Make Kassler yourself – simple, fast & super tasty
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- Ham
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Today I’ll show you how to make Kassler yourself. It’s simple and super quick to make.
Even though it may not seem like it at first, Kassler is actually a type of ham. Most of the time, Kassler is eaten warm with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut, but it also makes a great cold cut.
Want to learn more about ham? No problem, I wrote down all my knowledge in my ham book. Interested? Explore my ham book.
But now enough talking…
Here you can find the complete Kassler recipe as a video or to read through.
Have fun and good luck making it!
Table of Contents
Kassler – What do you need to make it?
Ingredients per 1 kg
| Ingredient | Grams | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| pork neck/chop/back | 1,000 g | 100 % |
Spices per 1 kg
| Ingredient | Grams |
|---|---|
| brine | |
| salt | 92 g |
| sugar | 20 g |
| Cure #1 | 8 g |
| juniper berries | 5 g |
| bay leaves | 2 |
| garlic granules | 2 g |
| black pepper | 2 g |
| coriander | 1.5 g |
| water | 1 L |
From the brine you will need in the end about 20-30% of the meat weight.
The equipment to make Kassler
Spice grinder/ mortar:
Freshly ground spices taste best. But of course you can also use ground ones. It is best to use a spice grinder. Alternatively, you can use a mortar. Here, however, be careful that it is really very finely ground.
Smoker
You need the smoker to smoke your Kassler.
Make Kassler – Step-By-Step Instructions
Put the salt, the cure and all the spices in the mortar and grind them coarsely.
Put the spices in a container with boiling water.
Leave the brine to infuse and cool for 30-60 minutes. Stir the brine well several times.
Filter the brine through a sieve.
Inject the brine into the meat (about 15-20% of the meat weight). You can stop as soon as you notice that the brine is running out more and more.
Put the meat with the remaining brine (approx. 20 % of the meat weight) into a resealable bag.
Now squeeze as much air as possible out of the bag. Try not to press the ham too much. Then you can close the bag.
The meat must now be cured for about 2-3 days in the refrigerator.
After the curing time, wash off the spices and dry the meat with kitchen paper.
Hang your Kassler in the smoker and let it heat up to about 75 C° (167 °F). For the first 30 minutes, I let the meat dry on without smoke.
After the 30 minutes, smoke the meat at about 80 – 90 C° (176 -194 °F).
Smoke the piece of meat to a core temperature of 67 C° (152.6 °F). The smoking process will take between 2.5 and 3 hours depending on the size.
If you still haven’t reached the core temperature after the given time, I recommend you to vacuum seal the meat and finish cooking it at 67 °C (152.6 °F) in the sous vide.
Your Kassler is ready 🙂 You can either eat it directly hot or let it sit in the refrigerator for another night.
Frequently asked questions
What is Kassler?
What is Kassler?
Kassler is a cured and smoked cut of pork, usually from the neck, the loin or the rib. English has no word of its own for it, which is why you keep seeing the German name on menus and packaging. The closest English description is a smoked pork chop, and a Kassler chop is exactly that: a cutlet cut from a piece that was cured in brine and then hot smoked.
Because it is cured and smoked it is already cooked through when you buy it or when you take it out of your own smoker at a core temperature of 67 °C (152.6 °F). That is the part people get wrong. You are reheating Kassler, not cooking it from raw.
How do you cook a Kassler chop?
How do you cook a Kassler chop?
Keep it gentle and keep it short. You are warming it through and colouring the outside, nothing more. A pan with a little fat does the job, and so does the oven.
Important: do not boil it hard and do not leave it in the pan until it browns deeply. Kassler is lean and already cooked to a core temperature of 67 °C (152.6 °F), so every extra minute only drives water out of it and leaves you with a dry, salty chop.
The classic plate is Kassler with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. Cold it is just as good, sliced thin on bread. This is completely up to your taste.
How long is the shelf life of the Kassler?
How long is the shelf life of the Kassler?
Your Kassler will keep covered in the refrigerator for about a week. The alternative is to vacuum pack the ham in portions. When vacuumed, it should keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks. You can also freeze it. This will increase the shelf life many times over.
