Alternative Sugar Cure Canadian Bacon

[WALLE]

Hey all, sharing an experiment that I think turned out damn good. I love CB, however, not unlike prime rib vs a well seasoned and seared ribeye, the inner meat just felt like it needed something. So...! I sliced, then cured, then smoked following the sugar ham recipe here http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/sho...&highlight=Ham

I took a full loin, sliced it at 3/8", split it into two 4.5 # bags, and applied the following to each bag:

First Three Days:
Cure #1
3 T Brown sugar
3.75 grams of salt per #.
2 C ice cold water

Then added the following for 4 days:
1 T garlic powder
1 T onion powder
2 t. black pepper





Rinsed, dried, and put them in the smoker this morning using Hickory. Set the smoker to 180* and let it run until I hit an IT of 145* This makes a quick breakfast using a hot griddle to reheat and a couple of cackle berries.





Flipped half way through, although it wouldn't have been necessary and I won't be doing that on the next batch.





And the final shot!



Really happy with the results. Flavor is incredible. I really like the sweet/savory going on and overall, I was able to get mellow smoke through out in a relatively quick period of time. Took about 3 hours to hit 145.

Thanks for checking out my alternative path to some kick ass CB!
Tracey

[IrishChef]

[SMOKE FREAK]

I think this is more my style...

[Bearcarver]

Looks Mighty Tasty, Tracey!!!

I thought about doing that a few times, but figured it would get too dry.


Bear

[WALLE]

Looks Mighty Tasty, Tracey!!!

I thought about doing that a few times, but figured it would get too dry.


Bear

I hear ya, Bear - actually, I think you can keep it moister doing it this way because when it is 145* in the middle of a 3/8" slice, it is 145* everywhere. To attain 145* in the middle of a full loin, the outter parts are way hotter and hotter = drier, especiallyin a loin.

[Bearcarver]

I hear ya, Bear - actually, I think you can keep it moister doing it this way because when it is 145* in the middle of a 3/8" slice, it is 145* everywhere. To attain 145* in the middle of a full loin, the outter parts are way hotter and hotter = drier, especiallyin a loin.

If you're smoking at 180° the whole surface of each slice is at 180°, but when you smoke a whole loin, only the perimeter of each slice was at 180°. The center only got to 145°.

Just like when you grill a Ribeye, you get bark all over, but when you do a Prime Rib & cut a slice, the only bark is on the perimeter of each slice, except the end slices.

The only advantage I see for doing it in slices is it's quicker, so less time to dry out.

Bear

[WALLE]

If you're smoking at 180° the whole surface of each slice is at 180°, but when you smoke a whole loin, only the perimeter of each slice was at 180°. The center only got to 145°.

Just like when you grill a Ribeye, you get bark all over, but when you do a Prime Rib & cut a slice, the only bark is on the perimeter of each slice, except the end slices.

The only advantage I see for doing it in slices is it's quicker, so less time to dry out.

Bear

I don't know if there is an advantage of doing this way, John. The biggest difference of doing it this way compared to all of the full loin CB I've done is the flavor. Gotta get outta that box everyonce in a while!

[Bearcarver]

I don't know if there is an advantage of doing this way, John. The biggest difference of doing it this way compared to all of the full loin CB I've done is the flavor. Gotta get outta that box everyonce in a while!

That one I gotta agree with 100%.

That's why my Son always wants the ends & outside trimmings of my BBB, CB, and Dried Beef. A whole lot of extra flavor on the outside, and smoking slices like you did gets you a lot of flavorful outsides!!!

Nice Job, Tracey!!

Bear

[Fishawn]

I like it, and damn right I'm gonna try it

[DDave]

Hmm . . . . . . I like it.

Another reason to work on building me a vertical so I have a bit more capacity to lay stuff out flat.

Dave

[SmokinOutBack]

Just picked up a whole loin last weekend on sale. Definitely going to give this a whirl.
Thanks for sharing Tracey.

[Bassman]

OK, now it's time to get a full loin and get busy. Fantastic looking CB there Tracey! I'll probably just do 1/3 loins as usual since I'm too lazy to
do it your way. Now if I can just locate the recipe.