# Canadian Bacon



## wyogoob

Canadian Bacon is cured pork loin. Usually tastes like ham. Sometimes it's not cooked and then it is boiled or sliced and fried. There are many recipes for Canadian Bacon. Here's my favorite recipe, the one used on a couple of loins I took out of the smoker today:

*Canadian Bacon

5 lb - pork loin, about 12" long
I gallon - water
1 lb - brown sugar
15 level tbsp - salt
1 level tbsp - InstaCure #1 or Prague Powder #1 
6 tbsp - black peppercorns
3 tbsp - juniper berries
1 tsp - parsley
1 tsp - ground thyme
1 tsp - ground Rosemary
3 - bay leaves

Wet brine:
Multiply ingredients as needed to cover meat.
Mix all ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and then simmer for 10 minutes.
Strain brine and set aside in fridge to cool.
Pump cold cure into the loins from each end. (optional)
Submerge loins in the cure in a bucket or zip lock bag.
Place meat in fridge and cure for 10 days (5 days if pumped with cure)
Remove meat from brine and rinse with cold water. Drain and let dry at room temp for 1 hour.
Place cured loins in elastic netting if desired.

Smoke:
6 - 8 hours - no smoke at 120° - vent 100% open
8 hours - smoke at 140° - vent 50% open
2 hours or until internal temp is 152° - no smoke at 165° - vent 25% open
Let smoked loins stand at room temp for an hour before use.*

Notes:
A 5 lb pork loin is around 12" long. Cut them in half to fit in zip lock bags. 
At 140° internal temp the cured meat can be packaged and stored as boiling or slicing bacon.
Mix it up: substitute the brown sugar with molasses or maple sugar.
This recipe is similar to Britain's famed Wiltshire cure.
This works well with elk or deer too.

Some pics:
Make a brine and strain it. It will look black with this recipe:









Pump the brine in the meat if you want to:









Cover and cure the meat:









Smoke it, smoke it good:









Trim and let cool:









Packaged and ready for Santa to distribute:









Bob apetit!!


----------



## Nor-tah

I want some of that. My address is..... uh...... well i'll pick it up next time i'm in Hooterville. :mrgreen:


----------



## wyogoob

Geeze, I made it to give away. 

I had to vacuum seal it before it disappeared.


----------



## cklspencer

Thanks wyogoob. Im going to have to try this over the christmas weekend.


----------



## wyogoob

cklspencer said:


> Thanks wyogoob. Im going to have to try this over the christmas weekend.


Hey, I cut the salt down from 20 tbsp to 15 tbsp.....it's about 3/4 cup of non-iodized salt.


----------



## Mojo1

Looks tasty!

Now Im gonna have to get me a smoker! :mrgreen:


----------



## Gumbo

Dang, that looks great!


----------



## Moostickles

:shock: That makes me hungry...


----------



## GaryFish

Huh. See, I thought Canadian Bacon came from those northern pigs that wear flannel and say "Oink, eh?"


----------



## hattrick

I have had a loin soaking for the past week and am going to start the smoking process tonight. I will post pictures of it when I am done. This is my first go-round with back bacon so we will see how it goes.


----------



## wyogoob

hattrick said:


> I have had a loin soaking for the past week and am going to start the smoking process tonight. I will post pictures of it when I am done. This is my first go-round with back bacon so we will see how it goes.


Cool. Did you inject brine also?


----------



## wyogoob

hattrick said:


> I have had a loin soaking for the past week and am going to start the smoking process tonight. I will post pictures of it when I am done. This is my first go-round with back bacon so we will see how it goes.


Hey hattrick, how 'bout a progress report.


----------



## hattrick

I didn't inject the brine on this one, just let it soak. It turned out pretty good for the first time. I used a different recipe than you used. Next time I am going to increase the amount of brown sugar and other flavoring I use, as the meat tended to pick up the saltiness before the other flavors. I went camping with the family this weekend and made some breakfast sandwiches with a nice thick slice of back bacon. Very tasty.

[attachment=0:1upv7y4h]Bacon.jpg[/attachment:1upv7y4h]


----------



## wyogoob

fantastic!


----------



## wyogoob




----------



## wyogoob




----------



## HunterDavid

Goob,

Just got my first smoker today and itch in' to try it out. What pellets or wood are you using with your bacon?


----------



## wyogoob

HunterDavid said:


> Goob,
> 
> Just got my first smoker today and itch in' to try it out. What pellets or wood are you using with your bacon?


Good for you! Smoking is a blast.

For this batch I'm using pecan pellets from Big Poppa, only because they are mostly oak. The recipe in this thread is more English or Irish than Canadian and I wanted these latest loins to be more "Irish-flavored", so I wanted oak. These particular pellets are like 33% pecan and 66% oak. Pellets are really cheap compared to sawdust or chips and if you like sawdust, like I do, you can turn pellets into sawdust just by getting them wet.

I'm experimenting with some new woods this winter, all from Big Poppa:
https://www.bigpoppasmokers.com/store/bbq-pellets-charcoal

Tried black walnut on beef steak and didn't care for it. Will try orange, sassafras and mulberry pellets next. If I only had 1 kind of smoking wood it would be hickory, great flavor, versatile and cheap.

FYI: my smoker is not a pellet smoker.


----------



## charcuterie

this recipe/method is also amazing on duck/geese i am making duck canadian bacon and prochuitto in my restaurant. i am huge into old world butchering and curing its good to see im not the only one haha


----------



## wyogoob

charcuterie said:


> this recipe/method is also amazing on duck/geese i am making duck canadian bacon and prochuitto in my restaurant. i am huge into old world butchering and curing its good to see im not the only one haha


 Wow! Welcome to the forum. How about some pictures?

I always wanted to do some goose prosciutto....or swan...maybe I will make prosciutto with my next swan.


----------



## elkmule123

Wyogoob, where do you purchase juniper berries?


----------



## wyogoob

I got my last bag at Butcher & Packer, $6.50/lb plus shipping:
http://www.butcher-packer.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=32_135_236&products_id=887

You can also do The Sausagemeaker, $11.99 free shipping:
http://www.sausagemaker.com/search.aspx?find=juniper+berries


----------



## Copperton Guy

Elkmule,

I saw some today in the spices section of the local Harmons. I believe they were $3.99 for the regular sized bottle.


----------



## Copperton Guy

Goob

I am wanting to start on this recipe so the CB is ready for Christmas morning breakfast. Unfortunately, I only have Morton's TQ on hand, and no instacure. I have been trying to research conversions, but there are so many different ideas out there. Do you have any experience with this? 

I thought maybe I would use 1 Tbs per lb of meat and mosly eliminate the additional salt you are using in your recipe. 

Help!?!?

Thanks for all of the excellent recipe ideas you have posted!

Copperton Guy


----------



## wyogoob

Instacure #1 is also known as pink salt, pink cure, Prague Powder #1, other names. Basically Instacure #1 is 93.75% salt and 6.25% sodium nitrite. Tender Quick is 78% salt, 20% sugar, and 1% Instacure (well sorta, .5% sodium nitrite and .5% sodium nitrate with about 1% of an anti-caking agent added).

There's much debate on how much TQ is used to make a wet brine. The recommended amount makes the meat too salty. For years we used Morton's Sugar Cure for hams. When I moved out here Sugar Cure was impossible to find so I went to TQ, throwing in 1 to 2 cups of TQ in a gallon of water if wet brining ham or Canadian Bacon. If I use 1 cup per gallon of water I smoke to 160° internal. If I use 2 cups of TQ in a gallon of water I will cook to an internal temp of 150°. 

Lately I've been using Instacure #1 and salt, using a wet brine, getting all those magnificent flavors by boiling the water with the spices. 

For the record 1 cup of TQ in a gallon of water has a salinity value of 19° at 60° F, about the minimum for preservation qualities. 2 cups of TQ per gallon of water is way too salty for my tastes. 

Experiment some. Use the recipe below, cure and smoke a pork loin and give it to your mother-in-law or boss. 


Canadian Bacon 

5 lb - pork loin, about 12” long
I gallon - water
1/2 lb - brown sugar
1 1/2 cup - Morton's Tender Quick 
6 tbsp - black peppercorns
3 tbsp - juniper berries
1 tsp - parsley
1 tsp - ground thyme
1 tsp - ground Rosemary
3 - bay leaves

Wet brine:
Multiply ingredients as needed to cover meat.
Mix all ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and then simmer for 10 minutes.
Strain brine and set aside in fridge to cool.
Pump the cold cure into the loins from each end. (optional)
Submerge loins in the cure in a bucket or zip lock bag.
Place meat in fridge and cure for 10 days (5 days if pumped with cure)
Remove meat from brine and rinse with cold water. Drain and let dry at room temp for 1 hour.
Place cured loins in elastic netting if desired.

Smoke:
4 hours - no smoke at 120° - vent 100% open
8 hours - smoke at 140° - vent 50% open
4 hours - raise temp to 180° to 190° no smoke until internal temp is 160° - vent 50% open 
Let smoked loins stand at room temp for an hour before use.

Notes:
Don't get in a hurry and smoke at too high a temp cooking all the juice out of the loin.
A 5 lb pork loin is 12” to 14" long. Cut them in half to fit in zip lock bags. 
At 140° internal temp the cured meat can be packaged and stored as boiling or frying bacon.
Mix it up: substitute the brown sugar with molasses or maple sugar.
This recipe is similar to Britain’s famed Wiltshire cure.
This works well with elk or deer too.


----------



## Copperton Guy

Thanks Goob, thats just about what I was thinking as well. I will post up some pics and reviews when I am done.

Merry Christmas!


----------



## wyogoob

When making brine with salt and sugar (including Morton's Tender Quick which is mostly salt and sugar) I just use the "float an egg" method. Put an egg in some water and keep adding salt until the egg floated. Not real scientific and some sausagemaking experts call it unsafe. I have a salinometer and have checked the salinity when "floating an egg". There's varying degrees of salinity according to how "high" the egg floats. It's a visual thing for me, I know what I like, what works.

When curing with brine solutions containg sodium nitrates and sodium nitrites (pink salt) the float an egg thing doesn't work. 

You can never be too safe when preserving meat and I'm not telling anyone to do it this way.............Then on the other hand all my elders just grabbed handfuls of salt and sugar and threw it in a bucket of water.


----------



## Copperton Guy

Mixing up the brine first thing in the morning. I will give the egg test a try after i get it all put together. Thanks for all of your help, and the great advice on having the mother in law be the guinea pig!


----------



## wyogoob

Copperton Guy said:


> Mixing up the brine first thing in the morning. I will give the egg test a try after i get it all put together. Thanks for all of your help, and the great advice on having the mother in law be the guinea pig!


 Only use one-half the water to cook the brine up. Keep the other half of the water cold. After cooking mix the two together. That way the brine solution will cool down faster. The solution should be cool when you put the meat in. Good luck.

.


----------



## Copperton Guy

Well Goob, today is the dday! The cured loin has been in the smoker since 4 am. Just started adding the smoke to it now. Should be done by later this afternoon. Very excited to sample!

I will let you know how it turns out, and try to post some finished product pics.

Thanks again for your help!


----------



## wyogoob

Copperton Guy said:


> Well Goob, today is the dday! The cured loin has been in the smoker since 4 am. Just started adding the smoke to it now. Should be done by later this afternoon. Very excited to sample!
> 
> I will let you know how it turns out, and try to post some finished product pics.
> 
> Thanks again for your help!


Cool beans, keep us posted.

.


----------



## elkmule123

wyogoob said:


> I got my last bag at Butcher & Packer, $6.50/lb plus shipping:
> http://www.butcher-packer.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=32_135_236&products_id=887
> 
> You can also do The Sausagemeaker, $11.99 free shipping:
> http://www.sausagemaker.com/search.aspx?find=juniper+berries


Thanks for the information wyogoob and copperton. I've got a stew that calls for juniper berries. I was never able to locate some when I first made the recipe, but did find out that you can substitute gin for the berries.


----------



## Cooky

I bought The Spice Hunter brand juniper berries at Harmons on Redwood and 5400 South in WVC today for $5.99 for 1.3oz. I'll let you know how the canadian bacon turns out in about a week.


----------



## sawsman

Good on ya Cooky. Are you really going to let us know how it turns it out? Or are you going to leave us hanging like the Copperton Guy? :noidea::grin:


----------



## Cooky

sawsman said:


> Good on ya Cooky. Are you really going to let us know how it turns it out? Or are you going to leave us hanging like the Copperton Guy? :noidea::grin:


Depends on whether my mother-in-law makes it or not...


----------



## Cooky

This is becoming some _expensive_ bacon...

















I decided my cold smoker just wasn't going to cut it any more. From what I have read this thing should do the trick.

It's running full blast right now and stinks like a fire at a paint factory. Any suggestions on seasoning it before I put meat in it?

.


----------



## Cooky

It's been smoking at 190 degrees for 6 hours. When internal temp hits 140 degrees I'll put it in the fridge to "rest" for a day or two.

















.


----------



## wyogoob

Nice looking smoker Cooky.


Copperton Guy PM'd me and said his CBs went fine but he's was too busy to post pics and a story.

.


----------



## Cooky

Well, here it is.
The recipe:

Canadian Bacon

Brine:

• Gallon Water
•	1 ½ Cups Morton's Tender Quick
•	1 ½ Cups Brown Sugar
•	10 Juniper Berries Crushed
•	2 TBS Black Peppercorns
•	1 TSP Thyme Leaves
•	1 TSP Rosemary Leaves
•	3 Bay Leaves Crumbled

Put the TQ, sugar and spices in a sauce pan and boil until it smells like the flavors have infused the water. Dump it all in your brining bucket (I use a 2 gallon plastic bucket with a screw on lid) and add enough water to make one gallon.
Let it cool.

Inject the loin with as much brine as it will hold.
Place the pork loin in the brine and weight it down so it stays covered.
Let sit in the fridge for 5 days.

Rinse the loin. I ran cold water into the bucket for about ½ hour.

Smoke with Hickory until internal temperature hits 140°.
On my smoker it took 9 hours at 190° then two hours at 225° (cranked it up 'cause it was late and I wanted to go to bed).

Vacuum seal and let it hang out in the fridge for a couple more days (supposedly makes the flavors meld together).

Slice and fry just enough to warm up but not dry out.

Here are some pictures:

Fresh out of the smoker. Time to rest for a while.









Vacuum sealed to hang out in the fridge for a couple of days.









Slicing it up for brunch today.









Oh yeah.









Enough for a few more meals.









It turned out better than I could have hoped.

.


----------



## wyogoob

wow!


----------



## gwailow

Well I couldn't let you guys have all the fun...I've had this on my radar of things to smoke. I used a few variations of goobs recipe and another that I had found on the interwebs. Turned out pretty good if I do say so.


----------



## wyogoob

That's pretty.

I'll trade ya; 1 pint of crabapple sauce for 4 thick slices of your Canadian Bacon.


----------



## gwailow

wyogoob said:


> That's pretty.
> 
> I'll trade ya; 1 pint of crabapple sauce for 4 thick slices of your Canadian Bacon.


I would have totally traded you. Except for the fact that I've been out chasing deer and elk all month and the bacon disappeared pretty quickly. 

Maybe next round. I'm thinking elk pastrami might be my next venture to embark on.


----------



## wyogoob

gwailow said:


> I would have totally traded you. Except for the fact that I've been out chasing deer and elk all month and the bacon disappeared pretty quickly.
> 
> Maybe next round. I'm thinking elk pastrami might be my next venture to embark on.


Get on the pastrami and never look back buddy. It's easy.

Hope yer having a good hunting season.

.


----------



## wyogoob

Lightly smoked with oak:


Heavily smoked using a hickory/pecan blend:


----------



## Dunkem

Oh yea, thats purty stuff!!


----------



## Daisyhardy05

I'm curing three pork loins. Of course, cured loins are Canadian bacon, but don't tell my wife, she doesn't like Canadian bacon. So, I'm calling them hams. The recipes are the same, but would need scaled up, for a full bone in ham. Anyway, the three recipes I'm following are:

Herb cured (brine cured)
½ gallon of water
1 cup of kosher salt
1 cup sugar
3 teaspoons pink salt
1 bunch of fresh sage
1 bunch fresh thyme
2 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed.

Spicy Smoke Roasted Loin (dry cured)
1/4 cup kosher salt
2 teaspoons pink salt
1 tablespoon fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoon chile powder
2 tablespoons ground coriander
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon dried oregano
4 tablespoons Spanish or Hungarian paprika
1 tablespoon ground white pepper

Blackstrap Molasses Country Ham (dry cure, but not air dried)
1/4 cup kosher salt
2 teaspoons pink salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
1/4 cup black rum
1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
pinch of cayenne pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon toasted and ground coriander
1/2 tablespoon juniper berries, crushed with the side of a knife

I'll post pics as build the cures. All three will be smoked.


----------



## wyogoob

♪♪ Have a holly jolly Christmas.
It's the best time of the year.
Mistletoe, and friends you know.
We'll drink a lot of beer.
da, da, da, da, da, da, da
................................♪♪

It's that time of year again. Irish Bacon

It's the peppercorns, juniper berries and the Rosemary that gives this ham that special "Irish" flavor.


Air dry the cured loins while warming up the smoker:


Hickory smoke this time. Oh boy:


Loading up Santa's sleigh this morning:


The only thing you can buy at a deli that tastes like this would be a very expensive Wiltshire wet-cure type ham.

Think I'll have a sandwich:


----------



## wyogoob

*Irish Bacon for St. Pat's Day*

Man, we can't get enough of this Irish Bacon. It's the best tasting cured meat I've ever eaten.

The brine:


Holy moly:


Good grief.

.


----------



## Bax*

Well this is just great, I'm at the gym right now and I want to eat meats full of bad things for me. 

Thanks Goob 🙄


----------



## wyogoob

*it'll kill ya*



Bax* said:


> Well this is just great, I'm at the gym right now and I want to eat meats full of bad things for me.
> 
> Thanks Goob &#128580;


Yeah, processed meat, cured meat, is bad for you. I need to quit it.

.


----------



## CPAjeff

*It's slap yo mama good*

I was fortunate to try some of the Irish bacon made by Goob himself - it is amazing! I thought about moving to Evingston in Goob's neighborhood, just so I could stop by when I could tell he had the smoker fired up.


----------

