Canadian Bacon. Yes! You Can Make It!

 

Ahh.  Canadian Bacon!  When it comes to eating high off the hog, this is one of my favorites!

What is not to like?  Lean pork loin cured and smoked.  Think about very lean, smoked ham!

 

This is a longish post.  But there is a lot of good information in it.  I urge you to take the time to read it through.

 

If you are only used to seeing Canadian Bacon in the meat section of your grocery store this is probably what you have seen.

 

This type of Canadian bacon is widely used in restaurants and hotels as a part of the classic dish Eggs Benedict.  It is made from chunks of pork loin that are packed into a synthetic casing (think red plastic), the cure is injected, and it is cooked.  It is typically perfectly round.  It may or may not be smoked.  I like the smokiness, so I smoke mine.

 

But “real” Canadian Bacon can be made from whole pork loin muscle that has been trimmed of all fat.  It is not perfectly round.  It is oval. Like this:  

 

This type of Canadian bacon, made from the whole pork loin muscle, can often be found in the deli counter in grocery stores.

 

So, if it is available in the deli section of your grocery store, you may ask, why make your own?

 

The answers to this question are somewhat simple. By making your Canadian bacon:

1.  You know exactly what is in it.

2. You can control the flavor profile.

3. You can control the saltiness to suit your pallet and desires.

4.  The cost is very low compared to store bought product (In my local grocery stores, prices vary from $11.17 a pound to $17.30 a pound)

5.  It is fresher and tastes better than anything you can find in the grocery store.

The process of making my version of Canadian Bacon is quite simple.  The process does require that you have some items: 

1.  A scale capable of measuring partial grams.

2. A thermometer to measure the internal temperature of the pork when it is smoking.

3. The ability to cold and hot smoke the cured meat. 

4.  Pink Salt #1; also known as Prague powder #1, pink curing salt #1.  Not to be confused with Himalayan pink salt.  Pink salt #1 is a curing salt.  Not, a table salt.  Please store it safely and out of reach, so people do not use it as table salt.  Label it appropriately! 

 

There is one other pink curing salt:  Pink Curing Salt #2.  The two types of pink curing salts cannot be used interchangeably.  Pink Salt#1 is for items that will be cooked.  Pink Salt#2 is for items that will be served uncooked.

 

These items are in addition to normal kitchen supplies like a boning knife, cutting board and a scale that can weight multiple pounds of meat.  It is nice, if the scale can convert the measurements to grams but it is not required.  The Internet provides conversions on an as needed basis.  Of course, you will need refrigerator space for curing drying and aging the pork loin.

 

Earlier, I wrote that making your own Canadian Bacon is a good economical decision.  Here is the calculation to determine how much the lean pork loin cost.  This is based on the meat I purchased in a grocery store in July 2023 to make Canadian bacon and for other uses.

Pork Loin/Canadian Bacon

As purchased weight: (AP Weight) 7.29lb; (3306 grams)

Cost:  $1.77lb; total: $12.90

Clean loin:      2898 gr (roast 2247 gr, stir fry 265 gr, steak 386 gr)

Fat:                     408 gr

Total:               3306 gr

Yield %  87.65%  Calculation follows:

Edible meat:                           2898 gr

As purchased weight:            3306 gr                      

2898/3306 = .8765 = 87.65%

Cost for edible pork loin:

As Purchased Cost per pound/yield %

1.77/.8765= 2.02 per pound for edible meat (Roast/Canadian Bacon, stir fry, steaks)

Here is a picture of the processed meat:

 

Top row:  the clean pork loin for use as roast and Canadian Bacon.

Bottom Row left to right:  stir fry, fat, 2 pork steaks from the ends of the pork loin.

 

It should be noted that in a true butcher yield test the value of each individual item would be noted and calculated.  As an example, if I was doing this yield percentage test to cost out the clean pork loin roast, the value of the pork stir fry would be deducted from the cost of the total cost of the clean pork.  I would do the same for the pork steaks.  Since the trimmed fat is not usable (unlike fat back), there is not a value assigned to it.  The remaining figure would be the cost of the clean pork loin roast.

 

In calculating the cost of the Canadian bacon, I would include the cost of the roast, the cure ingredients and wood pellets.

 

Since this is for home use, I did not do the complete calculation.  The cost of cure ingredients and wood pellets is minimal.  If I use the $2.02 a pound price, as the cost of the Canadian bacon, this is approximately $9.00 to $15.00 a pound cheaper than a national brand sold in the deli sections of our local grocery stores. 

 

If I wanted to find out the total cost of the Canadian bacon; I would add the cost of the wood pellets and the cure ingredients used to the cost of the meat that was cured.  Total cost divided by total weight = pound per price.

 

I use a curing process known as EQ curing.  With EQ curing the amount of all the ingredients in based on the weight of the meat being cured.  This means that you can determine the sweetness and saltiness of the product.  If your calculations are correct, the product will never be too salty.  Being too salty is a common issue with cured, processed, smoked  products.

 

Before I continue with the curing process, you maybe wondering why cure the pork loin?  Curing the pork loin ensures the appropriate color (pink meat) and flavor of the finished (cooked) product.  If the meat was not cured it would be grey in color when cooked.  And depending on your cooking process, it can function to maintain the sanitation/safety of the product by guarding against the growth of pathogenic micro-organisms.

 

So, back to the EQ curing process:

 

EQ (equilibrium) curing can be done as a dry cure or as a brine or wet cure.  The formulas are different.  The overall effect is the same.  Though I will note, through experimentation, I have determined that I prefer dry EQ curing for bacon and wet EQ curing for Canadian bacon.  

 

Here is the basic formula for EQ curing both weight and dry.  These are written using metric measurements in weight.  The example formulas are based on 1000 grams of meat.  I use metric measurements for accuracy.

 

Canadian Bacon, Dry cure

Clean the pork loin and weigh it.  Convert to grams.

Weight of cleaned product x % of curing ingredients.

1000 grams of meat

1000 x 2% salt = 20 grams of Kosher Salt

1000 x 1 % sugar = 10 grams sugar

1000 x 00.25% pink salt #1 = 2.5 grams pink salt #1

Combine all cure ingredients.  Place Pork loin in bag and coat with cure.  Place in refrigerator.  Turn daily to allow for even penetration of cure.  Allow 4 days per inch of thickness. Allow one day extra for safety.  Remove and wash off cure, if desired.   Dry overnight in refrigerator to form pellicle.  Cold smoke 4 hours and then either finish in the oven or in hot smoke to an internal temperature of 140°f.  Carryover cooking will take it to the required 145°f internal temperature.

 

Canadian Bacon, Brine Cure

Basic EQ brine ratio is 2:1 (meat to brine)

1000 grams of meat (cleaned pork loin) 

42.05 % water x weight of meat)  (420.5 grams)

5% Kosher salt x weight of meat)  (50 grams)

2.5% Sugar x weight of meat)  (25 grams)

00.45% Pink Salt #1 x weight of meat)  (4.5 grams)

Mix all together.  Place in ziplock.  Place in refrigerator.  Turn daily to allow for even penetration of cure.  Allow 4 days per inch of thickness. Allow one day extra for safety.  Remove and wash off cure, if desired.   Dry overnight in refrigerator to form pellicle.  Cold smoke 4 hours and then either finish in the oven or in hot smoke to an internal temperature of 140°f.  Carryover cooking will take it to the required 145°f internal temperature.

 

For this recipe, I used Sterling Valley Maple Pure Granulated Maple Sugar. You can use either light brown sugar or regular table sugar for this recipe.

 

This is the Canadian bacon curing in my refrigerator in the brine:

 

 After pork loin has cured.  It is rinsed off (this is optional) and dried.  It is then placed on a wire rack and placed in the refrigerator overnight to allow the pellicle to form.  

 

The pellicle facilitates the adherence of smoke to the meat. You may notice I have the rack sitting on aluminum foil.  This is to minimize mess and contamination in the refrigerator.

 

From this stage recipes vary in terms of how long the meat is smoked (hot or cold) and temperatures.  I found out firsthand at how equipment can affect the cooking temperature or in my case the temperature that meat is hot smoked at. 

 

My previous recipe had the meat cold smoked for 4 hours and then finished in hot smoke at 225°f until it reached my desired internal temperature.  This year I have a new pellet smoker and I was experimenting with different wood pellets. The wood pellet experiment meant that I smoked each piece of Canadian bacon separately. 

 

The first piece that I smoked using my old temperature scheme, showed me that my new smoker had tendency to over cook the ends of the pork loin as it smoked at 225°f.  The ends were darker than I desired.  (On the flip side the slower rise in internal temperature resulted in a denser texture.  Not all together a bad thing!)

 

This caused some research on my part.  I subsequently smoked the remaining two pieces by cold smoking for 4 hours and then hot smoking at 300°f until my desired internal temperature was reached.  They overall color was very nice.  The flavor was also good.

 

I should note that I am using a maze with pellets in my smoker in addition to the pellets that are required for heat.  As noted above the smoker is new.  My first experiments with smoking pork butt did not yield the amount of smoke flavor I wanted.  Hence the additional pellets.  Still a learning curve happening here.

 

If you do not have a smoker for hot smoking you can use any type of covered bbq pit and a maze with pellets and cold smoke the cured pork loin for 4 hours and then finish cooking it to desired internal temperature in a preheated 300°f oven.  I have done this in the past and it works great!

 

Once the pork loin was smoked to desired temperature, I removed it from the smoker and allowed it sit at room temperature for one hour to lose most of its temperature.  I then put it back into the refrigerator on a rack to cool overnight.  You can see the darkened ends mentioned above, in this photo.

 

The next morning, I vacuum bagged the Canadian bacon and allowed it too age for a week.   This process allows the moisture in the meat to equalize throughout the meat.  At the end of the week, I sliced it.

 

You can see the nice color and the smoke ring.  At this stage, the Canadian bacon is fully cooked and ready for use in any dish you desire.

 

I hand slice my Canadian bacon both thin and thick.  This allows us to use the product as we desire.  I vacuum bag and freeze the sliced Canadian bacon in portions.

 

So to summarize the process:

1. Clean the meat and weigh it. 
2. Calculate the ingredients of the cure.
3. Cure the meat.
4. Remove from cure and dry it overnight.
5. Smoke and cook it as desired.
6. Allow to cool slightly at room temperature and then refrigerate.
7. Bag it up (if you can not vacuum bag it a large ziplock style bag will work just fine.
8. Allow the meat to equalize for a week.  Remember there is still active cure so there are not any sanitation concerns.
9. Slice and enjoy
   

I hope you found this interesting. 

As I always I welcome your questions or comments.

Until Next time, Bon Appetit Y’all.

Leslie Bartosh

#CanadianBacon, #EQCuring, #Smoking, #HotSmoking #ColdSmoking #SterlingValleyMapleSugar #MapleSugar