This month, I made 14 lbs of back bacon.
With half pork loins on sale, I bought a number of the "rib" end pieces, rather than the sirloin end. The rib pieces are smaller and tend to be less fatty.
I cut them into pieces around 3.5lbs each and I turned 4 of them into back bacon.
I had to cure them first and I used Morton Tender Quick, following their recipe of 1TBS of TQ and 1TSP of sugar for each pound of meat. The pieces went into slide lock bags and the cure was massaged into each piece--all over, sides, ends, top and bottom. From there the bags went into the fridge for 5 days and were turned over every 24 hours and massaged without opening the bag in order to redistribute some of the liquid that came out of the meat. I'm not sure if you can buy MTQ in Ontario and I picked up mine in Michigan last year.
After 5 days out they came, were washed off in cold water and then soaked in a pail of cold water for 30 minutes --changed the water after 15 minutes. The soaking removes any excess cure. They were then patted dry and allowed to warm on the racks in the house for an hour before going into the smoker.
Into the smoker at 175 degrees for a total of 7 hours until I got an internal temp of 165 degrees on the biggest piece. They got 3 hours of smoke at the start and then 4 hours with no smoke.
After they were out and properly cooled I put them in the fridge overnight and then ran them through my slicing machine the next day. I then used my vacuum food sealer to make packages of 16 slices which I then froze. When you look at the picture of the packaging, there are 8 slices per side and there is a double layer of freezer paper between each layer so that they do not stick together.
It takes me about 3 weeks to go through a package, so this supply should last me most of the winter as I got 6 double sided bags out of the 14lbs.
Pic. 1 pieces are out of the fridge after being cured for 5 days.
Pic. 2 sitting on the racks and ready for the smoker. The MTQ package is in the background for your info.
Pic. 3 out of the smoker.
Pic. 4 on the slicer.
Pic. 5 some slices.
Pic. 6 vacuum sealed and headed for the freezer.
If anybody wants to try this and has questions or needs advice send me a PM.
SDC
Smoking Pork Loins for Back Bacon, What I did and Pics.
