Canadian Bacon Questions

[R. Hutchins]

I want to do some Canadian bacon and I have some questions.

First, is there a how-to here at tvwbb that you can point me to? My search foo is not strong.

From reading around the web, I find that some use a dry rub cure and others use a wet cure. Is there any appreciable difference between the results obtainable with each? Should one cure be used over the other if you plan to smoke the cured loin?

I have a piece of uncooked loin in the freezer left over from holiday cooks. Will having lived in the freezer affect my cure attempt enough that I should just go buy a fresh loin?

Again, from what I've read the wet cure can be done in less time than the dry cure. Apparently the brine soak flavors the meat faster than does a dry rub. Makes sense to me, but I'm learning. Before smoking what I've read is that you should leave the cured loin in the refrigerator for a day to form a pellicule but I didn't learn whether that was just for dry cures or also applied to wet cures.

I would appreciate any information you can share and links you can point me to.

TIA

 

[Bob Correll]

R,
I do mine dry cure with Morton's Tender Quick, 1 Tbs. per pound of meat.
Your thawed from frozen loin will work fine.
My latest is here.

 

[R. Hutchins]

Thanks, Bob!

Been kinda caught up in other things since I posted this. I think I'll give it a try after seeing what you did.

 

[Steve W (Weave)]

R,
I do mine dry cure with Morton's Tender Quick, 1 Tbs. per pound of meat.
Your thawed from frozen loin will work fine.
My latest is here.

Bob not to hijack but is there an easy conversion for brine with pink salt? Or dry cure with pink salt? 6.25%.
I've done your bacon recipe numerous times with great success

 

[Bob Correll]

Bob not to hijack but is there an easy conversion for brine with pink salt? Or dry cure with pink salt? 6.25%.
I've done your bacon recipe numerous times with great success

Steve,
Sorry, I can't help with this one.
Hopefully MartinF or another member has an answer.

Happy to hear of your bacon successes!

 

[Mike Willis]

R, I've used Hi Mountain Buckboard Bacon Cure for Canadian Bacon (using pork loins that were previously frozen) on two occasions and have been very happy with the results. The Hi Mountain is a dry cure - I did one for 10 days and one for 12 days and they were both good. However, pork loin is lean and needs a little "lube" when frying - olive oil (or bacon grease if you want to flavor it up a bit) works well.

I used the WSM once and the 22.5" kettle with the snake method once and smoked until the internal temp was 140 degrees F.

Hope this helps....