Canadian Bacon

[owejia]

Pork lions are cheap now, does anyone make their own Canadian bacon? Share your recipes and methods, if you care to. Whole lions were a $1.29 here last week. Will be making my own soon. Thanks

[Gewehr-Guy]

It's been a few years ago, but I helped a friend do a couple of hogs, and we bought a few loins to cure while we did the hams. He used the Morton's brand sugar cure, and we used the dry rub method, just covering the surface of the loin and rubbing it on and turning it twice a day, until the cure penetrated to the center of the loin, two or three days , if I remember correctly. He then cold smoked it, so it had to be cooked before eating. If you don't have any kind of smoker, you can use liquid smoke with the dry cure, but not nearly as good as real smoke. Morton's used to send out a very good booklet on butchering and curing meats for free, not sure if they can be had anymore, maybe you can find a copy on Ebay. I think the price of pork can only go up, with swine fever in china and spreading,just my opinion.

[NyFirefighter357]

https://www.mortonsalt.com/article/meat-curing-canadian-bacon/

[stubshaft]

1 Tablespoon Tender Quick + 1 Tablespoon brown sugar = 1 lb. of meat. Rub it on and place it in a zip-lock bag. Turn over every morning and it should be ready in 4 days or so. Prior to smoking remove from bag and let it sit for 24 hours in the fridge to let the pellicule form.

[MaryB]

Most cures use some spices and herbs... Someone borrowed my meat smoking recipe book so I can't quick grab mine. Garlic and onion powder, white pepper, I want to say a little allspice but that might be wrong... and it is such a tiny amount omitting it wouldn't hurt anything...

[owejia]

Made a 10+ lb lion into dry rub Canadian bacon about a week ago, simple, easy. Hot smoked to 145 degree internal temp. Delicious and already thinking about making the next batch. Thanks for the recipes.

[brass410]

Mmmmm BACK BACON! get in my belly best grilled on BBQ, side of eggys, fresh homemade thick sliced toast, chunked up taters now that's a bush breaky that stick with ya ! wether it's 80 above or 30 below

[gbrown]

Question: Most loins I get are pretty large--4-6 inches in diameter. As with other threads of similar curing techniques that raise the issue of penetration of cure, will the cure penetrate throughout the loin, or is there a need to inject them? If you halved them lengthwise so they are more like the thickness of pork tenderloins, is this better? Just wondering, never tried this.

[owejia]

I cut this one into three pieces to fit in 1 gal zip lock bags, mix all spices, etc with dry rub, apply evenly all over, insert into food grade zip lock bags, seal, so you don't lose the wet cure, refrigerate and turn once a day for 3-5 days, wash excess salt off and refrigerate uncovered for 24 hrs before smoking. Hot smoke internal temp up to 145 degrees can eat without cooking. If cold smoking if internal temp does not reach 145 degrees would need to cook before eating. Dry rub will penetrate about a 1/2" per day, so leave longer if you need to. Brining is more work, so I just used the dry rub. We always sugar cured our killing hogs, just left the hams, shoulders and bellies and jowls in the mix for 20 -25 days before washing the sugar cure off and smoking. We also used salt peter instead of sodium nitrate in the cure mix.

[MaryB]

If you vac bag the dry rubbed loin it will cure faster...

[gbrown]

Thanks for the replies and info. MaryB--Allspice is what the Bohemians used. Where they got it is a good guess, as it came from the New World. My Dad was employed for about a year during the Great Depression at 20 YOA by a Bohemian farmer in Oklahoma. Room and Board in exchange for work. That's where he learned to make Bohemian sausage--his (our) recipe always includes Allspice.

[OldBearHair]

Went to Wallymart and HEB grocery both looking for Morton's tender quick or Morton's Sugar Cure and neither one knew anything about it. So ordered on line.

[gbrown]

Went to Wallymart and HEB grocery both looking for Morton's tender quick or Morton's Sugar Cure and neither one knew anything about it. So ordered on line.

FYI--at our HEB its located on the spice/sugar/flour aisle. Its not with the spices, its down where the canning supplies are--with canning jars, sure jel and other such things.