Other Lomo Curado

[Michi]

This is probably the easiest charcuterie to make at home. Essentially no equipment needed, and the total preparation effort is about 20 minutes.

This is a Spanish cured and dried meat, similar in texture to various raw hams, such as prosciutto, but much easier and quicker to make, and more tender than meats that are dried for months.

The only special equipment needed is dry ageing steak wrap. (An UMAi bag works too.) The steak wrap is readily available at The Sausage Maker. But I've also made this with ordinary collagen sheet (which is cheaper), with good results.

Ingredients:

• Pork loin
• Dry ageing steak wrap, UMAi bag, or collagen sheet (see above).

Spices:
Weigh the loin. Per kg of meat:

• 27.5 g Kosher salt
• 2.5 g Cure #1 (also known as Prague Powder #1 or Pink Curing salt; it contains 6.5% nitrite)
• 15 g Demerara sugar (or any other dark brown sugar, such as Turbinado)
• 1.5 g Black pepper
• 5 g Sweet paprika
• 5 g Hot paprika
• 3 g Garlic powder
• 2 g Onion powder
• 1 Dried bay leaf, broken into a few pieces

Preparation:

1. Remove skin from the loin, but leave the fat cap.
2. Rub the loin with the spice mixture all over. If there are any cracks or folds in the meat, work the spices into those.
   
3. Put the loin with all the spices (including ones that didn’t stick) into a zip-loc bag, or seal the entire thing in a vacuum bag.
4. Cure in the fridge for a minimum of eight days. This is an equilibrium cure, so the amount of salt is measured to be appropriate for the amount of meat. If you leave it in the fridge for two or three weeks, that’s fine; the meat won’t get too salty.
   
5. Once cured, remove the meat from the bag and get rid of the bits of bay leaf, but leave the spices on the meat. Dab the meat a little so it is no longer sopping wet (but it should still be moist from the spice mixture sticking to it).
6. Wrap the meat in the collagen sheet. No need for big overlap, a single layer is enough. Make sure the ends are sealed as well. You can just fold the sheet over, no need for fancy cutting things to fit. Make sure there are as few air pockets between the sheet and the meat as possible.
7. Wrap the loin in elastic netting or truss it up into a round shape with some butcher’s twine.
   
8. Prick the collagen sheet with a needle if there are any air pockets, so the sheet adheres to the meat everywhere.
9. Weigh the loin and store it in the fridge, hanging or on a wire rack, until you reach 35-40% weight loss. This should take around 6–8 weeks.

Once the meat is dried, slice thinly. Depending on the humidity in the fridge, there may be a slight dry ring. If so, it’s not a big deal. Either eat it as is or, if you want to even out the moisture distribution, seal the whole thing in an airtight bag with as little air in it as possible (vacuum bag is best for this) and let it hang out in the fridge for another two or three weeks.

The meat should last for six months or more if you keep it wrapped up airtight in the fridge. (I freeze mine cut into 500 g chunks in vacuum bags.)