How To Make Peameal Bacon
A regional delicacy in Ontario, Canada, peameal bacon is available everywhere. Making your own peameal bacon is so much better! It's less salty, has more flavor, and is far cheaper to make from scratch than to buy already prepared!
Servings: 20 servings
Ingredients
- 5 pounds boneless pork loin
- 1 gallon distilled water or boiled and cooled
- 3/4 cup kosher salt or half as much table salt
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
- 4 bay leaves
- 3 cloves garlic smashed
- 2 teaspoons Prague Powder #1
- 2 cups cornmeal
Instructions
- Trim off all but about 1/4-inch of fat from the boneless pork loin, if it isn't already trimmed.
- Mix the distilled water with the kosher salt, sugar, peppercorns, garlic, bay leaves, and Prague Powder #1 until dissolved.
- Add the pork loin to the brine and refrigerate for 5 days, turning it over and giving the mixture a stir once a day.
- Remove the pork and drain the brine down the sink. Refill the container with cold tap water and put the pork loin into the clean water, and refrigerate for 2 hours. After 2 hours, drain the water and replace it with clean water, and soak for another 2 hours in the fridge. You are desalinating the pork, so it's not too salty.
- Pat the pork dry and roll it in the cornmeal pressing down lightly for even coverage.
- Cook and enjoy!
Notes
There are no nutritional values for this recipe because it is impossible for this chef to calculate how much of the brine the pork will absorb.