Dry cured Canadian bacon

tdibiasio · Post by **tdibiasio** » Sat Feb 08, 2014 13:24

I am going to attempt my first Canadian bacon cure and have a question for the experts... I would prefer to do a dry cure because I simply don't have room in the refrigerator at this time for a wet brine. I could not find tender quick locally but did find pink salt cure #1. Can anyone give me some guidance on how to safely use the pink salt as a cure agent on this loin for a dry cure.

I am very thankful to find this online community and you have given me the inspiration to finally jump into what I hope is a new lifetime hobby of curing meat and making sausage!

TomD

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Sat Feb 08, 2014 14:33

Stop!! Read this section of our website before you go any farther and then if you have more questions please come back. It is very easy to ruin some perfectly fine meat if you don't follow the guidelines. This recipe will work for a loin. Massage the meat everyday. Place it in a plastic zipper bag. I reduce the salt to about 2.5% because I prefer it that way..
http://www.meatsandsausages.com/hams-ot ... red-smoked
http://www.meatsandsausages.com/hams-ot ... afety-USDA

NorthFork · Post by **NorthFork** » Sat Feb 08, 2014 17:03

Hello tdibiasio-Welcome to the forum-

Here is a recipe that I use for pork loins, it is a big hit with everyone that has tried it. It is a bit sweet(much like a honey cured ham) so you might want to start with a lesser amount of brown sugar until you have tried it. I ran the recipe out at 5000 grams (11 lbs) to make the math easy. All of the percentages are relative to the meat weight (5000 grams) so just do the math on your meat weight and the other ingredients and you have it. The amount of cure (in this case .25% of the meat weight) is critical, you could go up a bit by some standards but not down. The salt level is about minimum (1.8% including the salt in the cure), some go as low as 1.5% while others may go considerably higher(2-2.5%).

The recipe I use:

Pork Loin---5000 grams
Cure#1--- 12.48 grams =0.25%
Kosher Salt- 77.5 grams=1.54%
Brown Sugar 200 grams= 4.02%
Nutmeg(ground)-.6 grams=0.01%
Cinnamon(grnd)- .6 grams-0.01%

Combine the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly(I use a spice grinder to get them well mixed and into a powder form), it is important that the Cure#1 is well mixed and evenly distributed on and into the meat. I like to lay the loin out on a sheet of plastic wrap and evenly coat all surfaces of the loin with the dry mix, then I can roll the loin up in the wrap and really work the mixture into the meat.

Once coated put the loin in a ziplock bag and refrigerate(at 37°to38° F) for 10 days or so depending on the size of the loins (smaller/thinner a bit less, heavy/thick loins a bit longer). I work them over(massage them in the bag) and turn them daily, they will immediately start forming a brine as the salt and cure do their job, just leave it in the bag until the cure period is complete. For this reason it is wise to keep the ziplock in a bowl or pan(you could also double bag) in case of a leak.

When the cure is complete, remove them from the fridge, rinse them well and allow them to dry on a rack or put them in a preheated smoker (around 100 to 110° F) until dry. I just smoke mine on a rack, some like to tie and hang them in the smoker. Once dried begin smoking at the lower temp and gradually increase the smoker temperature over several hours until the smoker temp is up around 165° to 170°F and the meat temp reaches 150°, wrap in foil and allow to rest (the meat will pick up another 5° or while wrapped). Coo; completely and refrigerate. We slice ours, vac pack it in small pkgs and freeze it.

I use an apple/hickory mix for smoking, straight apple is milder and straight hickory has a bit stronger smoke flavor. If you don't want to baby sit the smoker for a long period you can remove them at anytime and finish in the over, just try to keep your oven temp down in the 175° to 180° range.

Hope this helps, if you try it I'm sure you will be pleased with it. Any of the spices can be increased/decreased to taste.
Good luck

Pat

tdibiasio · Post by **tdibiasio** » Sun Feb 09, 2014 13:45

Guys - I can not thank you enough.... This is exactly the guidance I was needing to get me started. I will let you you know how it turns out in a few weeks after the cure and smoke.

TomD

tdibiasio · Post by **tdibiasio** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 19:40

Pat

I just wanted to follow up and let you know that I got the Loin resting in the cure yesterday. I took your recipe %'s and put it into an xls spread sheet so that I could just enter the meat weight and have all other measurements calculated for me. Below is what I came up with:

Pork Loin: 1356 grams
Cure #1: 3.39 grams ( I added a few extra SMIDGES to be on the same side)
Kosher: 20.88 grams
Brn Sugar: 54.51 grams
Nutmeg: .14 grams (I just guessed because my scale does not go below 1 gram)
Cinnamon: .14 grams (I just guessed because my scale does not go below 1 gram)

After only a few hours the liquid was starting to form in the bag

Please let me know what you think of the measurements I came up with .

TomD

NorthFork · Post by **NorthFork** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 21:49

Tom,

I use Excel also, I plugged your 1356 g of loin in and came up with the same amounts as you listed(some minor decimal difference is all). I think you will like it---

Have fun-
Pat

tdibiasio · Post by **tdibiasio** » Sat Feb 15, 2014 22:47

Pat - i have been turning and rubbing the pork loin every day now, tomorrow will be 7 days. Do you think based on the size I posted above that I will need the full 10 days you recommended? I am not asking because I am impatient, but due to work I will not be able to smoke it until next weekend (13 days) at the earliest. What would you do?

Thanks

TomD

NorthFork · Post by **NorthFork** » Sat Feb 15, 2014 23:08

Tom-I think you would be fine, as I recall (and some one correct me if I am in error) the cure will travel into the meat at approx. 1/4 inch per day (24 hrs). At this rate the cure will have more than reached the center of the loin (in this case you are curing from all sides) and will have done it's job. Longer curing time might mellow the flavors a bit more but if I were you under these circumstances, I would pull it, smoke it and enjoy--

let us know how it turns out-

Pat

tdibiasio · Post by **tdibiasio** » Sun Feb 16, 2014 16:48

Hi Pat - PM sent

tdibiasio · Post by **tdibiasio** » Tue Feb 18, 2014 14:34

Well here is the final result of my first Canadian Bacon attempt:

After 7 days of curing here is what the loin looked like before going into the smoker (WSM) - rubbed with Montreal Steak seasoning

Now here is the finished product after a 6 hour smoke with Hickory and apple chunks:

The taste of the CB is like nothing I have had before - it is a really nice smoke flavor with a backend taste of cinnamon and nutmeg !! I think next time I will increase the brown sugar a little ....

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO PROVIDED GUIDANCE AND CONFIDENCE DURING MY FIRST ATTEMPT.

TomD

NorthFork · Post by **NorthFork** » Tue Feb 18, 2014 14:50

Nice looking loin Tom, good job and glad to hear you liked it.

Pat

Shuswap · Post by **Shuswap** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 17:44

I wanted to use a dry cure for back bacon as I had been using a brine. I found NorthFork`s recipe posted on Feb 8/14 as above.

This is a keeper - easy to handle and great taste - yum, yum.

cogboy · Post by **cogboy** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 22:42

I'll be over for breakfast !

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » Mon Aug 25, 2014 22:43

Great looking CB, nice work!

Just for kicks and giggles, if you ever want tender quick Morton's has a retail locator tool on their website, it helped me find it here in Phoenix.

http://www.mortonsalt.com/for-your-home/where-to-buy

Shuswap · Post by **Shuswap** » Tue Aug 26, 2014 00:38

Thanks, I used my new Chef's Choice 615 slicer to fine cut 4 lbs of ham and wider cuts for 5 lbs of "bacon" - what a treat after the old Regal slicer

Dry cured Canadian bacon

Dry cured Canadian bacon

Little worried about the Loin