More Canadian-Style Bacon

I’ve been making my own Canadian-style bacon for the past couple of
years. I started out doing it because it was kind of fun and unique (in an old-timey-frontier-kind-of-way) to preserve my own food. But once I
got the hang of it, I realized that it really wasn’t that hard to make
Canadian-style bacon that tasted a lot better than the grocery store
brands at a fraction of the price.

Ingredients

1 boneless pork loin (8 to 10 pounds)
1 tablespoon Morton Sugar Cure (Plain) per pound of loin
1 teaspoon white sugar per pound of loin
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon black pepper, ground
4 tablespoons maple syrup (for glazing)

Instructions

Trim excess fat and remove the silver skin from pork loin. Cut the
loin into two equal pieces.

Combine the Morton Sugar Cure, white sugar, brown sugar, and pepper.
Mix well. This is your dry cure. Place the loin pieces in a large
freezer bag and coat with the cure. Rub the cure into the meat,
covering all sides. Squeeze the air out of the bag and seal. Store in
the refrigerator for 5 days, flipping the meat over once a day. Liquid
will begin to collect in the bag – this indicates that the cure is
working. Do not drain it off.

On the 6th day, remove the meat from the cure and soak in cold water
for 1-2 hours to remove some of the salt. Dry off the meat and
refrigerate uncovered for an hour.

Set up your grill or smoker up for an indirect cook at 225°F for at
least 4 hours. Once the cooker is up to temperature, add your smoking
wood (I like hickory for this recipe). If using a gas grill, place 2-4 cups of soaked wood chunks in
the smoker box. If using a charcoal grill, toss a couple of fist-sized lumps
right into the coals.

Cook at 225°F until the internal temperature of the loin hits 150°F,
about 3 hours. Baste the top side with half the maple syrup. Cook
another 20 minutes, flip and baste the other side with the remaining
syrup. Cook another 20 minutes or until the internal temperature
reaches 160°F

Remove from the smoker and let cool before cutting into 1/8 inch thick
slices.

3 thoughts on “More Canadian-Style Bacon”

  1. I am completely, absolutely going to make this! Quick question, is the white sugar the only “per pound” ingredient or are all of them supposed to be adjusted per pound of loin?

    Also, how long does it keep? Do you slice, vac seal, and freeze some of it?

  2. Yes, the Morton’s Sugar Cure and white sugar are the only per pound ingredients. For food safety reasons you want to keep that ratio constant. So for the 9 pound loin I had I used 9 tablespoons of Morton’s and 9 teaspoons of white sugar.

    The amount of brown sugar. maple syrup and the pepper is based on about 8-10 pounds of loin, but you can add more or less to taste. Other nice additions include paprika, cloves, or cayenne pepper.

    It’s cured and smoked, so it will last for a good while in the fridge. But it freezes so well that I just sliced all of ours up the next day and sealed it in snack or meal sized portions in pint FoodSaver bags and froze it.

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