Makes
40-45 med-thick slices
Ready In:
7 days
Good For:
Grilling, BBQ, fried, stir-fried, pasta, salad, rice, soup etc
Ingredients
- 2 – 2.5kg pork loin with back fat attached and skin removed
- 60g Murray river salt (what I used)/sea salt/course salt
- 35g soft brown sugar
- 30g white sugar
- 4tsp fennel seeds
- 3tsp coriander seeds
- 3tsp mixed peppercorns (or black)
- 3tsp juniper berries
- 2tsp dried chilli
- 1tsp cumin seeds
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1
If there was one dish I could claim, it’s this one. Having spent a good part of my life in Italy I used to love their warm rolled pork with fennel pollen, fennel seeds and all sorts of aromatics, Boned rolled and slow-roasted over wood for a good few hours, it was the equivalent of McDonald’s at the time.
They call it porchetta. My partially cured piece of meat is easy to do, very versatile, and packed with flavour. I use some of the aromatics from the porchetta dish but press and cure it.
Step 2
I’ve used this dish in restaurants all over the world dating back 20 years.
The critical and only important part of this whole process is cleanliness. I wear gloves but you can use tongs.
We carry bacteria on our hands and bodies (which the pork won’t like) so to maximise its shelf life use gloves, tongs or clean hands. That’s it, the rest if easy easy easy.
Step 3
Let’s start by rinsing the pork loin in plenty of cold water, draining it, and patting it down thoroughly with a paper towel. The drier the meat the better.
Move the meat onto a piece of greaseproof paper.
The cure mix is easy if you have a large pestle and mortar, otherwise, use the back of a frying pan against a chopping board to crush all the seeds and berries.
Step 4
Crush and grind all the seeds and the juniper berries. Add along with the rest of the ingredients. Use a spoon or gloved hand, and mix well.
Place the pork on a lined tray that will fit into the fridge. Pour half the mixture over one side and using a spoon or gloved hand smother and press the cure onto the meat. Don’t forget about the ends and sides.
Step 5
Turn the meat and pour the rest of the curing salt over. Spread the cure, completely covering the meat so there isn’t any pink meat showing.
Place greaseproof paper over, cover with glad wrap loosely, and place a tray over that will be used as a press.
Put meat (with a tray on top) into the fridge and place weights over it. I use about 2kg weight or just less.
Leave it in the fridge for 3 days.
Step 6
After 3 days, remove the tray and weights. Using gloved hands or tongs, remove the pork from the tray and onto a cooling rack (that’s sitting on a tray).
Dispose of the curing liquid left behind.
Wrap clean greaseproof around the pork, cover again loosely with glad-wrap, place the tray over again and back into the fridge (with the same weight on top) for 4 days.
Step 7
After 4 days of curing over a cooling rack, it’s ready. If you want an even firmer, more bacon-like texture and flavour, continue pressing and curing.
The meat can be left whole and sliced when you need it. This dish can be held for up to 6 months vac-packed, or up to a month in the fridge.
Honestly, this dish is super easy and will save you a small fortune on having to purchase good quality bacon or cured meat, sandwich ham etc.
Step 8
I challenged my friends to a cook-off using this cured pork and we had everything from grilled warm salads, sandwiches, ramen, pasta and complex.
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Happy Cooking.
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