Kasseler Ham

So, I'd planned on making more bacon but the loin I got had been well trimmed and didn't have the rib flap bit of meat / fat, only the eye meat.

Anyway, I whacked this piece of meat in half so I had two lumps weighing just over 1.3kgs each.
I then cured them as I would for dry cured bacon (5% curing salt to weight of meat and cure for ~7days).

Once they were cured they went onto the cold smoker and got five days of white American oak smoke.

Now, at this point I have some Gangsta dry cured, smoked bacon...albeit without the flappy rib bit.

But I decided to wrap one of the pieces in baking paper and tin foil then chucked it into the oven for 1hr 15mins @ 150°C, took it out and left it to cool overnight (still wrapped).

(The other piece I sliced for bacon anyway).

This is what it looked like the next day, first pic is the ham cut in half and the second once it's sliced....can't recommend this enough, it's lovely :bow:

The end pieces I diced up and made Lentil and Ham soup with.

Hi Thermal Mass,

Cheers Dude...I'll try and answer your questions....

1) I use the rule that if the outside ambient temperature is equal to or lesser than working fridge temperature (5°C) then I'll cold smoke...I'm pretty sure you can go slightly higher than this but I haven't tried it.

2&3) I use a metal mesh sieve as a cold smoke generator and this lasts for ~5hrs on one load of sawdust, so on day one I get it smouldering about 06:00-06:30, go off to work and at lunchtime I come home, re load it and re light it, back to work for the afternoon and by the time I get home again it's time to re load and re light.
I'll do this again at about 22:00-23:00 and then go to bed.
Sure, there will be a periods where no smoke is being generated - esp. on the overnight stretch but after doing this for 5 days they come out alright!

4) Good on ya Mate! I'm well jealous, please post up pics!!!

I was thinking about getting a wooden tool shed to use as a dedicated cold smoker but then I saw a programme on TV about Emmets who make the famous Suffolk Black Ham and Bacon (this stuff is awesome) and they use a brick built outbuilding where they just have a huge pile of sawdust on the brick floor which they light with straw, hang the hams in the rafters and just let it smoulder for a week or so.

<--- Even more jealous now!!! Looks outstanding!
:eusa_clap

Thanks Dude!

Yep, my first thoughts when I was cleaning the loin was Canadian Bacon...and then I thought, "Hang On!...Last time I was in Germany I had this 'Kasseler Schinken'"

Which I remembered as being a cured, smoked pork loin.

As I understand it, Canadian Bacon is the pork loin, cured, smoked but sliced raw...and needs each rasher to be cooked (this is what I normally make, but we call it back bacon and it has the rib flap attached to the eye meat).
Ham is usually the leg meat of the pig, cured either smoked or unsmoked but always cooked.

Next up is an attempt at some Suffolk Black Ham and Bacon....not a big fish fan, sorry!!!