or long enough to allow to dry and to form pellicle on the surface. Once the cure is remove, the curing process still continues. Letting the loin rest overnight give the cure time to equally distribute throughout the meat.
   You may also see an iridescent sheen on the surface; so do not be concerned. *
18.   Place loins into a 225 F preheated Bradley.
19.   Apply maple smoke for 1:40 to 2:00 hours.
20.   Continue to cook until an internal temperature of 140 F - 150 F is reached. The higher you take the internal temperature, the less moisture will remain in the meat.
   It is important to take the internal temperature of each piece of loin. **
   I now only take may Canadian Bacon to 140 F. The texture and moistness is much better. If you decide to use the 140 F temperature, make sure that your probe is in the thickest part of the meat. After it the meat reaches 140 F, slowly move the probe in and out. If there is a drop in temperature, leave the probe at that spot and continue to cook until the 140 F internal temperature is reached. If you have a good instant read thermometer, also use that to get your final reading.
21.   Remove loins from smoker, and tent foil until loins are cool enough to be handled by hand.
22.   Wrap each piece tightly in plastic wrap.
23.   Refrigerate for at least two days.
24.   Cut into 1/8 inch thick slices and serve
   (if serving with crackers you may have to quarter each slice.)
Additional information:
This recipe is a modification of Morton Tender Quick recipe and curing methods; and Mallard Wacker?s cooking guidelines for Buck Board Bacon.

You can add or subtract as many spices and flavoring you want to this recipe, as long as you maintain the correct amount of Tender Quick.

The dark brown sugar gives it a nice distinctive flavor, but you can replace it with light brown sugar, or regular sugar or use maple granules or no sugar at all.

You can increase the amount of applied smoke, but I like my Canadian bacon and pastrami lightly smoked. Keep in mind, that smoking a 225 F, your loins are going to reach 145 F -150 F in about 3 to 4 hours.

*OPTIONAL: At this point I used butcher's twine and tied the loin every 2-3 inches. This helps the bacon maintain a more rounded shape, and the even shape helps all parts cook more uniformly.

** I had two pieces in the smoker, and the tapered piece took 45 minutes longer to reach 150 F.