Lachsschinken
Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2019 19:37
Never made lachsschinken before and thought I'd give it a try. Couldn't find much information on it (in English) but what I did find varied considerably in how it was prepared. Many english recipes called for hot smoking and this seemed similar to making Canadian Bacon which I've made plenty of so I didn't want to go this route. Some called for brining but this seemed contradictory in that I had plans on cold smoking and drying.
With these things in mind and my ignorance I chose to use use the following dry rub mix and equilibrium cure the meat.
Salt 2.3%
Cure 2 0.25%
Black Pepper 0.3%
Turbinado Sugar 0.5%
Ground juniper berries - um - didn't measure this. Just put enough to where it seemed right.
Cured meat in fridge for three weeks.
Removed and hung to dry for a day in smokehouse
Smoked using heavy cold smoke for 12 hours or till the fire went out.
Let hang without smoke for a day and then repeated smoke again.
Hung meat for a couple three days in drying room at 70% humidity and 60'ish temp.
Small amount of mold growth began to appear so I gave it another day in the smokehouse with heavy smoke. (I have white mold growing everywhere now)
8th day into drying/smoking cycle I'm at 8% loss and curiosity got the best of me and I had to give it a taste. Flavor is excellent. Salt seems spot on and the pepper is on mark as well. Just a hint of juniper but what I really like is what seems to be a faint tartness in the meat which I suspect is from meat fermentation which the addition of the sugar has encouraged. I am pleased with this because I know this isn't anything like Canadian Bacon.
My plan is to take it down to 30% weight loss then start sampling it regularly because with such a lean cut of meat as loin I fear I could dry it out too much but then again I plan on slicing it very thin so this may not matter that much. I don't know but if this first taste is anything like what the end product is going to taste like I can't wait till its finished.
With these things in mind and my ignorance I chose to use use the following dry rub mix and equilibrium cure the meat.
Salt 2.3%
Cure 2 0.25%
Black Pepper 0.3%
Turbinado Sugar 0.5%
Ground juniper berries - um - didn't measure this. Just put enough to where it seemed right.
Cured meat in fridge for three weeks.
Removed and hung to dry for a day in smokehouse
Smoked using heavy cold smoke for 12 hours or till the fire went out.
Let hang without smoke for a day and then repeated smoke again.
Hung meat for a couple three days in drying room at 70% humidity and 60'ish temp.
Small amount of mold growth began to appear so I gave it another day in the smokehouse with heavy smoke. (I have white mold growing everywhere now)
8th day into drying/smoking cycle I'm at 8% loss and curiosity got the best of me and I had to give it a taste. Flavor is excellent. Salt seems spot on and the pepper is on mark as well. Just a hint of juniper but what I really like is what seems to be a faint tartness in the meat which I suspect is from meat fermentation which the addition of the sugar has encouraged. I am pleased with this because I know this isn't anything like Canadian Bacon.
My plan is to take it down to 30% weight loss then start sampling it regularly because with such a lean cut of meat as loin I fear I could dry it out too much but then again I plan on slicing it very thin so this may not matter that much. I don't know but if this first taste is anything like what the end product is going to taste like I can't wait till its finished.