Selfmade pork tenderloin ham – delicious, delicate and simple
- Type
- Ham
- Level
- Medium
- Rating
- Rate this recipe
In this post I show you how you can make pork tenderloin ham yourself. With a moderate effort, you achieve a super tasty result.
The great thing is that when you make your own filet ham, you know exactly what ingredients are in it and where your meat comes from. These are exactly the things I love about homemade products.
A filet ham is an excellent change from the classic make your own ham. Its low fat content and tenderness make it something really special.
You want to know more about ham? No problem, I have written down all my knowledge in my ham book. You can see it here.
Here you will find the complete recipe for pork tenderloin ham as a video or to read through.
Have fun and good luck making it!
Table of Contents
Pork tenderloin ham – What do you need to make it?
Ingredients per 1 kg
| Ingredient | Grams | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| pork tenderloin ham | ||
| pork tenderloin | 1,000 g | |
Spices per 1 kg
| Ingredient | Grams |
|---|---|
| curing mixture | |
| salt | 27.5 g |
| sugar | 3 g |
| Cure #1 | 2.5 g |
| black pepper | 1.5 g |
| bay leaf | 1 |
The equipment to make pork tenderloin ham
Kitchen string or meat hook
The kitchen string/meat hook is important so you can hang your tenderloin to mature.
Make pork tenderloin ham – Step-By-Step Instructions
First, weigh your pork loin. Based on the weight, the spices are weighed out. I have written down the spices for one kilogram of meat in my recipe. You can then convert them accordingly.
Put the pork tenderloin together with the spices into a vacuum bag. Make sure that the spices are evenly distributed on the meat. If you don’t have a vacuum sealer, you can also use a zip-lock bag and squeeze out as much air as possible.
Vacuum the meat.
Place the pork tenderloin in the refrigerator for curing. Per cm of thickness, the ham will take about 1.5 days. I had mine in the fridge for 4 days. Longer is no problem, just it shouldn’t be shorter.
After 4 days the ham has become noticeably firmer. Now wash the spices off the meat.
Dry the meat with a kitchen towel.
Now hang the ham in a cool dark place. You can use a meat hook or kitchen twine for this. It is important that the air can circulate.
let your pork tenderloin ham mature for 1 week. Ideally, the temperature should be below 15 degrees Celsius (59 Fahrenheit) and the humidity should be about 75%. You can also hang the ham in the refrigerator without problems, or even store it on a grid in the refrigerator.
after 1 week your tenderloin is ready. If you like a firmer pork tenderloin ham, you can let it mature for another 1-2 weeks. Since the ham is very lean, you have to be careful that it doesn’t dry out. Have fun making it.
Frequently asked questions
Is this a wet cure or a dry cure?
Is this a wet cure or a dry cure?
A dry cure. There is no brine to mix and nothing to weigh out per litre of water: the salt, the Cure #1 and the spices go onto the meat directly, the tenderloin goes into a vacuum bag with all of them, and the bag does the rest in the fridge.
Curing time follows thickness rather than weight, at about 1.5 days per centimetre. Longer is no problem, shorter is. After curing, the spices are washed off, the meat is dried and the tenderloin hangs for a week. It is a very lean cut, so if you extend that week to get it firmer, keep an eye on it rather than leaving it hanging.
How long is the shelf life of the pork tenderloin ham?
How long is the shelf life of the pork tenderloin ham?
It will keep in the refrigerator for a good 2 weeks before it gets too dry. You can also store it vacuumed in the refrigerator for several weeks so that it does not dry out.
I have the pink curing salt, aka Prague Powder #1. Would this be acceptable to use?
Yes 2.5 g per 1kg meat
30 g of Cure #1 is some crazy big amount
The 30 g are not Cure #1. It is the German Nitritpökelsalz. In international speak: 27.5 g salt and 2.5g Cure #1. My editor did not change it correctly :). Sorry now it is fine
Im very confused, because it is not a wet
Brine at all and is aged
Are you not supposed to use cure#2?
Hey Brett,
If you make dry cured ham you never use a wet brine. The goal is to extract moisture, therefore -> dry brine. However, the dry brine in the vacuum will extract moisture and be kinda like a wet brine. Long story short this is the way to go for this type of ham.
As for the Cure #1 or #2. In Germany we use Nitritpökelsalz which is a premixed salt + cure #1 for every cured sausage. If you want you can exchange it for #2 however it also works completely fine with #1.
Hope that helps
Daniel
can your tenderloin ham be eaten raw, or should it be cooked to 145°f