Loin Bacon & Hunsaker Rack


 
Rich G

Rich G

TVWBB Honor Circle
Hey, VWB'ers! I just put up another batch of loin bacon (Canadian Bacon, if you prefer), and used the Hunsaker Rack with meat hooks for my WSM22, so thought I'd share.

I procured a whole, boneless loin from CostCo, and cut it into thirds. After weighing each third, I used the dry cure calculator at diggingdogfarms.com to come up with my cure ingredients. I usually drop the salt to 1.8, or 1.6%, and it works out well for me. I rubbed each loin third with its appropriate cure amount, then popped them in the fridge. Flipped every morning (mostly) for 10 days, then pulled out of the bags for a thorough rinse and dry.

Set up the WSM22 with a two briquette snake stack (2x2 head) with hickory and apple on top (alternating):

IMG_6755.jpeg

I lit the snake head, and after about 30 minutes, with the vents half open, the WSM was hovering nicely at about 145F. So, I put the loin pieces in the smoke, using the hooks and my Hunsaker Rack for the first time (easy, peasy!):

IMG_6756.jpeg

I had to open the vents up all the way, but the WSM ran for four hours settled in at 140F or so. At that point, I lit the tail of the snake to bump the heat up to about 190F so I could get the loin to 150-155F. After about 8 hours on the WSM, my briquette snake petered out, so I moved the loin to the oven at 200F to finish off. The loins pieces looked like this before heading to the oven:

IMG_6757.jpeg

Once the loins hit my target temp, I pulled them to cool:

IMG_6779.jpeg

Once cool, they went into the fridge overnight, and were sliced up for packaging the next day:

IMG_6783.jpeg

Each stack is 8 slices, and I'll put two stacks in a package. I also ended up with about 8oz of ends that I diced up to save for soups and stuff. Knowing my kids (and me), this won't last very long at all..... :)

I really liked the ease of hanging the loin pieces on the Hunsaker Rack with the included meat hooks. I don't perceive any difference in the finish product, but I didn't really expect I would. I got the rack with the primary goal of using it to hang sausages for smoking (used it for that once), and am looking forward to dialing in my stuffing/hanging process with 10" sausage rings. :)

If you like Loin/Canadian bacon, and haven't tried making your own yet, I highly recommend it. It's super easy, and tastes great!

R
 
There you've gone and done it again! Now I'm going to have to get busy and make some Canadian Bacon!

I haven't been to Costco in several months. Seeing this post makes it tempting to go.

Looks great!
 
Rich,
You are in a different league the I sir! I really want to try to make bacon, is this an easier first first attempt at curing meats?
 
Michael Richards said:
Rich,
You are in a different league the I sir! I really want to try to make bacon, is this an easier first first attempt at curing meats?
Click to expand...
Thanks! Much credit to those who came before me here, and shared their experience!

Michael, bacon (of any sort) is ridiculously easy to do, and do well. Bob Correll's Bacon Made Easy post is a great starting point, and, indeed, where many a TVWBB'er got hooked on making bacon. I like loin/canadian bacon because it has some nice versatility to it (fry up in a pan, cold cut on a sandwich, roll up in a chicken breast with swiss cheese cordon bleu style, etc.) and has less fat for that every day pig fix! I've made plenty of belly bacon, which is just as easy, and will beat the heck out of anything you can buy (plus, people look at you like some sort of Jedi master when you tell them you made it.) I also recently made some bacon from the coppa/money muscle in a shoulder that worked out beautifully as well.

The basic steps are:
1. Acquire some meat to turn into bacon (belly, loin, shoulder)
2. Weigh it post packaging and any trimming
3. Apply a dry cure based on the weight. This cure will include curing salts (like Instacure #1 or Morton's Tenderquick). I use the CALCULATOR at Digging Dog Farm to determine my cure amounts.....I like the basic salt, sugar, insecure #1 cure.
4. Place meat in ziplock bag, rub cure thoroughly over all sides of the meat, place in refrigerator.
5. Flip the meat once a day, cure for (x) days....this depends on the thickness of the meat, typically about 7 days for belly, up to 10 for thicker cuts
6. Remove meat from cure, rinse thoroughly to remove surface salt, then dry very well
7. Smoke with your choice of smoke wood at 200-225F until the meat reaches 150-155F.
8. Cool, slice, enjoy, and amaze your family/friends!

I learned most of what I know about bacon here, and various other places on the Internet. Give it a go! :)

R
 
Rich G said:
Thanks! Much credit to those who came before me here, and shared their experience!

Michael, bacon (of any sort) is ridiculously easy to do, and do well. Bob Correll's Bacon Made Easy post is a great starting point, and, indeed, where many a TVWBB'er got hooked on making bacon. I like loin/canadian bacon because it has some nice versatility to it (fry up in a pan, cold cut on a sandwich, roll up in a chicken breast with swiss cheese cordon bleu style, etc.) and has less fat for that every day pig fix! I've made plenty of belly bacon, which is just as easy, and will beat the heck out of anything you can buy (plus, people look at you like some sort of Jedi master when you tell them you made it.) I also recently made some bacon from the coppa/money muscle in a shoulder that worked out beautifully as well.

The basic steps are:
1. Acquire some meat to turn into bacon (belly, loin, shoulder)
2. Weigh it post packaging and any trimming
3. Apply a dry cure based on the weight. This cure will include curing salts (like Instacure #1 or Morton's Tenderquick). I use the CALCULATOR at Digging Dog Farm to determine my cure amounts.....I like the basic salt, sugar, insecure #1 cure.
4. Place meat in ziplock bag, rub cure thoroughly over all sides of the meat, place in refrigerator.
5. Flip the meat once a day, cure for (x) days....this depends on the thickness of the meat, typically about 7 days for belly, up to 10 for thicker cuts
6. Remove meat from cure, rinse thoroughly to remove surface salt, then dry very well
7. Smoke with your choice of smoke wood at 200-225F until the meat reaches 150-155F.
8. Cool, slice, enjoy, and amaze your family/friends!

I learned most of what I know about bacon here, and various other places on the Internet. Give it a go! :)

R
Click to expand...
OK so I just went down the TVWBB rabbit hole reading Bob's original post and about a third of the follow up pages. Going to the local butcher this weekend, will be looking for a pork belly.
 
Michael Richards said:
OK so I just went down the TVWBB rabbit hole reading Bob's original post and about a third of the follow up pages. Going to the local butcher this weekend, will be looking for a pork belly.
Click to expand...

Been making bacon and Canadian bacon for years using Morton's Tenderquick and Bob's methods. Can't go wrong and you will never go back to store bought once you try it.
 
Rich Dahl said:
Been making bacon and Canadian bacon for years using Morton's Tenderquick and Bob's methods. Can't go wrong and you will never go back to store bought once you try it.
Click to expand...
OK, I just said out loud to the family, "I am going to make bacon." And my daughter said I'll hold you to it. So shopping this weekend, pork belly and the ingredients needed to my huli huli chicken top on my list.
 
That looks really, really good! I can’t remember the last time I had Canadian bacon. Don’t even remember what it tastes like. I might have to try to make it soon!
 
Rich Dahl said:
Been making bacon and Canadian bacon for years using Morton's Tenderquick and Bob's methods. Can't go wrong and you will never go back to store bought once you try it.
Click to expand...
Tenderquick got here today from Amazon. Rubbed 2 and 1/2 Tablespoons of Tenderquick and then added some brown sugar and course black pepper on the 2 and 1/2 pound pork belly. Just did it and now have it in the frig. It's going to be a long week waiting...
 
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