The first version of this recipe originated via the Serious Eats® website. The pork made using low temperature smoking was perfect, so all the kudos goes to Serious Eats®. Except, of course, for my changes related to brine salt content (in my opinion the Canadian Bacon needed to be more salty), curing time and less expensive maple flavoring. Also, by comparing the Serious Eats® recipe to that from two other sources I found some interesting and important variations in ingredients, amounts and curing time. I decided to make this a teaching recipe for your benefit and your safety.
My goal was/is to combat the increase in pork prices by using pork loin for a variety of foods. Pork loin can be used in many different ways, and the effective yield per pound (about 75 percent), given its limited surface fat/silverskin, is the best of all pork cuts. Beyond that, pork loin is the meat typically used to make Canadian Bacon and various other smoked/unsmoked lunch meat products. In late 2024 the supermarket cost of pork loin is $2.99 per pound. That is twice the price of pork loin back in 2021, when it cost $1.49 per pound. With difficulty, I withhold further comments about the basis for the change in price.
I changed the Serious Eats® recipe to increase the kosher salt in the curing brine. Also the choice of ingredients for maple flavoring. Other than that, the flavors were fine. Undercooking the pork loin during smoking (140 °F final internal temperature) yielded a beautifully tender Canadian Bacon, and credit for that unique perfection goes to Serious Eats®. Later light skillet frying of thin slices of the Canadian Bacon elevates the final, safe temperature, to between 145 °F and 150 °F.
Digression (or, let's dig into the essentials):
The proper amounts of chemicals and seasonings to use when wet curing pork loin are considerably different from amounts used for dry curing. This recipe is for wet curing only. Do not use chemical amounts recommended in any recipe for dry curing when you intend to wet cure the meat.
Per the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), sodium nitrite content is not allowed commercially to exceed 200 ppm in the finished product. Of course, the minimum is about 120 ppm to have protection from botulism bacteria, which is the real reason we need to use a curing chemical. That allows a broad range of sodium nitrite content, where the upper limit is a matter of toxicity and the lower limit a matter of limiting the curing time as well as providing bacterial protection. Let's take a quick (no, make that long) look at what that means when doing wet curing.
The actual content of sodium nitrite in cured pork was what migrated into the meat after earlier migration of sodium nitrite that chemically reacted with the myoglobin in the meat, which turned the color of the meat pink and flavored it. Once chemically reacted, that amount of sodium nitrite was no longer sodium nitrite. It became nitric oxide, which further reacted with the myoglobin, turning it pink. At the end of curing all of the meat myoglobin has been reacted, thus sodium nitrite that migrates into the meat during curing but is not reacted with myoglobin remains as sodium nitrite. This is the reference to the FDA limit of 200 parts per million as the upper allowed limit of sodium nitrite content after the meat has been cured.
Let's play with some numbers to better understand what 200 parts per million actually means when translated to the amounts of sodium nitrite and meat amounts you will actually use. If you are curing a million pounds of meat then the allowed upper limit for sodium nitrite content in the meat after curing is 200 pounds. Well, I haven't cured a million pounds of meat, or anything remotely near that amount, so let's break it down to ten pounds of meat stepwise.
200 pounds of sodium nitrite in one million parts of cured meat is the same as 20 pounds per hundred thousand, or 2 pounds within ten thousand pounds of finished product. Now let's go metric. One pound is 454 grams, so two pounds is roughly 900 grams. So if you have 900 grams of sodium nitrite within ten thousand pounds of meat then that is the same as saying you have 9 grams of sodium nitrite in 100 pounds of meat.
So, how much residual curing agent (Prague #1 pink curing salt) is required to have 9 grams of sodium nitrite remaining in the meat at the end of curing? The sodium nitrite content of Prague #1 pink curing salt is only 6.25 percent of the total weight used, so we divide 9 by 0.0625 and arrive at the value of 144 grams of residual Prague #1 pink curing salt in 100 pounds of meat, or, 14.4 grams in ten pounds of meat. Of course, ordinary salt is 93.75 percent of that total of 144 grams. Now that range of numbers is a lot easier to understand.
Okay, if 454 grams is one pound then one ounce is 454 divided by 16 ounces. That number is 29 grams per ounce. That number is about twice the residual amount of sodium nitrite that we would want in ten pounds of meat, so that translates, going back to the English system, to one half ounce of Prague #1 pink curing salt legally remaining in ten pounds of meat after curing. Of course, it is the curing brine that contains initially all of the Prague #1 pink curing salt and thus all of the sodium nitrite, and we have to know how much to put into the brine to cure the meat, for at the end of the curing period most of the Prague #1 pink curing salt, and thus the sodium nitrite, will remain dissolved in the brine, and not be in the meat. For 14.4 grams of sodium nitrite to remain in ten pounds of meat, and that being roughly half the amount put into the brine, you would put one ounce of Prague #1 pink curing salt into two gallons of water and cure the ten pounds of meat in that brine. Of course, the result approximates the upper FDA limit of 200 parts per million. You can decide to limit the parts per million to perhaps 150, and you would do that by proportionally reducing the amount of Prague #1 pink curing salt put into the brine.
I know this is tedious, but once done you will actually understand exactly how that amount of residual Prague #1 pink curing salt gets into the meat. Basically wet curing means putting dry chemicals into water, (plain salt and Prague #1 pink curing salt), mixing those chemicals into the water, thus creating a salty brine, and then submerging the meat into the brine, refrigerating it, and waiting for the conversion of plain water within the meat to the approximate concentration of chemicals within the brine, by migration of the chemical ions in the brine into the meat. Given that meat itself can be up to 60 to 70 percent water it is easy to understand that migration of ions from regular salt and of sodium nitrite into the meat is not difficult over short distances, like a few inches (2" to 4") of meat thickness. It takes a few days to happen and that amount of time depends on the thickness of the meat, which will be described a bit later.
The net effect is to partially dilute the amount of chemicals in the brine by the amount of plain water content in the meat. This happens at the same time sodium nitrite is being reacted with myoglobin, and later with migration that wasn't reacted, so the amount of residual sodium nitrite in the meat approximates but does not quite equal the concentration of the brine, for 30% to 40% of the meat is not water. Equilibrium of ion concentration between the brine and the liquid of the meat is the approximate end result.
The change in concentration of sodium nitrite in the brine is thus seen as the additional water from the meat and the reduction of amount of sodium nitrite due to migration into the meat, with some of that reacting with the meat myoglobin. Yes, this is becoming damned tedious, but we're almost done.
Considering all of the experimenting done over the years, and the accurate measurement of initial and final amounts of chemicals, the net result is you need about 1/2 teaspoon of Prague #1 pink curing salt per pound of meat put into the water to make the brine, and enough water to be able to submerge the meat under the surface of the brine. In effect, the amount of Prague #1 pink curing salt is based on what will remain in the brine and the meat after curing, such that it is the combined weight of the water and the meat that determines how much curing agent to use. The safe/easy way to do that is to cure only four to five pounds of meat in one gallon of water/brine, as described in the recipes below.
I researched numerous Internet sources to determine the safe quantity of curing salt (Prague #1 pink curing salt, which is 6.25% sodium nitrite and 93.75% sodium chloride) and the recommended quantity of kosher salt, which is the transport chemical that helps the curing salt to penetrate the meat. In wet curing the amounts of chemicals used are related to the weight of the meat and the volume (weight) of water used, which in turn must be sufficient to cover the meat. In dry curing the amounts of chemicals used are directly related only to the weight of the meat.
Now let's review the essentials with a more simple look at what happens during wet brine curing:
The initial concentration of curing salt and kosher salt will change as wet cure brine mixes with and changes the ion content of the water initially present in the meat. It is actually a slow process of equilibrium in which the salts migrate into the meat and finally fully penetrate it, but with only a very small amount of the sodium nitrite, for much of it remains in the brine outside the meat, else we would not be talking about equilibrium. Beyond that, some of the sodium nitrite reacts chemically with the myoglobin in the meat to form nitric oxide, which is not potentially toxic like sodium nitrite and which reacts further with the meat. That reaction is what turns the meat pink in color ... and thus how you know whether or not the meat is completely cured, ergo no dull brown areas, especially at the center of the meat.
Now, if all of the myoglobin has reacted with sodium nitrite then the remaining sodium nitrite in the meat is what you will ultimately eat, and that is what you want to avoid in excess, as in ingesting too much, ergo, no more than 200 parts per million. The point is the amount of sodium nitrite and kosher salt put into the brine is supposed to be enough to react with all of the meat myoglobin in a certain number of days, but not enough to leave a high remaining concentration of sodium nitrite or kosher salt in the meat at the end of the cure. That is why the amount of curing time is limited to the number of days required for the salts to migrate all the way into the meat, but not much longer than that, for there might then be an increase in meat content of kosher salt and sodium nitrite due to some continuing migration of salts from the more concentrated brine into the meat. You do not want excessive kosher salt to migrate into the meat, for that will make the meat taste way too salty.
If you think about it, curing time only needs to be long enough for the sodium nitrite to reach the center of the meat. So we pretty much intend to chop off the curing time as soon as we are sure the sodium nitrite reached the center of the meat.
In review, the final safe concentration range for sodium nitrite in the meat, per the FDA, is 120 ppm to 200 ppm. That implies you have some slack in curing time provided you did not use excess sodium nitrite when making the brine. Just don't assume you should/could intentionally extend the curing time by more than 20% of the minimum required days to cure a piece of meat, for that is when you risk getting the meat too salty and potentially higher in sodium nitrite content.
Well, now you know, if you were able to follow the details of the digression. If not, just follow the recipe directions exactly. Better, come back to the digression for a reread some days or weeks into the future, and you are likely to find it to be easier to understand as the pieces come together in your thinking.
All the above having been said, let us look at three different recipes for wet brine and figure out the best to use in making Canadian Bacon.
One recipe I found for brine/wet curing a four to five pound pork loin is:
One gallon of water, 90 grams (3.17 ounces) of Prague #1 pink curing salt and 400 grams (14 ounces) of kosher salt. You will note that the amount of curing salt is far more than what is recommended in the two recipes shown next. This should be alarming or at least confusing to the novice. Do not use the curing agent amount indicated in this first recipe. Yet, the amount of kosher salt recommended is very good. Note that kosher salt should be used by weight, not by volume, for the different brands have widely different weights per unit volume based on crystal size and shape.
Next, Meathead's Amazing Ribs® web recipe for brine/wet curing pork loin differs from the one above and from the Serious Eats® recipe, and I include a short list of the Amazing Ribs® ingredients next. Based on my experience it is low in kosher salt and seasonings, yet a good reference for the primary curing ingredient (Prague #1 pink curing salt) and for the required curing time for a thick, five pound pork loin. Thus, already you can understand that when using curing chemicals containing sodium nitrite it is wise to crosscheck any recipe with at least one other recipe from a well known source. It is a matter of avoiding toxic amounts of curing agent, and let's be honest ... a lot of Internet content is questionable at best.
5 lb., surface fat and silverskin removed, pork loin, 4 inches thick, fairly uniform thickness/any thin end(s) cut off
1.00 gallon of warm distilled water (or at least first boil and then chill tap water to kill bacteria)
2.6 teaspoons or 14.56 grams (about 1/2 ounce) of Prague #1 pink curing salt
Special Note: If the meat weight is 10 pounds instead of 5 pounds you do adjust the amount of Prague #1 pink curing salt, but you do not double it. For a 10 pound weight of meat the Prague powder #1 amount changes from 14.56 grams to roughly 17.3 grams. This nonlinear change, for other quantities, typically requires the use of a special calculator, using a tool created by a Professor Blonder and found at the Amazing Ribs® website. Use it.
0.75 cup of sugar
0.75 cup of Morton® Coarse kosher Salt (measuring by volume instead of weight is not good, but this recipe uses a specific brand of kosher salt)
1.00 tablespoon of powdered garlic
Cure time: 10.0 days refrigerated at 34 to 38 °F
Note that it is the thickness of the meat that determines the number of days necessary to complete a wet cure, for the migration of salts into the meat is slow. Flat meats like brisket require twice as much cure time as tube shaped meats like pork loin. As this recipe uses pork loin, allow one day of curing time for meat 1" thick ... 2.5 days if 2" thick ... 4 days if 2.5" thick ... 5.6 days if 3" thick ... 7.7 days if 3.5" thick ... 10 days if 4" thick.
Note that the required amount of Prague #1 pink curing salt depends on both the weight of the meat and weight of the water, combined. For 2.5 pounds of meat in 1/2 gallon of water you need to use 7.3 grams of Prague #1 pink curing salt. Increase that to 11.8 grams for 5 pounds of meat. If you are using one gallon of water you need to use 11.8 grams of Prague #1 pink curing salt for 2.5 pounds of meat and 14.6 grams for 5 pounds of meat.
I recommend using the Amazing Ribs® quantity of Prague #1 pink curing salt per pound of meat, and the cure time, with the Serious Eats® recipe seasoning ingredients. A 3" thick, 4 pound pork loin will have a short cure time of 5.6 days, noting that cure time can be extended by 20% with no problem to be sure it is complete. That is significantly longer than the cure time used in the original Serious Eats® recipe, which was three to five days.
Putting it all together, I use the kosher salt recommendation from the first recipe, the curing agent and curing time from the Amazing Ribs® recipe, and the seasonings and later smoking directions from the Serious Eats® recipe. They all had something superior to contribute. The net result is my Food Nirvana teaching recipe, and the Canadian Bacon produced by using this recipe is excellent.
Now let's proceed with the (modified) Serious Eats® recipe for Canadian Bacon ...
Ingredients: (12 to 16 servings)
1 boneless pork loin, trimmed of excess fat and silverskin (about 4 pounds, 3 inches thick), cut in half crosswise
1 gallon of water
0.75 to 1 1/2 cups of kosher salt (this should be done by weight, not volume. I suggest using 1 cup if your kosher salt weighs 5 ounces per cup. Adjust the amount as needed based on the weight of one cup of the salt you are using, remembering that the salt weight should ordinarily be about 3% to 6% of the water weight. [But I wanted the Canadian bacon to taste more salty!])
1 cup of maple syrup (or, one or two tsp. of concentrated maple flavoring [Mapleine®] plus 1/2 cup of brown sugar)
1/3 cup of light brown sugar
2 teaspoons (13.3 grams) of Prague #1 pink curing salt (at the rate of one half teaspoon per pound of meat)
4 bay leaves
3 medium cloves of garlic, diced (I used large cloves and that is what I recommend)
1 tablespoon of black peppercorns (I cracked them to better release flavor)
For later smoking of the cured pork loin:
A smoker. I use a vertical electric smoker made by East Oak®.
About one and one half to two cups of light flavor intensity smoking wood chips, such as apple, maple or cherry, or if you want stronger smoke flavor you can use hickory wood chips
Directions:
To make the curing brine, combine 1 quart of the water and all of the kosher salt, maple (flavor) syrup, brown sugar, Prague #1 pink curing salt, bay leaves, diced garlic, and cracked peppercorns in a two gallon pot.
Bring the contents to a boil over high heat, while stirring to dissolve the salt and sugar. Boil for 1 minute, then remove the pot from the heat.
Stir in the remaining 3 quarts of water. Refrigerate the pot contents until the curing brine is completely chilled.
Fully submerge the pork loin halves in the curing brine and let them sit in the refrigerator for 6 days. Here is where you need to consider the thickness of the pork loin ... if it is 3" thick then six days is about right. If it is 4" thick then cure it for ten days, noting that curing it for an extra two days pretty much guarantees the curing agent will have migrated to the center of the pork loin.
Alternatively, put each loin half into a 10" x 16" vacuum seal bag, pour half of the curing brine into each bag and then vacuum seal the bags. Then put them into the refrigerator for 6 [or a maximum of 7] days (or up to a maximum of 12 days if the maximum thickness of the pork loin is 4"). Turn the bags over once per day. That is the procedure I use.
Remove (or cut out) the pork from the curing brine/pot or bag, rinse it, discard the brine, rinse the pot (if you used it for curing the pork) and place the cured pork loin halves into it. Add enough fresh water to fully submerge the pieces of pork loin. Let it sit for 30 minutes, then remove the pork loin halves from the water and pat them dry with paper towels. The soaking step removes excess salt from close to the surface of the cured pork loin.
Allow the pork loin halves to air dry for one hour on a raised cooling rack. This creates a better surface for smoke to adhere. It is called the pellicle.
Put about one and one half to two cups of apple or maple or cherry (or hickory) wood chips into the smoke tray of the vertical electric smoker.
Put a disposable aluminum foil pan on a low smoker shelf. That will capture moisture dripping from the meat during smoking, and help keep the smoker clean.
Pre-heat the smoker to 250°F, or until the wood starts to smolder and produce smoke.
When the wood is smoldering and producing smoke, reduce the heat to 225°F.
Place the cured pork pieces into the smoker on a high shelf and smoke them to an internal temperature of 140°F, using a wireless thermometer inserted into thickest part of the pork loin. This will typically take about 1 1/2 hours (or less). If you do not have a wireless thermometer you can use an instant read thermometer and open the smoker door after one and one half hours, and then every 10 minutes, to test the internal temperature of the pork and thus know when to remove it from the smoker.
You now have Canadian Bacon. Remove the Canadian Bacon pieces from the smoker.
Let the Canadian Bacon pieces cool for 30 to 60 minutes wrapped tightly in aluminum foil.
Unwrap the pieces of Canadian Bacon and vacuum seal and refrigerate them. Alternatively, you can keep the Canadian Bacon wrapped in the aluminum foil and refrigerated. Use/lightly fry thin slices of all of the Canadian Bacon within two weeks unless you freeze an uncut large piece of Canadian Bacon, which will extend the use period to two months.
Cut the Canadian Bacon into 1/8" to 1/4" thick slices, cross grain, and pan fry it briefly in a hot, thick bottom skillet, sprayed/coated lightly inside with a small amount of peanut oil or canola oil.
Fry it only on one side for about two minutes, using a bacon press (If necessary ... I didn't need to use a bacon press) to keep the slices flat during frying, then put the slices on a plate in a 150°F warming oven. Note: You are essentially just warming the undercooked meat to a safe temperature (145°F to 150°F) that will kill any possible remaining bacteria (you took care of the botulism bacteria concern with the sodium nitrite), but we'll call it frying. The sooner you use it after limited "frying" the more moist and tender (and delicious) it will be.
Repeat the frying step for the rest of the meat slices you cut.
You now have a plate full of warm, fine tasting, tender Canadian Bacon.
Serve it along with other breakfast foods. One excellent choice is to put it on half of a cut, toasted, buttered English muffin, top it with a poached egg, and cover that with hollandaise sauce and a sprinkling of chopped chives. That delight is called Eggs Benedict. Try it, along with some hot, freshly brewed coffee.
Enjoy!