Cured Pork Recipes

PORK TOCINO (SWEET CURED PORK)

Steps:

• Cut the pork into thin slices measuring about 4-inches square; smaller pieces are fine.
• Stir the brown sugar, seasoned salt, garlic salt, pepper, and curing salt together in a bowl; sprinkle each of the slices of pork with the mixture. Lay the pork slices flat in a large container with a cover. Let sit in the refrigerator 3 to 4 days before using.
• To prepare the tocino, combine the desired amount of the pork with enough water to cover in a large non-stick skillet and bring to a boil for about 5 minutes. Drain and discard the water. Dry the pan completely.
• Heat the oil in the skillet over medium heat; fry the pork slices in the hot oil until lightly browned, 1 to 2 minutes per side.

CURED PORK

Steps:

• Mix all ingredients together on a smooth surface.
• Rub meat every morning and every night for 3 days, making sure you rub in good around the bones.
• After first rub, place meat skin- side up.
• Turn after each rub.
• On the 4th day, place a strong wire or hook through the shank of hams and shoulders, (and at corners of middlings, if you're doing them).
• Hang from rafters of your smoke house, placing pan underneath to catch the drips.
• As it takes the cure, the meat will drip almost continuously.
• If the meat becomes moldy after hanging for several weeks, not to worry.
• It's not spoiled, just aging.
• Just wash meat well when ready to use.
• This mix should take care of a 350# to 375# hog.
• My husband and I start our hams, shoulders, middlings, ham hocks and jowls, (500 to 600) mid-October and are finished by mid-April.
• Have fun and happy eating!

BRINE-CURED PORK

Steps:

• Put 2 1/2 gallons cold water in a large, nonreactive container that will hold the meat and brine. Stir in the salt and sugar. Slightly crush and add the bay leaves, peppercorns, clove, allspice, and chili peppers. Add the garlic and thyme. Add the pork and put a plate on top to keep the meat submerged. Refrigerate for 5 days or more.
• Remove the pork from the brine and pat dry. Roast pork loin for about 1 hour, grill over a medium fire, or slice into very thin chops and brown them in a cast-iron pan. They will cook very quickly, about 1 minute per side. Finish with a good fistful of chopped parsley and garlic if you wish. A brined shoulder is good boiled or braised, and is delicious to add to cooked beans.

HOME-CURED PORK TENDERLOIN 'HAM'

Steps:

• Put salt and sugar in a large nonreactive bowl (stainless steel or glass). Add boiling water and stir well to dissolve salt and sugar. Add peppercorns, mustard seeds, allspice berries, cloves, thyme and bay leaves. Leave to cool completely.
• Add curing salt and 1 cup white wine to cooled brine. Submerge pork tenderloins in brine. Place plate directly on top of pork to keep it submerged if necessary. Cover container and refrigerate for 5 days.
• Remove pork from brine and pat dry. Discard brine. Spread onions and thyme sprigs on bottom of a large shallow baking dish. Add brined tenderloins in one layer, then add 1/2 cup wine. Heat oven to 350 degrees; as it heats, bring meat to room temperature. Cover dish and bake for 45 minutes or until pork registers 135 degrees with an instant-read thermometer. Remove from oven (meat will continue to cook and reach 140 degrees as it rests). Let cool before cutting into thin slices. Serve with buttermilk biscuits. May be refrigerated, well wrapped, for up to 1 week.

HOME-CURED HOLIDAY HAM

Steps:

• Place kosher salt, brown sugar, pickling spice, and pink salt in a container large enough to hold the brine and the ham.
• Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil and pour over the brine ingredients; whisk to dissolve. Pour in 1 gallon fresh cold water to cool down the mixture.
• Score the skin side of the pork roast with a sharp knife. Cut into the fat beneath the skin but not into the meat. Score about 1 inch apart, then score in the opposite direction to get the classic diamond-shaped pattern.
• Lower scored roast into the cooled brine, skin side up. Use a plate to weigh down the roast so that it cures fully submerged in the liquid. Refrigerate for 1 day for every 2 pounds of pork (for a 7 pound roast, cure for at least 2 1/2 days). Turn the roast over halfway through the brining process.
• Remove roast from brining liquid. Discard the brining liquid and transfer the roast back to the brining container. Cover the roast with fresh cold water to rinse off some of the salt. Depending on how salty you want your ham, you can soak it for just a few minutes or overnight. Remove roast from the water and blot dry with paper towels.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Add a cup of water to a roasting pan with 2 whole star anise. Place roast on a rack in the roasting pan.
• Roast until ham reaches an internal temperature of 130 to 135 degrees F, about 2 hours. Ham will not be fully cooked at this point. If water has nearly evaporated, add a splash more. Increase oven temperature to 425 degrees F. Continue to roast until skin is browned and crispy and ham reaches an internal temperature of 145 to 150 degrees F.
• To make the optional glaze, mix the mustard, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and salt together in a bowl. Brush glaze on the ham at this point, not before. Return roast to oven for about 5 minutes to crisp it even further.

HOME-CURED PORK BELLY

Steps:

• In a spice grinder or mortar and pestle, peppercorns, cloves, allspice berries, juniper berries and hot red pepper flakes. Grind until coarse.
• Mix the spices with nutmeg, kosher salt and curing salt.
• Rub the spice and salt mixture all over a 10-pound piece of pork belly, with the skin. Peel and coarsely chop 1 head of garlic, combine it with 1/2 cup red wine, and rub this on the meat, too. The wine helps the salt find its way into the meat.
• Arrange a metal rack on a sheet pan with sides and place the meat on the rack, to allow airflow. Leave it in the refrigerator for a week. Turn it over daily and pour off any liquid. The tesa is ready when the salts have penetrated to the center, one to two weeks depending on how thick the belly is. Test after one week by tasting a thin slice from near an edge, crisped in a pan. Once cured, the tesa can be refrigerated, tightly wrapped, for a month, or frozen. Cook it as you would bacon or pancetta; it's especially good as crisp lardons in a salad.