Cold smoked and dry cured pork loin

Post by **redzed** » Sat Apr 02, 2016 19:33

Prepared Schinkenspeck style pork loin. Smoky but mild almost sweet tasting. Definately a must do again. Sliced thinly it's great in a sandwich or as an appy with glass of your favourite grape juice.
Salt, 2.3%
Cure #2, .25%
Garlic powder, .5%
BP, .3%
Turbinado sugar, .5%
Juniper berries

Equilibrium cured in ziplock sack for 3 weeks. The absorption rate for sugar is as much as 10 times slower than salt, so if we want the sugar to work itself into the meat, the curing time has to be longer. Cold smoked for 4 days, about 10 hours each day. Hung in curing chamber, 11C, 80-85% RH for six weeks.

bolepa · Post by **bolepa** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 01:30

redzed, redzed
This is probably sounds stupid but what is BP? Thanks. Boris

Post by **redzed** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 18:15

Black pepper

bolepa · Post by **bolepa** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 20:32

Woops... Thank you for educating me, redzed. I learned something new.

MatterOne · Post by **MatterOne** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 23:50

Interesting. Basically a dry-cured Canadian bacon, eh?

What kind of wood did you smoke with? Personally, I'd do pecan.

Post by **redzed** » Sat Oct 01, 2016 12:36

bolepa wrote:Woops... Thank you for educating me, redzed. I learned something new.

No worries, I probably should not use acronyms anyway

MatterOne, I used alder, but any mild wood such as apple would work. 40 hours of smoke is a long time and you don't want to use woods that produce a stronger smoke flavour. Pecan would work but I would smoke for a shorter period. But in the end, it comes down to personal taste, so it's a matter of experimenting until you get what you like.

Rich · Post by **Rich** » Fri Oct 28, 2016 18:31

Redzed,

1st, check your pm,

2nd, could you hang something like this in say, a utility room, to cure after smoking ? or, is a "curing chamber" a must have to complete this ?

thanks in advance !

Cheers,

Rich

Post by **redzed** » Sat Oct 29, 2016 06:40

Well, a curing chamber would be most ideal, but if you have a cool room, where the temp is less that 60F, you could probably hang it for a couple of weeks. If the loin had a nice layer of fat covering it would even be better. A cellar in the winter would be the best place if you don't have a chamber. And if you don't have chamber a cold smoked loin is better suited for hanging in warmer temps than one that is only cured. You buy a whole cheaply when they go on sale, so buy one and start experimenting!

Rich · Post by **Rich** » Sat Oct 29, 2016 16:19

thanks Red, I do plan on doing this shortly...may hang outside when the temps dip down...then again this may be a good excuse to buy an old fridge...we shall see...

thanks again,

Cheers,

Rich

Bubba · Post by **Bubba** » Tue Nov 01, 2016 17:50

That looks very good Chris! I read a few threads this morning at home at this one has been on mind mind to definitely try.

One hurdle is I have never tried equilibrium curing and will have to read up on the curing method before attempting.
Will there be a difference in finished product if I cure in brine?

Rich · Post by **Rich** » Thu Nov 03, 2016 14:28

Redzed,

Did you case this thing ? Does the smoke process inhibit mold ?

Cheers,

Rich

Post by **Butterbean** » Thu Nov 03, 2016 15:30

Usually smoke will keep the mold at bay.

Rich · Post by **Rich** » Fri Nov 04, 2016 00:51

Butterbean,

I thought that was the case but being so new to the craft was not sure...

Cheers,

Rich

Post by **redzed** » Fri Nov 04, 2016 17:10

Bubba wrote:One hurdle is I have never tried equilibrium curing and will have to read up on the curing method before attempting.
Will there be a difference in finished product if I cure in brine?

There will be a difference in the amount of moisture which will come down to a matter of preference. However, since this is a dry cured product, dry curing is the more standard method. And equilibrium curing is really the way to go. For one thing you cannot over salt or under salt, all you need to do the first time is to use 2.25% salt and .25 curing salt which will amount to 2.5% salt. See how that suits you, and the next time you might want to adjust the salt up or down slightly. The beauty of it is that you can leave it curing in the fridge for 2 weeks or 4 weeks and smoke it when ever you have time.

Rich wrote:Did you case this thing ? Does the smoke process inhibit mold ?

I did not case the loin since the drying time and lack of mould don't need it. And German style schinkenspeck products are not cased. As BB stated, the smoke does inhibit mould, but after a couple of weeks it does start showing up. When that happens you can be vigilant and wipe it off with a cloth dipped in vinegar, or you can cold smoke it again for a few hours. Mine had a bit of of mould on it when I cut into into it and I wiped it off before vac sealing it.

Rich · Post by **Rich** » Fri Nov 04, 2016 18:28

Excellent, thank you for the insight...ordered some stuff among which is Cure #2...should be here today or tomorrow...will begin the cure process at that time...may add some spicy paprika or cayenne, want a little "zip" to this one. other than that will probably copy your recipe if you don't mind.

Cheers,

Rich