Canadian Bacon

Canadian Bacon, our new love is makin’ bacon. It’s very easy to do and better than anything store bought bacon I’ve ever had. That said there is no such thing as “Bad” bacon, just some is better than others.

This was a beautiful, lean Canadian bacon and there is something special about making your own bacon with your flavor profile. I love thick cut pepper bacon and can’t get enough. We used 3 pork sirloins I had left over in the freezer. It’s Bacon Candy that will be enough for a few days around here.

We made our cure into maple pepper slurry, cured it for 8 days, and then we did 10 hours in maple smoke. We’ve made the best BLT’s ever; Oh my it’s so good. And you know some Big Burgers are coming soon!

I can’t believe how good this bacon is, I have already started working on my next batch, “Canadian Bacon” made from a pork loin.

Patti and I have set one night a week just for us. It’s our date night. We usually put something special on our Green Mountain Wood Pellet Grill/Smoker but sometimes we cook inside. We always eat outside on our patio where it is very comfortable with a rainforest theme.  Wood Pellet Patio Heater, little lights, candles, lanterns and surround sound. We enjoy a little wine, or strawberry margaritas using frozen strawberries for ice, good food, music and sometimes a dance or two…

If You Like This Recipe You May Enjoy This One: http://datenightdoins.com/makin-bacon/

Canadian Bacon
A Wood Pellet Grill Recipe

Prep Time: 9 days
Cook Time: 10 hours at 150* (66c)
Grill: Green Mountain Wood Pellet Grill
Pellets: Pacific Pellet Gourmet BBQ Pellet Smoked Hickory

Ingredients: Canadian Bacon
Peppered Bacon Cure (15 pounds of pork belly)

• ½ cup Morton’s Tender Quick
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup real maple syrup (more if you want a slurry)
• 2/3 cup  cracked black pepper
• ½ cup crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 Tbsp. hickory seasoning (optional)

Canadian Bacon
A Wood Pellet Grill Recipe

Cooking Directions: Canadian Bacon

I made my bacon cure with Morton Tenderquick, and couldn’t find it in any stores around here so I ordered it at Amazon. I also ordered the “Hickory Seasoning” there. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. I found that if you add more maple syrup and make a slurry it’s very easy to cover your pork sirloin and rub it in. Do a heavy coat.

Now, it needs to cure about 7 to 10 days, I did an 8 day cure. There are covered plastic trays that work great for curing, but I didn’t have one. I used zip lock bags. Here is what I learned, bags leak.

After rubbing with the cure I put pork sirloin into a bag and into the refrigerator. We turned them once a day for 8 days. After 8 days you can test the cure by cutting a slice off, the pork sirloin should be pink all of the way through. If it’s not put it back to cure a day or so longer or until it’s pink.

On the 8^th day I rinsed it off in cold water to cut some of the salt and pat it dry then returned it to the fridge to develop a sticky skin called a “pellicle”. I placed them on our Bull Racks System (See Our Store) so the cold air can get to it for 12-24 hours. This will help the smoke really penetrate the meat because of the tacky exterior.

After the “Air Cure” you can add additional seasoning like pepper or whatever you like. I loaded them up on my “Bull Racks” and smoked it for 10 hours at 150* (66c) until I reached an internal temperature of 145* (63c).

Let it cool before slicing. (I put it back in the fridge overnight). Meat slicers are expensive; I wanted to show you one I have from Harbor Freight for $20. It works just fine for the home chef. We ran it through the slicer, doing both thin and thick sliced bacon. We vacuumed sealed most of it and put it in the freezer. (It’s time to get more out already, this is so good)

I use a Maverick ProTemp Instant Read Thermometer for checking meat temps.

Note: I get a lot of questions about the kind of pellets you can use with a recipe. Keep in mind that a recipe is just an outline. Some you need to follow closely like when you are making bread, but most you can do anything you can dream, our favorite way to cook. Feel free to mix and match the pellets until you find a combination you really like. Also you are only smoking at temps less than 250 degrees (122c), anything higher is cooking and there will not be much if any smoke so it does not matter what kind of pellet you are using.

Canadian Bacon
A Wood Pellet Grill Recipe

The Cure

Make a Slurry

Rub the Cure In 

Canadian Bacon
A Wood Pellet Grill Recipe

Into The Bag

Rinse the Cure Off

Note the Color Before the Cure 

Canadian Bacon
A Wood Pellet Grill Recipe

Air Dry It

Heavy Coat of Pepper

In The Smoke

Canadian Bacon
A Wood Pellet Grill Recipe

Almost There

Time to Bring It Home

My $20 Meat Slicer 

Canadian Bacon
A Wood Pellet Grill Recipe

Let’s Eat Some

About our Recipes

We do our recipes on our patio where we have a lineup of grills, including Green Mountain,

Sawtooth, Louisiana, Royall, Memphis, Traeger pellet grills, Char Griller side box smoker, Saber, Charmglow, Char-Broil, The Big Easy, Pacific Living Outdoor Oven, Lodge Sportsman’s, Brinkman and Weber. I call it our “Wall of Grill”. Our grilling styles are healthy and low fat and will fit pelletheads, gas, natural wood and even charcoal purists. Almost any of our recipes can be done on any kind of good BBQ.

The important thing to keep in mind is TIME & TEMPERATURE. You can even do some of them in the oven or crock pot, but, then you lose all the flavors you get from cooking outdoors. But sometimes it does rain.

Remember that a recipe is simply an outline; it is not written in stone. Don’t be afraid to make changes to suit your taste. Take it and run with it….

Live your Passion and Do What You Love
Ken & Patti

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Our Thanks To:

Our new “Date Night Doins Seasoning”
http://datenightdoins.com/date-night-rub/

Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce
www.countrybobs.com

Maverick Industries, Inc.
1-800-526-0954
help@maverickhousewares.com
http://www.maverickhousewares.com/ 

Grill Grates
http://www.grillgrate.com/

Green Mountain Grills LLC
1 800 603 3398
Email: info@greenmountaingrills.com
http://greenmountaingrills.com/contact/

Pacific Pellet Gourmet BBQ Pellet
http://www.pacificpelletbbq.com/

Bull Rack System
EarthWorks Supply
503-678-7744
http://www.earthworkssupply.com/

A-MAZE-N-PRODUCTS
http://www.amazenproducts.com/

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