When I wrote about the Kasseler style smoked loin, I said that I’d make some more but use a dry cure rather than a brine.
I started two last month; I’ll smoke one and leave one unsmoked as my wife, Pauline, is not too keen on smoked food.
![](https://www.localfoodheroes.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/kasseler-1024x768.png)
We’ll use it sliced in place of ham and it may even find its way into the odd bacon butty as it’s a loin version of US bacon! I’ll not be stopping making real British bacon any time soon though – have no fears about that!
The ingredients for 1 kg of pork are:
16gm Salt (I used sea salt)
10gm White sugar
2.4gm Cure #1
0.3gm Crushed juniper berries
0.3gm Crushed bay leaves
0.3gm Crushed coriander seeds
Use the cure pro-rata for other weights of meat or use the calculator at the bottom of this page.
The process is simplicity itself:
Weigh the ingredients and mix them together.
![Salt and spices ready to cure meat](https://www.localfoodheroes.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/IMG_2537_2-1024x768.jpg)
Apply 90% of the cure mix to the meat and 10% to the fat.
Rub the cure in.
![](https://www.localfoodheroes.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/P1140215_2-1024x768.jpg)
Either vac-pac the meat or place it into food grade plastic bags/cling film/food wrap/saran wrap.
Place it in the fridge for 14 days giving it a rub occasionally through the wrapping.
![](https://www.localfoodheroes.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/IMG_8180_2-1024x768.jpg)
Rinse it and place it back in the fridge to dry uncovered for a day.
Either hot smoke it – start it at 40 – 50°C until it is nicely dry then raise the temperature and apply smoke. Gradually increase the temperature of the smoker to around 80°C and cook the meat until it has an internal temperature of 70°C. Hold it at this temperature for at least 2 minutes.
Cool and refrigerate before slicing.
You could also cook it without smoke or even cold smoke it. I like it hot smoked with maple or alder though.
It could, of course, be smoked at higher temperatures; my preference is for a longer slower cook as I think that this makes for a moister product.
You say in the recipe(hot smoked cured pork loin)cure #1 but the brine calculator has cure #2. I’m confused
Thank you – it’s a typo and has now been corrected.