I made my first one from a half boneless loin last Thanksgiving. I thought it was really good. This time I did a whole loin cut in thirds.
I first read about Kassler ham at wedlinydomowe.pl/en/ a forum about homemade sausage making. The recipe was by member Bubba. I ask him and he said it was fine to post his recipe. Thanks Bubba!
I had never heard of Kassler or Kasseler ham so I did some research. It is one German cured meat that never gained popularity here in the US but is still widely available in Germany. I could not find many recipes; most just looked like a copy of Bubba’s recipe. If you do a bone in loin it is called Kasseler Rippchen.
I liked the taste of it, I thought a little milder and less salty than a regular ham. Using a boneless loin makes it easy to slice up and save.
I was thinking I had brined the first one for 3 ½ days so went with 5 days on this one. I discovered I had only done the first one for 2 ½ days and maybe should have just done 4 days. I have to remember that I don’t remember as well as I used to!
I had one pot that just held the loins so the one gallon of brine was enough. After five days brining I rinsed and dried well then in the fridge overnight to air dry.
I got the loins on my smoker with the Amazin tube filled with 100% apple wood for an hour and half cold smoke. I removed the loins and lit my smoker on smoke mode. I went to 225 deg. and put the loins back on. I was using Traeger oak pellets, I wanted alder but my dealer did not have any. I was getting too large of temp swings at 225 so went back to smoke mode P-0 and held 225 deg. pretty close for the rest of the cook. This gave me 240 to 250 deg. at grill level.
It took 2 ½ hours for the two roasts on the right side, the hottest side on my Treager and about 25 min. longer for the other one. I double wrapped in saran wrap and foil then in my oven to rest for an hour. I then removed to cool some and in the fridge for two days.
Tomorrow I will slice and get some vacuum packed to freeze. Tomorrow’s supper will be Kassler mit Kraut, mashed potatoes, and fried spaetzel. I hope I didn’t brine it too long.
The loin
Brine ingredients
Brine
Loins in the brine
After brine and air dry
Cold smoking
About done
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