Habs Canadian Bacon Question

[deb415611]

I am at day 6 of making Habs Canadian Bacon.  Just took my pork loins out of the bags to rinse & soak in water.  One of them looks kind of grey on the right side and not quite like the others. It's a little darker than it looks in the picture.  Do you think it's ok ? 

Thanks,
Deb

[westexasmoker]

That looks fab to me..last batch I did, color did'nt change that much, but at this point your after the dry time and peclie (heck I can't remember how to spell that) and your good to go...and smoke per recipe...I think your doing great deb, but I'm far and away from an expert/novice on this!  But its good stuff! 

C

[Smoking Duck]

I wouldn't worry about it Deb.  I assume that you did everything the same for all pieces, so you should be good to go.  Sometimes, meat is just that way.  You can buy two steaks from the same cut and you can have different hues to the meat.

Hope all goes well.  Show some pics when you finish.

SD

[HCT]

Looks good to me deb, just go with the flow.

[pensrock]

Deb,
Ditto to what the others said. It looks fine to me. It will be great when finished.
But if you are worried you can send it to me for further testing.  ;)

[deb415611]

Thanks guys!!!!! :)

It looks a little less grey & ominous this morning.   Got to go do some stuff but into some maple syrup for a bit later & then into the smoker late this afternoon.  I'll post some pics. 

On vacation this week & staying home so I think a trip to the butcher this morning!  My son had his wisdom teeth out the other day  :( so I think a fattie today,  jerky mid or late week.  Plus SD keeps torturing me with his pics -  have to get some pork belly.   

Need to bake this week also,  my neglected sourdough is out of the frig - going to make it happy this week.  My son's b-day is next week so I think some cake recipe testing needs to be done also. 

[pensrock]

Deb,
If you pick up some real maple syrup try putting some on one of your bacon strips after drying off in the fridge and just before going into the smoker. I made some with maple, some with cracked pepper rubbed on and some with melted apple jelly on as well as plain. The one with maple was the most popular. Me, I liked all of them but am partial to the black peppered one. The one with the apple jelly really had little taste differance to the plain.
pens

[deb415611]

Pens,

Have a gallon of Dark Amber (my parent's know a guy - makes it affordable) and was going to do all three pieces with it but maybe I'll try one with the pepper -hmmm.

My husband asked who was going to be the guinea pig on the piece that I was questioning.  I told him you offered to be so it must be ok. ;D

Been to the restaurant supply place (one of my favorite places to wander) now off to the butcher.

Deb
 

[pensrock]

It will be great, let us know how it come out.

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi Deb;

With pork loin, you will often see some variation in color. The pork loin is made up of a group of muscles, light to dark meat, it depends on how you or you butcher cut it. Also, I often remove the thin muscle that runs along the side of the loin. Those who are using tenderloin for their Canadian bacon, that is just one single muscle and the color after curing will be more uniform.

[deb415611]

Thanks Habs.  I did know that the loin was different shades -  the color that I was questioning must have been a result of the cure.  The more that I looked at the entire piece it was like the others just darker I guess because it started out so much darker.   

Day 2 today - will end the wait after dinner.  Pics to follow.  Tested a little bit after smoking and was great. 

Got a small piece of pork belly on Saturday -It's in the fridge with paste made of Morton TQ, Maple Sugar & Maple Syrup. 

[deb415611]

Pic of the finished product



Good stuff!

[Smoking Duck]

Deb,

Welcome to the world of being an accomplished CB smoker.  Your CB looks absolutely awesome!

SD

[westexasmoker]

Very nice Deb, looks great!!

C

[Arcs_n_Sparks]

Very nice....

Arcs_n_Sparks