Canadian bacon (buckboard bacon)

Forvols

Forvols

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I had one whole pork loin left (I usually get at Sams by the case). I usually just season and smoke. But this time tried my hand at Canadian Bacon or buckboard bacon. Trimmed excess fat then Injected with brine and submerged in brine for 7days. Brine was cure#1, brown sugar, salt, garlic n onion pwdr 3bay leaves and some white sugar. Same for the injection only lesser amounts of ingredients and no G/O pwdr or bay leaf. After 7 days - Rinsed, then covered in black pepper, left uncovered in fridge for 36hours then smoked using apple/hickory/cherry to IT of 152. It turned out really good very close to ham. Next time I will add more sugar I think and do a 14day cure.
 

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Forvols said:
I had one whole pork loin left (I usually get at Sams by the case). I usually just season and smoke. But this time tried my hand at Canadian Bacon or buckboard bacon. Trimmed excess fat then Injected with brine and submerged in brine for 7days. Brine was cure#1, brown sugar, salt, garlic n onion pwdr 3bay leaves and some white sugar. Same for the injection only lesser amounts of ingredients and no G/O pwdr or bay leaf. After 7 days - Rinsed, then covered in black pepper, left uncovered in fridge for 36hours then smoked using apple/hickory/cherry to IT of 152. It turned out really good very close to ham. Next time I will add more sugar I think and do a 14day cure.
Click to expand...
Nice! I did it once and it turned out great, but I didn't wet brine. Did you use a percentage calculation for your brine? My go-to is up to 1.5% brown sugar, but have never used plain white sugar
 
Yes injection was 1.5% sugar split between brown and white, .25% cure#1 1.5%salt for meat weight.
Wet brine was an equilibrium brine for the weight of the water + meat weight. Maybe the 1.5% would have come on more with a 10-12 day brine. Pretty good, I got 3 good chunks to eat and decide on the recipe.
 
Forvols said:
Yes injection was 1.5% sugar split between brown and white, .25% cure#1 1.5%salt for meat weight.
Wet brine was an equilibrium brine for the weight of the water + meat weight. Maybe the 1.5% would have come on more with a 10-12 day brine. Pretty good, I got 3 good chunks to eat and decide on the recipe.
Click to expand...

I don't think your timing had anything to do with it. I like having more salt than sugar, and always cure at 2% weight for a boneless cut, regardless of what meat it is. Perhaps just dry brine it for 7-10 days next time. But if you're going for a sweeter finish than what you got, I'd dry brine using your same 1.5% sugar, but I'd mix in a cup of real maple syrup to give you that sweetness, a little bit of a binding, plus some additional natural sugars. Canadian, eh?
 

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