another batch of loin bacon

TonyA · January 2015

Great looking bacon guys.

I'm going to throw my hat in the loin conversation here, because the loin muscle has quite a transformation from one end to the other. If you look at Canugghead's packaged pictures, the change in the bacon is vast.

On the one end is the Sirloin - usually sold as a roughly 2.5lb roast. I like to tie these for small 'hams'. They are of medium, even marbling.

From there, you get center loin and center rib cuts. The loin muscle is very lean with a small handle of fat and much smaller muscles on the handle. Rib chops typically have a band of darker muscle surrounding the loin - not unlike a thin deckle.

Then, there is the rib end. As far as loin bacon is concerned - this is where mama keeps the cookies. The loin and other muscles are much closer in size with good intramuscular fat.

BigWader · January 2015

TonyA said:
Great looking bacon guys.

I'm going to throw my hat in the loin conversation here, because the loin muscle has quite a transformation from one end to the other. If you look at Canugghead's packaged pictures, the change in the bacon is vast.

On the one end is the Sirloin - usually sold as a roughly 2.5lb roast. I like to tie these for small 'hams'. They are of medium, even marbling.

From there, you get center loin and center rib cuts. The loin muscle is very lean with a small handle of fat and much smaller muscles on the handle. Rib chops typically have a band of darker muscle surrounding the loin - not unlike a thin deckle.

Then, there is the rib end. As far as loin bacon is concerned - this is where mama keeps the cookies. The loin and other muscles are much closer in size with good intramuscular fat.

Great comments Tony. Obviously you have more than a passing interest in meat cuts. Sort of by accident I followed your description with the first cuts taken used for lunch s this week like ham and subsequent slices getting more marbled for breakfast meats. Next time I will try and get chops from the middle section and save all the rib end for breakfast bacon.

I can't wait for Eggs Benny this weekend

BigWader · January 2015

@Canugghead - here is the recipe that I followed.

4 quarts filtered water

1 Cup white sugar

1 Cup Brown Sugar

3/4 Cup Sea Salt

2 oz. Cure #1 (Pink Salt)

6 Fresh Thyme Sprigs

2 Fresh Leafy stems Tarragon

6 Garlic Cloves Smashed

1 small cooking onion chopped coarsely

1 Lemon quartered and juice squished into brine

6 Bay Leaves

1 tbsp. pickling spice

1 star anise broken

2 tbsp. whole peppercorns

1 tbsp. juniper berries crushed

1 1/2 Tablespoons whole Allspice

2 Tablespoons Whole black Peppercorns

8 # whole pork loin

I boiled the everything in 2 quarts of water then added the remainder to chill it down before putting in fridge the night before I tackled the meat

I injected the loins all over with strained brine to ensure a full cure in 7 days. The pumped loins went into the brine and were weighted down for the week.

I test fried a piece on day 7 and felt it didn't need to be soaked to remove salt. It sat about 30 hours in the fridge before smoking. It took 6 hours to smoke at 200 (I bumped the temp to 225 after 4.5 hours and 250 after 5.5 hours)

Canugghead · January 2015

Thanks so much @BigWader for taking the care and trouble to share, it's bookmarked.

BeanHead · May 15

Well @Canugghead I now have 2.25kg of loin at the drying stage in the fridge. Followed your recipe and Tony’s muscle cut recommendation (which is nice because my DH likes that dry nasty end of the loin for chops for some reason, and the loin I got was 3kg). Made three changes. 1. I cut the loin into three big chunks. 2. I tied each cut with twine so they will stay a bit more rounded when smoking. 3. I used a birch syrup that has a nice woody flavor and darker color than maple. Hard to wait until tomorrow to get them smoked.

As for the syrup… my friends always bring me interesting foods from their travels; I am pretty sure this is with the hope they will be gifted something made with them, guessing this bacon will not disappoint the gift giver.

Canugghead · May 15

@BeanHead Sounds like quite a treat, pretty sure you'll smoked it!

BeanHead · May 15

I quick fried a piece to check the salt level to see if it needed another soak and it is so tasty. I honestly cannot wait to get it on the egg. Patience is not one of my virtues.

BeanHead · May 16

Just going on! The countdown has begun.

BeanHead · May 16

Just pulled this and added a couple slices to our dinner salad. Very pleased with the results!

Canugghead · May 17

Wow, beautiful.

btw, noticed no one else chimed in? Back in the old forum every cook was easily visible regardless of protein type, folks would pick pork, beef, poultry, seafood...as appropriate. With the current forum format, catagorised cooks become obscure and almost all cooks go into WAYCTD!

caliking · May 17

I was waiting to see the outcome. You did not disappoint @BeanHead !

Botch · May 17

Canugghead said:

Wow, beautiful.

btw, noticed no one else chimed in? Back in the old forum every cook was easily visible regardless of protein type, folks would pick pork, beef, poultry, seafood...as appropriate. With the current forum format, catagorised cooks become obscure and almost all cooks go into WAYCTD!

I'll be honest. When I first joined this forum I would post my cooks in the "segregated protein" sub-threads, but they got minimal or no responses; when I started posting my cooks in the main "Egghead Forum" there was a bigger response, so I ignored the specific "Beef/Pork/Chicken/Vegg/Sides" forums, and just stuck to the main Egghead forum.
And, now, if I post a new (to me) or unusual cook ON the Egg, I'll make a separate thread here on the Egghead Forum; if I post a new (to me) or unusual cook NOT on the Egg, I post it in the WAYCTD thread.

BeanHead · May 17

DH actually clapped when I brought him breakfast.

johnmitchell · May 17

Holy smokes!!!!!! That is beyond magical 😋😋😋 Damn right he should clap👏👏

Canugghead · May 17

Stop it, I just ate breakfast!

BeanHead · May 17

This is such an amazing recipe I ordered a meat slicer because I’m sure it will be a new staple in our diet. Also read about SV bacon I will try with some of this even if I can’t imagine it getting better.

BeanHead · June 27

I cannot believe we ate through five pounds of this in six weeks! Just started to cure 10lbs. Thankfully loin was on sale this week!

Canugghead · June 27

Yes I'm long overdue to cure some. Loin is way cheaper and healthier than belly.

BeanHead · June 28

I used maple syrup this time instead of birch syrup. Looking forward to seeing if that makes a noticeable difference.

shtgunal3 · June 28

Just now seeing this. Looks great @BeanHead been to long for me too. I need to get off my a** and get back to curing/smoking.

BeanHead · June 28

I’m chomping at the bit to smoke this stuff. Waiting on the cure is not my favorite part of the game. I can highly recommend tying the loin and curing and smoking it on its thin edge to make a more circular *bacon*.

Canugghead · June 29

We usually buy extra loins when making bacon. Centre cuts for bacon, thin ends and trimmings for ground meat,

another batch of loin bacon

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