Hi Mountain Canadian Bacon???


 
J

JimT

TVWBB Pro
I'd like to try my hand at making some "Canadian Bacon" using Hi Mountain's buckboard bacon cure, and am looking for advice from anyone that has experience with this!

Will any old pork loin work? I think I read somewhere about an "eye." I'm not even sure what that is! I assume also one needs a "fresh" loin, not one that has been enhanced in any way?

How much cure do you use, how long do you cure it for, and at what temperature? How about rinsing and soaking before smoking?

What temperature do you smoke it at? And to what internal temperature?

I guess I'm looking for a complete tutorial, from start to finish.

Thanks,

JimT
 
Funny, I just got done putting on some buckboard-cured tenderloins!

Here's what I did, start to finish.

First, I located a couple of pork tenderloins. This isn't the whole loin cut, but rather just the small tenderloin portion. It's only about 2" in diameter and 12" long. My local grocer carries these without any enhancement, which is perfect for me. Here's a pic (albeit a bit smoky) of what I've got going on right now.

Since I always fail to plan ahead, I didn't have any Hi-Mountain seasoning on hand. I read on another BBQ board that equal parts Morton Tender Quick and brown sugar is a pretty close carbon copy of the Hi-Mountain stuff. Since I only had about 16 oz of meat, I only used a 1/4 cup of each to make the cure, so a 1/2 cup total. Rubbed it all over the tenderloins, placed them in a Ziploc bag to cure for 8 days. Turned them over every other day. Also, be sure your fridge is between 35 and 39 degrees for optimal curing.

After the 8th day, I pulled the loins out of the bag and to decrease salt levels, soaked them in a stock pot of cold water for about an hour. I pulled one out, cut off a tiny piece and fried it up, taste-tested, and determined that it was quite salty, but that's how I like my bacon.

After that, I patted both loins dry with paper towels and put them on an elevated cooling rack in the fridge. I let them stay there for a full 24 hours while a pellicle was formed. The pellicle is a sticky protein substance that really helps smoke flavor get into the meat. It's pretty crucial for cured and smoked meats.

After the full 24 hours, I Minion started my WSM with about 14 lit briquets of Kingsford and a half load of unlit K in the charcoal chamber along with two chunks of cherry. I keep the temps under 180 degrees (pork fat starts to liquefy at that temp) until 140 degrees internal temp, pulling, letting rest for 30 minutes, and chilling for slicing tomorrow morning.

Hope this helps! I'll post pics of the finished product a bit later tonight!
 
BTW, pork tenderloins are often cryo-packed in pairs, giving them the appearance of one tenderloin that's about 4" in diameter. Ask your butcher just in case.

At any rate, either tenderloins or full loins will work just fine for Canadian bacon.
 
Did some using a regular boneless loin I got at BJ's cut in half. The Hi Mountain cure IIRC comes three envelopes to a box. The box cures about 25 lbs of meat so each envelope is good for about 8 lbs. After the curing time, rinse/soak the meat very well otherwise it may be salty. Cut off a bit and fry it up to see if you need to soak longer. Don't need much fuel as you want the temp under 200*. I think I started with about 30 briquettes and had to add just a few later. See cooking section here for more tips. Comes out tasty. You won't be buying much bacon after you make your own.
http://virtualweberbullet.com/buckboardbacon.html
 
Here's a post from Dave Witt (on another board) who posts here from time to time and a thread of my CB from a while back. HTH.

Bill

Canadian Bacon Cure ingredients for 25 lbs

5 quarts ice water 38º-40º
1 Cup + 2Tb of Sweetener (Sugar,Honey,Brown Sugar, Molasses) what ever u like
¼ Cup instacure #1
¾ Cup of Salt (non-iodized table salt)

Trim the fat and debone the loins (I buy boneless loin), if it's a whole loin cut into 3rds. Dissolve all the ingredients in the cold water. If needed, add ice cubes to bring down the temp, Mix well. After the brine is made, inject the loins with the brine 10% of their green weight. Place the loins in the remaining Brine a place in a fridge for 4-6 days. Remove from brine and shower with hot water
Pat the loins dry and let air dry.

Place loins in a preheated smoke house 130º with dampers wide open. Hold for 4 hours without Smoke. Gradually increase the temp to 150º, smoking for 3 hours. After 3 hours, stop smoking and bring the temp to 160º hold until the internal temp reaches 142º. After the internal temp reaches 142º, remove from smokehouse and shower with cold water till internal temp is 110º. Cool and place in a fridge until ready to fry.

(For pea meal bacon do not smoke. Remove from brine and roll in cornmeal.)
I use a food grade 5 gal bucket to brine. 2 whole loins cut up fit great standing on end. And a plate works good to hold them down.

You are more than welcome to tweak the cooking temps but I have found that the suggested temps should be followed for a better product. When you are smoking cured meats unlike BBQ you are not looking for a smoke ring, rather you want a uniform color and smoke flavor throughout the meat.. If you introduce the smoke before the outside of the meat is dry you won't get a nice uniform color throughout the meat. Also, the smoke flavor will be more pronounced on the outside and not the the rest of the meat. There are other things to consider but I won't bother to go thru them here. If anyone is interested IMO send me a message I've been doing a lot of meat curing and smoking lately. This recipe came from "Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing" by Rytek Kutas. It's a very informative book and has a great deal of sausage recipes, and other old world recipes. The store I bought my smokehouse from and the book has a web address http://www.sausagemaker.com. The people I've dealt with have been very nice and helpful. They've even opened the store early for me on a number of occasions.
 
Jim,

I did both Canadian bacon and a butt about 2 weeks ago. I didn't use a mix such as the Hi Mountain product, rather used Prague Powder #1, salt, and various flavorings for a brine. Brined for 5 days and then soaked the heck out of the meat. I ended up using too much salt, but as Dave points out; trim off a small amount before smoking and test the salinity level. Since you're using a mix; I'm pretty sure there are recommendations on quantity to use as well as length of time to cure. Mine came out pretty good considering this was my 1st attempt.

Paul
 
Thanks for all the input guys! I'm starting to formulate my plan.

One more question. If this stuff is sliced and vacuum sealed, how long could it go without refrigeration? I'm thinking of giving some out to family members at Christmas time, some of whom have to fly home (nearly a full day in a suitcase.)

Thanks again,

JimT
 
Jim,

Even though this is cured, it's cured for the long time it's going to be in the danger zone during the cook (approx 40-140º) and even though it's cooked through, it should still be treated as any other cooked meat and refrigerated. Dry cured meats are another story.

Good luck with your project and take pics!
icon_smile.gif


Bill
 
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