Back bacon teaser (smoked and tested w/ pics)

[austin87]

So yesterday I put a 2.77 lb pork loin in the fridge to cure for some loin bacon (also known as Canadian Bacon). It's my first time curing anything so I'm pretty excited about it.

I am using a dry cure (vs a brine) based on the weight of the meat of salt, brown sugar, cure #1, plus onion powder, garlic powder, coriander, ground cloves, and ground allspice. The loin was covered in cracked pepper before applying the cure. The bag smells wonderful; the allspice and cloves give it a smell like a Christmas or Easter Ham, and that's kind of the flavor I am going for here.

Based on my research it should be cured in 5-7 days, but with the amount of salt that I am using I should not need to worry about it becoming too salty. Most sausages are 2.5-3.0% salt by weight for reference.

The other thing that I did with this test that I normally do not do is measure and write down the ingredients and process. I tend to cook by feel and taste, but I often have trouble recreating things exactly. Sometimes that's good (even better than last time!) and sometimes it's not so good (not as good as last time  ). I'm excited to be able to test, compare results, and modify one ingredient at a time to hopefully get some really good products after a few attempts.

Enough about that! Here are a couple pics, more to come after it's cured, smoked, and sliced.





Thanks!

[Maxmbob]

Looks good. If you are on Facebook there is a group called Sausage Debauchery that is all about curing meat.

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[fedex]

I'll be following this.

[WNC]

I'm excited to see how this turns out! I love Canadian bacon.

[jcnaz]

I'll be following this.

Me too.

[iCARRY]

Very interested in this


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[Lumpy Coal]

I'll be following this.

X2

[SixZeroFour]

Sounds delicious already - cant wait to see the results!

[austin87]

@fedex how was the "firmness" of your cured bacon vs raw belly? I keep reading online that the cured product will feel noticeably firmer and I think I am there (it no longer feels like a floppy piece of raw pork loin, has a definite firmness to it) but wondered if you had any input.

I plan to give it another day or two just to be safe and avoid an uncured interior but the wait is killing me.

[fedex]

@austin87 it was definitely firmer when I was done but mine was a 13# slab compared to what you are doing.  I'm no expert but I'd bet you pork loin is done.  I've been following this thread cuz I plan on trying this also.  Good luck.

[austin87]

I pulled it from the cure and did a test fry this morning. Just a tiny bit salty but not overpowering and great hammy flavor. The cloves and allspice are really nice. It's resting in the fridge and will be smoked this afternoon. Will update the posting title when more pics come in.

[austin87]

Back bacon is smoked and resting. It took about 1:40 at 250-275 to reach 140* internal temp. The Thermapen confirmed each part had reached 145* after resting a couple of minutes. Smoked with applewood.

Here's the test fry, a little blurry. I think I was excited 



Here it is just before coming off. I am out of butchers twine so I used the Arcitec grill bands to give it a nice round shape. I put each band around twice, it might have been a little much.



I'm supposed to let it cool and firm up in the fridge before slicing, but obviously I had to cut off an edge and sample it





I've got to say that this is up there with one of the tastiest things I have ever made. It tastes like ham at the holidays. It's obviously a little leaner than a leg, but it is a little sweet, not too salty, and the spice profile and smoke go really well together. I think the dry cure helped concentrate the porky flavor. I would like to compare it a brine. That product might have a little more moisture but I'm not sure the flavor could compare.

All in all, I'm calling it a success. I have a recipe that should be easy to replicate and because I took care to measure ingredients and record what I was doing. I would like to try to incorporate that into my cooking routine more regularly.

Thanks for looking. And I'll post sliced pics tomorrow.

[fedex]

Yup, that looks F ing good.  Congrats.

[jcnaz]

I will definitely be making this...

[MacEggs]

Nicely done!!

Thanks for reminding me that I need to do this sometime soon.