Canadian bacon / ham
Already-cooked cured ham, the defining protein of Hawaiian pizza's ham-and-pineapple combination, credibly documented as invented in Chatham-Ontario, Canada in 1962; also used as an approximation for Filipino-style pizza's sweet cured-meat toppings.
- Salt
- moderate
- Fat
- low
- Sweetness
- moderate
- Acidity
- low
- Heat
- none
- Moisture
- moderate
- Umami
- moderate
- Cooking requirement
- raw ready to eat
Preparation
Pre-cooked/cured ham, diced small so pieces cook through evenly in a short bake
Releases some moisture as it heats; diced smaller than a steak-cut ham reduces pooling
Applied before baking.
Cautions
- on Filipino-style pizza it stands in for the style's traditional sweet cured meats; sliced hot dog is the more specific topping
History and cultural context
In North American usage, 'Canadian bacon' refers to a smoked, fully cooked, lean cut of back bacon sold under that name in the United States — but the name is largely an Americanism: within Canada itself, the same or a closely related cut is generally just called 'back bacon', or 'peameal bacon' when rolled in cornmeal rather than smoked. It was this ham/back-bacon-style topping, not Italian prosciutto, that Greek-Canadian restaurateur Sam Panopoulos used in 1962 when he invented Hawaiian pizza in Chatham, Ontario.
Traditional regions: Canada, United States
The standard 'ham' topping on commercially made pizza internationally, particularly paired with pineapple.
Also known as: Back bacon (Canada), Peameal bacon (Canada, unsmoked and cornmeal-rolled variant)
Commonly repeated, and not supported
- That Canadians themselves commonly call this cut 'Canadian bacon' — within Canada it is generally called back bacon.
- Peameal bacon — Wikipedia
- Hawaiian pizza — Wikipedia
What it brings to a pizza
Moderate. Its mild cure and lean meat read as a salty-sweet background, so it is often paired with something sharper, such as pineapple, to stand out.
- Salt
- Moderate
- Sweetness
- Moderate
- Acidity
- Low
- Bitterness
- None
- Savoury depth
- Moderate
- Chilli heat
- None
- Aromatic intensity
- Low
- Smoke
- LowWeaker inference — varies by productMany cooked hams and back bacons are smoked or smoke-flavoured; plenty are not.
- Richness
- Low
- Water it releases
- Moderate
- Fat it renders
- LowA lean, already-cooked cut; it gives off juice rather than fat.
Ordinal levels, not measurements. Salt, fat, water and the basic tastes come from this ingredient’s profile above; the rest is a strong culinary inference unless marked otherwise. Anything not listed is not assessed. Aroma: cured and cooked meat.
Where it goes: on top of the cheese, before the bake (or under the cheese) — lets it brown. Small dice on top of the cheese take a little colour at the corners; tucked under the cheese the ham stays moist but tastes flatter.
Covers both sliced cooked ham and North American back bacon; sweetness, smoke and added water vary widely between products.
Pairs well, and why
- 'Nduja (strong, structurally complementary) — Canadian bacon / ham's sweetness against 'Nduja's salt.
- Capicola (strong, structurally complementary) — Canadian bacon / ham's sweetness against Capicola's salt.
- Soppressata (strong, structurally complementary) — Canadian bacon / ham's sweetness against Soppressata's salt.
- Cooked tomato sauce (strong, commonly paired) — Cooked tomato sauce and Canadian bacon / ham combine glutamate with nucleotides — more savoury together than apart.
- Prosciutto crudo (good, reinforcing) — Canadian bacon / ham and Prosciutto crudo combine glutamate with nucleotides — more savoury together than apart.
If you swap it
The closest alternatives by composition — and what else changes, so you know what to adjust.
- Sliced hot dog (Filipino-style) — more fat, less water in the oven
- Cooked chicken — less salt, less sweetness, less smoke, a milder presence on the pizza
- Bulgogi (marinated beef) — more fat, more savoury depth, more aroma, less smoke, a stronger presence on the pizza
Every pairing for Canadian bacon / ham, or build a pizza around it · Check a whole pizza’s balance
Styles using this topping
Provides a savoury, salty topping consistent with Filipino pizza's cured-meat convention, standing in for the hot-dog-slice topping the catalogue does not yet carry.