Disregard references to bacon, belly etc. The calculator works for any cured meat.

Let me know if any of this needs clarification.

processhead said in Canadian bacon started, equilibrium dry brine:

mrobisr said in Canadian bacon started, equilibrium dry brine:

The cure is not really long enough for the dextrose to do much for the bacteria, but with that being said it does not hurt anything either and since it’s 70% as sweet as sugar that might be what a person would desire. Sugar actually helps the meat with the red color, so it really depends on your personal preference and your desired end results.

The major function of a sweetener in cured meats is to take the harsh edge off the saltiness. Different sweeteners will all do this and also add their own little signature-flavors to add another dimension to the flavor. I don’t expect the dextrose to add much of anything in the way of “added dimensions”.

Ok, I don’t think my comment made any illusions to the fact that you expected “added dimensions” to your product by the use of dextrose. As a matter of fact I think my comment stated that it is truly up to the producer except that sugar could help enhance the color, but that is still subjective. Sorry if I offended you that was not my intentions I was just making comments as I seen could be useful.

No offense taken what so ever. I appreciate your comments and the experience you bring to the community.

Earlier I had posted that I chose dextrose for a sweetener was because I was looking for a very basic cure without any extra flavors. Dextrose was about as neutral of a sweetener as I could think of. That, and I have quite a bit on hand from past brewing projects.

mrobisr said in Canadian bacon started, equilibrium dry brine:

The cure is not really long enough for the dextrose to do much for the bacteria, but with that being said it does not hurt anything either and since it’s 70% as sweet as sugar that might be what a person would desire. Sugar actually helps the meat with the red color, so it really depends on your personal preference and your desired end results.

The major function of a sweetener in cured meats is to take the harsh edge off the saltiness. Different sweeteners will all do this and also add their own little signature-flavors to add another dimension to the flavor. I don’t expect the dextrose to add much of anything in the way of “added dimensions”.

Ok, I don’t think my comment made any illusions to the fact that you expected “added dimensions” to your product by the use of dextrose. As a matter of fact I think my comment stated that it is truly up to the producer except that sugar could help enhance the color, but that is still subjective. Sorry if I offended you that was not my intentions I was just making comments as I seen could be useful.

The cure is not really long enough for the dextrose to do much for the bacteria, but with that being said it does not hurt anything either and since it’s 70% as sweet as sugar that might be what a person would desire. Sugar actually helps the meat with the red color, so it really depends on your personal preference and your desired end results.

The major function of a sweetener in cured meats is to take the harsh edge off the saltiness. Different sweeteners will all do this and also add their own little signature-flavors to add another dimension to the flavor. I don’t expect the dextrose to add much of anything in the way of “added dimensions”.

processhead this is fantastic! Almost exactly what I was going to try next for a bit juicier end result! I was going to use 20%, so I pumped 10% and had 10% around it in bag as I’d want to be sure I was using all that surface area to cure and not just relying on my newb pumping skills.

What are your thoughts on dextrose vs. Brown sugar? I had planned on only using my dextrose when bacteria needed food, and easy to get known sugar flavors for flavoring.

Keep us updated, I want to knie how yours turns out for sure!
P.s. I bought that pump too, it really looked like the best I saw anywhere. Was gonna get that expensive bbq circuit one, cancelled order for this one.

I don’t expect the dextrose will be as sweet as brown sugar. One reason I went with dextrose was I thought it would be more soluble in water that brown sugar. All the solid cure ingredients fully dissolved in the small amount of water I was using, so I was pleased with that.

This is the first time I have tried the pump in an actual piece of meat. It is a good piece of equipment and works the way it is supposed to. I like the fact that you can continuously draw up brine through the suction hose when pumping.
In the past I have just used large plastic syringes and big bore needles . This new one is a marked improvement.

What are your thoughts on dextrose vs. Brown sugar? I had planned on only using my dextrose when bacteria needed food, and easy to get known sugar flavors for flavoring.

Keep us updated, I want to knie how yours turns out for sure!
P.s. I bought that pump too, it really looked like the best I saw anywhere. Was gonna get that expensive bbq circuit one, cancelled order for this one.

I chose to keep the ingredients very basic like I do on most new projects, my theory being, the fewer the variables, the easier the troubleshooting will be if something goes south. I figure that in future projects, I can add other ingredients if I am satisfied with the balance of salt/sweetness.
For this one, my ingredients are just salt, cure #1, and dextrose.

I also chose to use the EQ method, but rather than use a dry brine, I dissolved the ingredients in a solution of water equal to 10% the weight of the loin (5.6 ounces of water). My decision to add water to the loin was to attempt to have a juicier finished product after smoking.

I used the diggindog calculator which I had converted to an Excel spreadsheet like Idaho Smokey discusses above. I adjusted the amount of cure ingredients to compensate for the weight of the added water. Using my Walton’s brine pump, I pumped loin with the entire brine amount, most of which remained in the loin.

I then bagged the loin and the small amount of liquid brine overflow, expelled air from the ziplock bag, and placed it in the refrigerator.

After a quick rinse I put the cured loin in the electric smoker and started it at 120 F with no smoke. After an hour I raised it to 140 and applied smoke for 2 hrs. Stepped up to 150 for 2 hrs. Then shut of smoke and raised the temp to 180 for 1 hour.
At an IT of 140 I pulled the loin out of the smoker, bagged it, and put in the sous vis for a quick finish at 150.

Chilled the loin in cold water while still bagged and had a taste when it had dropped to 110.

Great balanced cured/smoked meat flavor and color, without any overpowering off flavors . Seems like a good starting point for future experimentation with other sweeteners or seasoning. Saltiness is just about where it needs to be to make everyone happy that will be eating it. I like it a just a little saltier, but salt can always be added, much harder to take away salt.

1. Cure time. 4.25" max diameter, I used dry brine calculator at genuineideas dot com to get 11.3 days, plus 20% gave 13.5 days. Alternatively, because I had a pastrami sitting on top of it in fridge the loin flattened out a bit to 2.5" thick x 4.25 wide, using the calc for 2.5" flat meat gave 9.3 total days, so good either way on 12 Apr.
   – indeed, cure had complete penetration and was perfectly uniform. Salt from center matched saltiness at edge.
2. Salt. Both my wife and I thought the saltiness was perfect, and she leans towards less than me usually. I used 2.8% salt in equilibrium cure, with some liquid expressed in cure bag so probably ended up at 2.7% actual. I will use this amount again for ham.
3. Sweetness. I used 2% brown sugar, and 7 T maple syrup, so 2T per 1kg meat. Good ham taste with decent sweetness. I think I like this amount, but it is more subtle than I expected.
4. Garlic. I used 1% powdered garlic so 32g for this 3209g meat…it looked like a lot, I wa sworried. No issues though, it was a good amount. There is a decent garlic note but not too much. I could see reducing by half if you wanted to emphasize other flavors. It still clearly says Canadian bacon or ham, but on garlic side.
5. Maple syrup. It is detectable, but barely. I think it could be skipped with no flavor change, the brown sugar carries more flavor. Or rub finished product with syrup then cornmeal coat maybe for peameal bacon look.
6. Bay leaves, used 7, strangely you can really taste these. Comes across almost like rosemary. Decent, hard to ID but a nicely odd note. I picked all bay off meat before smoke.
7. Black pepper, used 0.5%, good amount of spice and heat, will use this in future. And that is allll that I used.
8. Dryness-- definitely drier than normal ham, and I didnt pump. Final weight 2613g, so 82% of start. I can see pumping up 10% would help a moist ham, not sure I want that for Canadian bacon though.
9. Smoke. Used 100% hickory pellets from Lumber Jack. Loved it, great flavor and color.

COOK. I put on Traeger on smoke or 180f setting. Temp was unreliable on smoke thus time, spiking to 230-245 at times where it held 150 in past. So I used 180 setting which gave 185 to 210 range. Smoked for 5.5 hours until Internal Temp reached 156 or 157 in center.

I then let cool on rack at around 70f for 10 min, then vac sealed and dumped in ice bath for 1 hr. Then fridge.