Another Canadian Bacon

[BuyLowSellHigh]

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 recipe.

Took a 3.0 lb well trimmed piece and used the Basic Dry Cure.  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:



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



Sliced this morning



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!

[hal4uk]

Looks fantastic!

[classicrockgriller]

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.

[BuyLowSellHigh]

That is A+++ ....... But what else would I expect from you.

Uh ... I won't go there if you won't.    ;)   ;D 

[KyNola]

Nice work BLSH.  Good looking CB.  Thanks.

[FLBentRider]

Very nice Eric!

[SoCalBuilder]

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 :)

[TestRocket]

That's what I'm talking about! Very, very nice!

[smoker pete]

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?

[KyNola]

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.

[jiggerjams]

Man that is some nice lookin' bacon bling right there. Nice job BLSH

[smoker pete]

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

[BuyLowSellHigh]

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.

[smoker pete]

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.

[SouthernSmoked]

Dang Eric, that is nice!

Will be trying this in the near future!

Thanks