Makin bacon

flipperz71 · March 28, 2008, 03:11:00 PM

First attempt at Canadian Bacon.. I did a 1.5 lb loin.. Gave it 3 different people, they thought it was store bought. Off to the butcher for a 5lb loin.. Thanks for the great threads.

more smoke · March 28, 2008, 04:55:44 PM

looks great :P nice work

Wildcat · March 28, 2008, 07:27:08 PM

That looks real nice. Let us know the final results when you slice and eat some.

hollyandtheivybhx · March 28, 2008, 11:16:20 PM

Hi all from the uk ;)

How long did you cook / smoke the bacon joint 4 ?? did you soak it in brine ??? Did you use a temprature probe for the hot smoke or was it a cold smoke

Learning fast thanks to all the help on the forum I am smokeing Beetroot and Garlic today (well not just yet it is still only 6:15 in the UK)which will be made into Chutney later today / tomorrow.

Lin

Mr Walleye · March 29, 2008, 06:56:14 AM

Hi Lin

Here is a link to Habs Canadian Bacon recipe. It's a dry cure and is real simple/real good.

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?p=500#post500

It's on the Old's recipe site. If you click on the smoker in the bottom of my post it will open it for you. Lots of great tried and true recipes for the Bradley there.

Mike

hollyandtheivybhx · March 29, 2008, 09:36:51 AM

Mike,

Thanks for the info, but can you please tell me what "Morton Tender Quick" is please ? and I bet this is only available in the US ???

Do you know who produces it "MORTON" ?? :'(

Thanks

Lin

Mr Walleye · March 29, 2008, 09:53:23 AM

Morton Tender Quick is a cure. Here is a link to their web site, I'm not sure on availability there but it's been around for years.
http://www.mortonsalt.com/products/meatcuring/tenderquick.html

Here is a post by Habs about making your own similar cure as Mortons TQ which might be a better option for you. As usual, Habs did a great job on his write up on this.
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=5463.0

Mike

hollyandtheivybhx · March 29, 2008, 10:11:28 AM

Mike,

Thanks for the reply, much appresiated. I have already been onto the site, but ........ they only ship within the US and not internationally, problem being across the pond. :(

I will look at the alternative though

Thanx

Lin

Mr Walleye · March 29, 2008, 10:23:25 AM

Mortons TQ is fairly salty. If you read through Habs post you will see one of the reasons he did this was to lower the finished salt content a little.

Mike

manxman · March 29, 2008, 01:19:34 PM

Hi Lin,

These are the two UK suppliers I use for bacon cures, both are good.

http://www.sausagemaking.org/acatalog/bacon_cures.html
http://www.weschenfelder.co.uk/books-c-39.html?gclid=CLSWoKORs5ICFQ9DMAodsA5tSw

The first one even gives a guide for curing bacon.

hope this helps, cheers Paul

KyNola · March 29, 2008, 01:48:45 PM

FlipperZ,
Your canadian bacon looks great but you made a HUGE mistake. You gave it to your friends. I did that once. Now they call pretty much every Sunday or just "drop by" to see what I'm smoking. :D 12 pounds of bacon lasted about 3 hours, greedy bas____ds! Your canadian bacon looks spot on. Never NEVER tell them you're smoking salmon or pork butts. They will camp in your front yard.

You did a great job. Now go get some pork belly and make some slab bacon. It is so very easy and so much better than what you will buy in the grocery.

Smoke on!
KyNola

flipperz71 · March 29, 2008, 03:52:08 PM

Thanks.. The waiting til it cures in the fridge is a teaser... once it hit the smoker, the drueling started... The brine I used was the one with onion powder, garlic powder, and tender quick ( i did not have tender quick so I did the salt sugar and prague) I eyedballed the mix since I did not want to make a ton of it, but seeing how people like that better than the tender quick because of the aftertaste, I might mix up a large batch and keep it on hand.

I will leave the bacon to the farmers, I buy it from a local farmer and it is awesome (they need to make a living also ;D)

Amazing how a simple brine gives it suck a good flavor. I do not like it cold, I like to fry it with eggs..

Smoke On!!!

Flip

yul · March 29, 2008, 04:20:44 PM

:) Hi Mike, I finally got some Instacure #1 powder thanks to Tiny Tim and am eager to have a go at the Canadian Bacon. Just to get things straight, if I make up Habs basic dry cure
Basic Dry Cure (make about 3 1/2 cups)
1 pound pickling salt
8 ounces granulated sugar
2 ounces InstaCure #1; or DQ Powder; or Prague Powder #1; or Cure #1

Do I use 1tbl spoon per pound of this mixture instead of the 1 tbl spoon of Morton T Q. ? :-\

Mr Walleye · March 29, 2008, 04:51:23 PM

Hi Brian

Yup, you got it.

I have got to make some more Canadian Bacon because I'm starting to run low on it and I think I'm going to try adding black pepper to it and a little less brown suger just for the heck of it.

Good luck on yours, it really is easy to make.

Mike

yul · March 29, 2008, 05:03:09 PM

Hi Mike. The pork loins that I have are about 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick, do I still only cure for 6 days.I know the Habs recipe says that due to the thickness of the meat it will take 6 days to cure but he does not specify the thickness that he was using :-\