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Thursday, June 16, 2016

Canadian and Peameal Bacon (again)





I love this stuff and it's been awhile since I've made any.  Bacon is one of the easiest things to make., You cure it for so many days and it's ready to smoke or cook. That's it. Kind of like putting a hunk of meat in a marinade and forgetting about it for 10 or so days. :)

I grabbed two pork loins (back loins, not tenderloin), trimmed some of the fat off and made a brine cure.  You can leave the fat on, it goes rancid faster than the meat while in the freezer, so I remove it for longer storage.

1 gallon of cool water
6 teaspoons pink salt (Prague Powder #1)
1 TBS juniper berries
1 TBS black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon of whole cloves
1 teaspoon allspice
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup pickling salt
This is enough to do one 5lb pork back loin.
Dissolve the sugar and salt in the brine, make sure the brine is cooled before adding the meat..



I just bagged the loins and placed in the fridge for 10 days..




The cured pork loins...



I decided to divide the loins and make one Canadian Peameal bacon and three American version Canadian bacons...




All the Canadian Peameal bacon needed was to be rolled in peameal (or cornmeal) and cooked. Actual Canadian bacon isn't smoked, just cooked.



I like to coat it in more cornmeal then fry in butter til golden...






It's SO tasty...



I've made several breakfasts with the Peameal bacon...




The American version of Canadian bacon.

I sprinkled with cracked black pepper and hung in the smokehouse for some cold smoke...



I used a mixture of wood, mostly hickory cause it's my favorite. :)




I let the bacon cold smoke for about 7 hours.... I keep the smoke temperature under 85F, which wasn't a problem. Wrapped two for the freezer and tore into the last one. :)



Cold smoked Canadian bacon isn't cooked, just smoked. I cubed some for kebobs for the grill..















Tender and juicy... :)



I took some with me camping last week. It was great for breakfast.

I'm set for awhile! 

The weather is starting to warm up here. Looks like a few 100F+ degree days in the near future.
I've been doing my outside work early in the morning and later into the evening. Trying to avoid some of the mid day heat. :)

Hope everyone stays cool! Thanks for stopping by. :)

8 comments:

cjbstar said...

I was happy to see your new posts. I sure enjoy reading them and the pictures are always great. I liked the wild turkeys a while back, it's always interesting to see animals in their natural habitat. I have tried some of your recipes, all good. Thanks for sharing your country life.

Jim Dorchak said...

Thanks for this! I am ready to Kill Boris/ Katylin, catlin, catlyn.... oh what ever.... He keeps biting my other pigs and drawing blood. I have had him on rolled corn for about 2 months now that he is "With Out" his male parts. So I am hoping that he will soon be ready for the freezer / smoke house. It should be easy here to cold smoke since we are in the winter months and it is in the high 40s to 50s here for the next few months.

I have never made pea meal bacon but it sounds simple enough.

Have you made cured hams as well. I am a little worried that it will just be too salty as I have seen before with my friends cured hams?

Also I would like to make pancetta and prosciutto as well. Jim

Tokarev said...

Thanks for this simple way to make one of my favorite treats. I can't wait to try this.

cowgirl said...

Thanks so much cjbstar!! I appreciate you stopping by my blog. There have been quite a few turkeys hanging around here and I saw some little ones with the hens yesterday. For some reason there are quite a few cottontails living around my house too. My dog will not bother them.. he's not sure if they are my rabbits or wild ones, so he leaves them be. :)
Hope you are having a great year. Thank you again... sending many (((HUGs))) from Oklahoma! :)

cowgirl said...

Jim, I bet Katylin is going to be delicious!! Keep me posted when you get him/her butchered.

Hams are easy to cure.. I like combination cures if they are very thick. Either a brine or dry cure for the outside WITH cure injected into the center of the meat too. You might like the flavor of this Canadian/Peameal bacon brine cure.. it's not too salty. I don't add more salt when cooking though, just pepper.
I don't like to cure a whole leg ham... just because it's a LOT of meat. I cut the leg into 5lb slabs and cure each separately. It's easier to eat up a 5lb ham than a whole ham.

Good luck with it and thank you again Jim, it's good to hear from you! :)

cowgirl said...

Thank you Tokarev! I hope you have great luck with it. Also, thanks for stopping by! :)

Eric said...

Where did you get those kabob skewers, those look way better than the traditional kind

cowgirl said...

Thanks Eric! Sorry it took me so long to get a reply to you. I purchased these a couple of years ago online...can't remember where..probably Amazon. My local Ace Hardware carries them now.
They work pretty well, it's easier for me to "stab" food than thread it. lol
Thanks for stopping by!