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Canadian Bacon

Making this recipe for the first time has changed my perspective of buying ham products. If you have the accessibility of smoking and time, don’t ever buy ham again. I’ve seen Canadian bacon for up to $10/lbs, which is the scam of the century. A whole boneless pork loin is only $1.99/lbs at Costco. Other than the curing salts, all the other ingredients are everyday ingredients everybody already has in their cupboards. This Canadian bacon recipe is extremely easy to make and is better than any you’ve ever tried. The salt, sugar, and curing pink salt is also a good base to start with for brining your own ham.

So what is Canadian bacon really? Canadian bacon is cured and smoked pork loin. The loin is cured much the same way as a pork leg, resulting in it’s hammy goodness. The most important ingredient that you need to turn the loin into Canadian bacon is pink curing salt (aka sodium nitrite). The pink salts help prevent botulism during the curing process. Without the curing salt, you will have just smoked pork loin and not ham. The brining process takes 3 days in the refrigerator, then 1 day to dry out the pork loin.

Preheat the smoker to 250 degrees. Maple, pecan, applewood, or hickory are all great woods for smoking Canadian bacon. Once heated, throw in the pork loin. The smoking temp should be maintained between 225-250 degrees. Using a probe thermometer, monitor the internal temp 90 minutes into smoking. You want the loin to have an internal temperature of 150 degrees. Once it reaches that temp, pull from the smoker and let rest for an hour before slicing.

So, the biggest question left unanswered here is what do Canadians call regular bacon. In Canada, the regular smoked belly bacon that the rest of the world eats is called streaky bacon. Sounds like my northern friends smoke a lot of dope, eh?

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time2 hours hrs

Brining Time3 days d

Keyword: electric smoker, Pork

Author: Alex Gorgos

Equipment

• Electric Smoker

Ingredients

• 4 lbs boneless pork loin roast

Canadian Bacon Brine

• 1/2 gallon water
• 1/2 cup sea salt
• 1 1/2 tbsp pink curing salt
• 1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 5 garlic cloves roughly chopped
• 4 bay leaves
• 1/2 tbsp thyme
• 1/2 tbsp black peppercorns
• 1 lemon juiced

Wood Chips

• maple wood chips
• pecan wood chips

Instructions

• Mix all of the brining ingredients together in a bowl.
  
• Add the pork loin to a gallon sized storage bag with the brine. Brine the pork loin for 3 days.
  
• After brining the loin, pat dry with paper towels. Let it dry on a rack on a pan in the refrigerator for 1 day.
  
• Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees according to the manufacturer’s directions. Place the pork loin in the smoker. Maintain a smoking temp between 225-250 degrees for 2 hours. Using a probe thermometer, monitor the temp of the pork loin 90 minutes into cooking. You want an internal temp of 150 degrees. This can take 2-2.5 hours.
  
• Pull the pork loin, now Canadian bacon, once it hits 150 degrees internal temp. Let rest for an hour before slicing.
  

Tips For Making Canadian Bacon

• Brine the pork loin for 3 days.
• You need to add the pink curing salts. If you skip adding them, you will have smoked pork loin and not the hamminess of Canadian bacon.
• Dry out the pork loin in the refrigerator for 1 day before smoking.
• Maple, pecan, applewood, and hickory are all great woods for smoking Canadian bacon.
• Maintain a smoking temp between 225-250 degrees.
• Reach an internal temperature of 150 degrees, monitoring the pork loin with a probe thermometer.
• Let rest for an hour before slicing.