Back Bacon

MattBTI

First go at Canadian bacon. I’ve done American bacon many times. First time smoking a cured product in my egg though. Normally I go with the gas masterbuilt when I’m smoking 10 plus pounds of belly. Started with a 48 hr cure in brine solution Sunday night (from charcuterie) Pulled out, rinsed and fridge over night. Smoked to 150F  internal at about 230 Dome with Apple and maple smoke. Came out excellent!

lkapigian

Nice!, did some and peameal as well...mine was a bit "HamTasting" how was this?

MattBTI

@lkapigian, very reminiscent of ham as well. That was freshly smoked though. I haven't tried it pan seared yet. I prefer the smoke flavor I got with the egg as opposed to an amazin tube in the gas smoker. 

MattBTI

weighing on wax paper and folding it around the edges of the slices really helped keeping it neatly laid out when packaging and vac/sealing. I'll likely continue to use this method in the future with sliced products. 

lkapigian

MattBTI said:

weighing on wax paper and folding it around the edges of the slices really helped keeping it neatly laid out when packaging and vac/sealing. I'll likely continue to use this method in the future with sliced products. 

yes your sealed slices are much more organized than mine!

OshawaDave

Very nice - we Canadians love our peameal bacon. you've inspired me to cook some this weekend!

SonVolt

Canadian bacon is the skyline chili of the bacon world. 

MattBTI

SonVolt said:

Canadian bacon is the skyline chili of the bacon world. 

@sonvolt Is this where I say "what the hell is skyline chili?" and you say "exactly" ??

SubVet585

I want to try canadian bacon but I'm a bit confused on the cure time.  Here you cured for 2 days (pics look great) and other threads say cure for 12-14 days.
What am I missing?

lkapigian

SubVet585 said:

I want to try canadian bacon but I'm a bit confused on the cure time.  Here you cured for 2 days (pics look great) and other threads say cure for 12-14 days.
What am I missing?

Maybe because it was a wet brine...i dry cured mine went about 10 days ...my 2 cents 

mlc2013

MattBTI you had me at bacon, what is with those 6oz packages?
I would need to use 3 of them for breakfast if it was just me. JK looks great I have never done it before.

MattBTI

@SubVet585k @lkapigian is correct. This was a wet brine. When I make side bacon I typically dry cure in a ziplock (2gallong) for 7 ish days. This was my first time curing with a brine. I found the process to be very easy. I've found getting consistent results with a dry cure to be more difficult. The cure/gross weight ratio becomes as important, if not more important, than the cure time.  

I've been playing with 2% to 5% cure/gross weight and have not quite gotten my cure for side bacon dialed in. Its never been bad, but some batches have came out saltier than others.