Canadian bacon (buckboard bacon)

[Forvols]

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.

 

[Tenntrapper]

Sounds awesome. I need to try that sometime.

 

[TAFKAP]

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.

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

 

[Forvols]

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.

 

[TAFKAP]

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.

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?

 

[JJ3]

Looks great. How did the inside look?

A few months ago I did a Tasso ham from a Boston Butt cut into chunks and dry brined for 7 days and it came out really good. It got me thinking about trying pork loin for Canadian bacon and trying to do a whole ham.

 

[Forvols]

Inside was slightly pink. texture was close to ham, not to salty or sweet. I initially thought I wanted it sweeter but after eating some on a samich and some fried in a skittle with eggs I like it the way it is. Black pepper on the outside is a good addition next time I might mix in a little cayenne with the black pepper.