Canadian Bacon


 

Rich G

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Back when CostCo and Instacart deliveries were (slightly) more reliable, I got a whole boneless pork loin delivered to the house (along with a bunch of other stuff.) I pulled off a piece for Canadian Bacon, and cut the rest up into boneless chops. I used the DigginDogFarm cure calculator to figure my dry cure amounts (used the default settings), and set my CB up to cure in the fridge for 8 days. Today, I removed the CB from the ziplock bag, rinsed it thoroughly, then gave it a light dust of paprika, garlic powder, and black pepper. It then went onto my 26" kettle with a single row snake and some apple chunks. The snake rose slowly from 100F to about 150F at the max, and, after about 7 hours, I lit another two spots in the snake to bump the heat for finishing. 10.5 hours after getting started, I removed the CB from the grill, let it cool, then sliced. OMG, SO DARNED GOOD! Perfect salt level, good crust flavor from the dusting, and tasted just heavenly still ever so slightly warm.

Thanks to Case T for this one, as I used his post from 2-3 years back as a guide for this cook.

Some pics:

On the grill, getting close.....

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Off the grill....

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Sliced.....

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Oh yeah that looks fantastic! I was digging through the freezer and found a couple packs of CB. Did I share the microwave Hollandaise sauce recipe? It works great and is easy and fast. Bring on the eggs Benedict!

 
Oh yeah that looks fantastic! I was digging through the freezer and found a couple packs of CB. Did I share the microwave Hollandaise sauce recipe? It works great and is easy and fast. Bring on the eggs Benedict!
That looks like an easy and tasty benedict recipe, Case. Unfortunately, eggs have been a bit hard to come by, so will have to wait until I can replenish our supply. It does give me an incentive to practice making some english muffins, though. I'll hit up one of my neighbors with chickens, maybe we can figure out a barter! :)

R
 
That looks like an easy and tasty benedict recipe, Case. Unfortunately, eggs have been a bit hard to come by, so will have to wait until I can replenish our supply. It does give me an incentive to practice making some english muffins, though. I'll hit up one of my neighbors with chickens, maybe we can figure out a barter! :)

R

White eggs here have been easy to find. Brown eggs are non-existent. Lemon juice is another non-existent item. Too many DYI hand sanitizer recipes using lemon juice. Lemons galore in the produce section though. Lets see where does lemon juice come from...


We have been limiting baking to bread only as there is no flour or yeast in the stores. Even let out sourdough starter go because I can't justify wasting flour to feed it. If you haven't made cast iron English muffins and you have flour and yeast this is a good recipe that I use. We use non-fat dry milk in place of the whole milk. 2.5 tablespoons for this recipe. Water goes to 1 1/3 cup.

Cast Iron English Muffins
Servings: 12 muffins Source: americastestkitchen.com

Ingredients
GATHER YOUR INGREDIENTS

1 cup warm whole milk (110 degrees)

cup warm water (110 degrees)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

3 tablespoons honey

2 ¼ teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast

3 ½ cups (19 1/4 ounces) bread flour, plus extra as needed

2 teaspoons salt

¾ cup (3 3/4 ounces) cornmeal

Directions
Whisk milk, water, melted butter, honey, and yeast together in 2-cup liquid measuring cup until yeast dissolves. Whisk flour and salt together in bowl of stand mixer. Using dough hook with mixer on low speed, slowly add milk mixture and mix until dough comes together, about 2 minutes. Increase speed to medium and continue to mix until dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. (If after 4 minutes dough is still very sticky, add 1 to 2 tablespoons extra flour; dough should clear sides of bowl but stick to bottom.)

Transfer dough to lightly floured counter and knead by hand to form smooth, round ball, about 1 minute. Place dough in large, lightly greased bowl, cover tightly with greased plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Sprinkle 1/2 cup cornmeal in rimmed baking sheet. Transfer dough to clean counter and shape into 12-inch log. Divide log into 12 equal pieces and cover with greased plastic. Working with 1 piece of dough at a time (keep other pieces covered), round dough into smooth, taut balls. Arrange dough balls on prepared sheet, spaced about 1 1/2 inches apart. Cover dough balls with plastic and let rise until nearly doubled in size, 45 to 75 minutes.

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line second rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Using greased metal spatula, press dough balls into flat, 3/4-inch-thick rounds (about 3 inches in diameter). Dust tops of muffins with remaining 1/4 cup cornmeal.

Heat 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium heat for 3 minutes. Place 4 muffins in skillet and cook until deep golden brown on first side, 1 to 3 minutes, occasionally pressing down on muffins with spatula to prevent doming.

Flip muffins, reduce heat to medium-low, and continue to cook until well browned on second side, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer muffins to parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining muffins in 2 batches, wiping skillet clean before each batch; transfer to sheet.

Bake until muffins are fully set and register 210 degrees, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer muffins to wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes before splitting with fork and toasting. Serve. (Cooled, unsplit English muffins can be stored in zipper-lock bag for up to 2 days.)
 
Great looking CB Rich. Seeing we are in lock down here and I have a half of pork loin in the freezer and lots of time on my hands just might make some CB.
Make up some of Case's cast iron English muffins and hollandaise sauce and have some good eats.
 
Great looking CB Rich. Seeing we are in lock down here and I have a half of pork loin in the freezer and lots of time on my hands just might make some CB.
Make up some of Case's cast iron English muffins and hollandaise sauce and have some good eats.
Why not, Rich?!? The CB is easy (just gotta wait), and you've already got bread skills, so the muffins should be no problem. Finish it all off with a hollandaise that you don't have to fret over on the stove, and it's a winner!

My batch of CB is almost gone (three teenagers in the house), so I'm bribing my neighbor to grab me another loin when he makes a CostCo run today. :)

R
 
Why not, Rich?!? The CB is easy (just gotta wait), and you've already got bread skills, so the muffins should be no problem. Finish it all off with a hollandaise that you don't have to fret over on the stove, and it's a winner!

My batch of CB is almost gone (three teenagers in the house), so I'm bribing my neighbor to grab me another loin when he makes a CostCo run today. :)

R
Rich, I do make CB and bacon all the time it's just my allergy situation and the crappy weather we've had that has kept me from making anything outdoors. I haven't cooked anything outside in well over a month.
The last two days have been wonderful low 70s clear skies but with 25-40mph winds, our street is filled with trees that get little white flowers in the spring. It's looks like a blizzard with the flowers blowing off the trees and getting into everything.
Barb is the one that makes biscuits and muffins and she makes some English muffins and uses one of the cast iron skillets, so I don't know if that's the same recipe that Case uses.
One of our favorite breakfast is a homemade English muffin, CB, fried egg, cheese, and a slice of tomato. YUM!
I remember the days of three teenagers in the house, fortunately my youngest teenager just turned 40 and has two teenagers of his own. Payback time 🙃
 
Rich, I do make CB and bacon all the time it's just my allergy situation and the crappy weather we've had that has kept me from making anything outdoors. I haven't cooked anything outside in well over a month.
Bummer! I forgot you'd mentioned your allergies before. One of my daughters has strong allergies and asthma, so she's been a bit miserable, too with all the blooming going on here.

There are a million recipes out there for English Muffins (and even more for biscuits), so lots to choose from. In my experience, they all turn out pretty tasty, but I'm still chasing a nice, open crumb with those signature nooks/crannies from the Thomas' of my youth. I have two 50lb sacks of flour, and about 75lbs of whole wheat berries, so no time like the present to see if I can finally find my go-to recipe. :)

Hang in there, and thank Barb for manning the register!

R
 

 

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