After making my own peameal bacon for the first time I decided that I wouldn’t be buying peameal bacon from the store ever again.  The homemade version has much more flavour, and you know exactly what is going into it, and where you got the pork from.  It’s also a simple process with a simple recipe that anyone can do.

The last time I was at Costco, they had whole pork loins on sale for $5 off.  I ended up getting a whole loin for about $10, which is a really cheap price.  I didn’t have any plans for it when I bought it, but by the time I got home, I had decided that I would make both peameal bacon, and hot smoked Canadian bacon. Peameal bacon is a cured boneless pork loin, traditionally coated in dried and ground yellow peas.  Today, corn meal is typically used instead of pea meal. It is lean, but when given a quick fry and not overcooked, it is a delicious and juicy type of bacon.  Here’s the recipe for a great homemade peameal bacon.

Peameal Bacon

Ingredients:

• Boneless pork loin – 2 pieces approximately 2 lbs each
• Corn meal
• 2.5 liters of water
• 210 g kosher salt
• 150 g sugar
• 25 g pink salt / prague powder #1
• 1 tbsp pickling spice
• 54 g brown sugar
• 45 ml honey
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced

Instructions:

1. Trim any visible silver skin off the pork loin, and trim any excess fat on it down to about a 1/4 inch layer
2. Prepare a brine by boiling the water, salt, sugar, pink salt, pickling spice, brown sugar, honey, and garlic together – then allow to cool completely  Tip: to cool it faster, use 1.5 liters of water when preparing the brine, then pour in 1 liter of ice water to cool it off.  If you just add ice to the regular amount of water, you’ll dilute your brine as it melts.
3. Once cooled, place the loins in a large ziploc bag or non-reactive container with the brine, ensuring that they are completely covered.
4. Leave in the fridge for 3.5-5 days.  I did 3.5 days, and the pork loin was cured all the way to the middle.
5. Rinse the pork loin, then dry, and roll in a dish of corn meal, pressing it in until a nice even layer sticks to it  Note: before coating it in corn meal, you can cut a small piece off and fry it to taste the saltiness level.  If it’s too salty, you can let the pork soak in some cool water for a couple of hours, then try it again.  If it’s still too salty, change the water and repeat until it comes out the way you like it.
6. Wrap the whole piece of peameal bacon in plastic wrap or aluminium foil, then put it in the freezer until firm, but not frozen.  This makes it much easier to slice.
7. Slice the peameal bacon to whatever thickness you prefer.  I like thicker slices, just under 1/4 inch thick.

I like to fry these up until the edges are nice and crispy, but the inside is still a little medium rare.  This keeps the peameal bacon from drying out too much, and the texture and taste are a lot better than letting it cook to well done.

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