Pork Loin Pastrami Recipe – the queen of the table. There is something really charming about making our own dried meat. Pork loin pastrami with the right spices, no more, no less somehow becomes tastier, especially shared with loved ones.
The feeling that we have done a perfect job of preparing it is incomparable. The winter months are suitable for making appetizers at home. Tasty, useful and with the right spices, they are an integral part of the table in many countries.
Pork Loin Pastrami Recipe – tasty and homemade dried meat
Today we have prepared for you an unadulterated old homemade pork loin pastrami recipe. We found this recipe in a good and somewhat forgotten Bulgarian book from the 70s. We tried it, and the end result is really impressive. If you follow the cooking method exactly, you will enjoy the great taste of the mature pork loin.
How To Make Pork Loin Pastrami
A really successful recipe with which you will have delicious appetizers during the winter months of pork loin meat. And the appetizer itself is very often called fillet Elena, with the name of the city of Elena, which is also the place for confirming the raw-dried product.
For the preparation of really high-quality pastrami, it is good to use pork loins (fillets) from young, well-guarded animals with a significant accumulation of subcutaneous fat. The meat you have chosen must undergo dry salting, and for this purpose the pieces of pork loin are salted liberally on all sides and arranged tightly in a pan.
On the bottom of which you have previously sprinkled salt. In this recipe, it was not described what kind of salt it is, but personally, when we have prepared pork pastrami, we use coarse sea salt.
The pieces of pork loin are covered with salt and on top, layering meat again if you are going to make more fillets. In this way, the salted meat naturally releases some of its juice, forming a brine in the vessel. According to this old recipe, the meat salted like this is left to stand for 21 days, but we can’t wait that long, and we have always salted for 24 hours, then we also pickle, but for about 2-3 hours instead of 2-3 days.
pork loin pastrami drying
The salted meat should be washed with cold water and left to soak for 2-3 days until it is well softened and has the appropriate saltiness. If the water is not running, it should be changed several times. You can check the degree of desalting by roasting a small piece of the meat and tasting it.
Seasonings For Pork Loin Pastrami Recipe
The already desalted meat is rubbed with spices in the ratio as follows:
- 20 g of savory;
- 2 g black pepper (ground);
* spices are per kilogram of meat;
Salting Ingredients
The following ingredients are given again per kilogram of pork tenderloin:
- 35g salt;
- 5 g of sugar;
- 400 mg of vitamin C (ascorbic acid or E300, optional);
- nitrite salt – optional (follow preservative label)
Explanation: There are two methods to salt pastrami pork meat.
You either rub in the salting ingredients, or you just salt the meat with coarse salt, then add the spices, sugar, vitamin C, and nitrate salt, if you’re going to add it at all. Personally, we never put a preservative or vitaminize the meat, because once this appetizer is ready for consumption, it either ends quickly or is kept in the refrigerator for a little longer.
You should make hangers from twine and hang the already prepared homemade pork loin pastrami in a cool and airy place. Regarding the drying time at home, it can vary, but in general pork loins are dried between 15 and 20 days. We have had cases where temperatures were more suitable and did not exceed 17 degrees, with the desirable being around 12 degrees. Relative humidity should be in the range of 70 to 85%.
Practice shows that the lower limit of pastrami drying is not essential, as it does not affect the process and taste qualities of pork pastrami.
In a dry and cool place, pastrami can be stored for 2-3 months.
Good luck!
If you liked our pork loin pastrami recipe, check out our suggestions for homemade sujuk.
You may still be curious to review another recipe, but this time for homemade sauerkrauut.
Healthy suggestion: Health benefits of fig leaves when taking tea and leaf syrup of fig.
