I love the delicate taste of a delicious dry cured piece of pork tenderloin. Coat it with a little Calabrian pepper and you’ve got a flavor bomb that will have everyone talking. Today I’m going to show you how to make this delicious charcuterie and I think you are going to love how easy it is.
Making dry cured meat isn’t very complicated. We first cure the meat then we dry it. It’s literally those 2 steps. The first step (curing the meat) is all about 2 things: preserving/protecting the meat from harmful bacteria and infusing lots of flavor. The method we will be using to cure our meat is called the equilibrium cure. I really like this method as it’s not only incredibly easy to do but it’s also the most reliable and safest way to cure your meat. This method allows us to perfectly season/cure our meat without any concern of over/under salting. What’s also great about this technique is that you can work at your own pace (meaning if you can’t get to the meat immediately and it needs to sit in the fridge a few more days you don’t need to worry about it becoming too salty or over seasoned). This method is contrary to the alternative method called “Salt Boxing”. Salt boxing simply means you take a bunch of salt and encase your meat in it. Salt boxing is very unreliable and often produces a piece of meat that is extremely salty. We can talk about the 2 techniques in a different post. Once our meat has been cured we begin the process of drying.
I do love making charcuterie in a dedicated drying chamber but I am excited to say that for this recipe you have 2 options for drying – A drying chamber or a home refrigerator. Using a dedicated drying chamber has it’s advantages when it comes to flavor development but you just can’t beat how simple this recipe becomes when all you have to do is dry this tenderloin in a home refrigerator. There are a couple things that you need to know depending on which direction you choose to go.
Drying in your home refrigerator
Drying meats inside of your home refrigerator can be tricky because of the low humidity and high air speed. Both of these factors are almost certainly going to produce an overly dried piece of charcuterie. The trick to making this happen is having a unique wrap around our tenderloin that controls the moisture loss. I have used lots of different product over the past 10 years that claim to do this and the one I like the most is The Sausage Makers Dry Aging Wraps. These wraps were developed for dry aging beef but in my experiments I’ve found that they produce amazing charcuterie as well without the need for any special equipment.
When you use these dry aging wraps, simply (and carefully) place the wrap around the spice coated meat. As you fold the wrap around the meat you will want to press out any air pockets. Once it’s fully wrapped place the netting around the meat, weigh it, record the weight, and place it in your refrigerator till you lose the appropriate amount of weight. I like 35% for this recipe. YOU WILL NOT BE PRICKING THIS WITH A SAUSAGE PRICKER.
Drying in a dedicated drying chamber
If you plan on drying your Calabrian Pork Tenderloin in a drying chamber you will want to wrap the cured tenderloin in a collagen sheet from the Sausage Maker. These sheets are just like your sausage casings but in a sheet form. They have micro perforations that allow your meat to dry at a slower rate which will allow the meat to really develop it’s flavor while keeping a soft and tender texture. These sheets are fairly large and should be cut to size so 1 sheet will do lots of tenderloins. Alternatively you can stuff your cured tenderloin into a casing but you’ll run the risk or scraping off all of your spices and it can be very messy.
Drying chambers are not very difficult to build and once you have one you can make all sorts of neat stuff like salami, cheese, wine, and the list goes on. To see the one I built you can check out my post: Building a salami chamber/cheese cave. In this recipe I’ll be using a drying chamber with a temperature set to 55F and 80% humidity. This is going to be a great place to slowly dry our meat nice and evenly.
I hope you enjoy this week’s video and recipe. If you give this a go be sure to let me know how your came out and if you have any questions ask away in the comment section below.
Here are a few things you might find useful when making this recipe
- Collagen Sheets (Use these is you plan on drying inside of a dedicated drying chamber)
- Dry Aging Sheets (use these if you plan on drying in your home refrigerator)
- #8 Netting for Tenderloin
- Butchers Twine & Dispenser/Cutter
- Iodophor Sanitizer
- Chef Knife – KOTAI
- Sausage Pricker
- Insta Cure #2
- Calabrian Pepper Powder
- InkBird Controllers Temp & Humidity (Only for Drying Chamber)
- Dehumidifier Eva Dry 1100 (Only for Drying Chamber)
- Cool Mist Ultrasonic Humidifier (Only for Drying Chamber)
Enjoy the video and the recipe. If you have any questions feel free to ask away. If you make this at home I’d love to hear about how it came out!!
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Calabrian Pork Tenderloin
Ingredients
Meat
- 500 g pork tenderloin
Materials
- collagen sheet this is the wrap you'll be using if you have a drying chamber
- dry aging sheet this is the wrap you'll be using if you plan on drying this in your home refrigerator
For the Cure
- 12.5 g Kosher Salt
- 1.25 g Insta Cure #2
- 2.5 g black pepper
- 3.75 g sugar
- 1 g dried rosemary
- 3.75 g minced garlic
- 2 each juniper berries crushed
For the coating
- white wine or sambuca
- Calabrian Pepper Powder enough to coat the entire muscle
Instructions
- Trim your pork tenderloin and remove any silver skin.
- Weigh your tenderloin and type the weight in the box above. The box reads, "How much do you want to make?"
- Combine all of the "cure" ingredients and rub them onto your meat. Be sure to include 100% of all the cure spices. You don't want to leave any spices behind. Place the meat (and any spices that are left in the tray) in a bag and vacuum seal it (or a zip lock bag and remove as much air as possible).
- Once your meat has been vac sealed place it in your refrigerator for 6 days. Be sure to turn and massage the meat daily.
- After 6 days your meat has been cured and you can remove it from the fridge. Wash off any excess seasonings, liquid, and blot dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle the meat with a little white wine or sambuca then coat the tenderloin with Calabrian chili pepper powder.
- Place the cured/Calabrian pepper coated tenderloin onto a collagen sheet and wrap. Secure with elastic netting or butchers twine. Weigh the meat and record the weight. Finally prick with a sausage pricker.
- Hang in a drying chamber that has a controlled temperature of 55F and a humidity of 80% till 35% of the weight has been lost.
If you plan on drying this in your home refrigerator
- Follow the recipe above BUT DON'T USE A COLLAGEN SHEET TO WRAP YOUR TENDERLOIN. You will be using a DRY AGING SHEET to wrap your tenderloin. The dry aging sheets are more suited for making charcuterie in the refrigerator.Once you wrap your tenderloin in the dry aging sheets (try to get as much air out as possible when wrapping the tenderloin), place the net around it, weigh the muscle, record the weight, and place it to dry in your refrigerator. Make sure that it is on a grating or hanging so that there's air flow on all sides. With the refrigerator method you will not be pricking your tenderloin.
- Once you lose 35% weight your dry cured tenderloin is finished. Slice thinly and enjoy.
Storage instructions
- Take your tenderloin and give it a vinegar or wine wash. If there is any mold on the surface you'll need to remove the mold. Once all the mold is gone and you've washed it well, place the tenderloin in a vac sealed bag in your refrigerator. It will be good for up to a year.
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Eric,
Thanks for all the tips/recipes.
For your dry cured pork tenderloin, Is insta cure #2 absolutely necessary? I noticed that in your recipe for the Capocollo, the insta cure # 2 was optional.
Thanks.
It’s optional
If opting out, should the salt then be increased by the amount of cure #2 not added?
This advice applies to only whole muscles. If you chose not to use cure simply increase the salt amount to 3%. The spices are up to you
Can I ask why prick the collagen if its already perforated? And the video moved on after a short demo, but did you prickle the whole loin area? I am using a non-inoculated controlled curing chamber.
Pricking allows any air spaces to get pressed out and gives you a tighter bond between the paper and the meat. I did prick the entire loin
I watched your video on curing salts and have two questions: is celery powder a good alternative/is it better or worse for controlling the nitrate addition and what about mesophilic culture for cured sausages?
I’m not a fan of celery juice powder for sausages that would normally require cure #2. It’s really only supposed to be a replacement for cure #1. But even then it contains some unconverted nitrates which means by the time you cook your sausage you might be eating nitrates/nitrites in their unconverted form. Using a mesophilic culture would work in a salami. Just make sure there’s dextrose in the recipe for the bacteria to eat. It should ferment properly and deliver an interesting flavor..
Hi! Curious about a few things. I did the refrigerator method and mine got a hard ring around it. And had a slow and then sudden weight loss. Dark color did not permeate the entire tenderloin. Is this a bust? Is it safe to eat? Did the proper brining prior to drying
It should be ok. If you want to smooth out the darker ring, place the tenderloin in a vac sealed bag and leave it in the fridge for a couple weeks. The remaining moisture will equalize and everything should look uniform..
Thanks, will do the vac seal idea.
I’m glad I noticed this, as I made this and just took it out at 40% weight loss and also had a dark ring, so I’ll try vacuum sealing and refrigerating as you suggest. And while the dark ring affected the texture, the taste was very good. I couldn’t find the Calabrian pepper so I gave it a light sprinkling of cayenne and then a heavier coating of chili powder.
I’m planning on making this again after I’ve put together a real drying chamber – hopefully with the Calabrian pepper.
Nice. Vac sealing and refrigerating will help out with that ring.
Eric
Could you place the tender loin in a salami sausage case to cure?
Thanks B
yes, if you will be using a drying chamber
Maybe a dumb question. Is this made with a pork tenderloin or regular loin? Seemed really big for a tenderloin. What I have access to is kinda thin and packaged two to a pack. Thanks.
Bob
This is made with the tenderloin. 😀
Get some Moo Glue to join the 2 tenderloins together. I’ve done it using this recipe and it turned out great.
I bet that would be awesome!!! I’ll have to try that out.
I made this recipe and really enjoyed it! However, I would like a little bit more of a salty bite. Can I just increase the amount of salt used in the cure (like 10% or something), or do I need to increase the curing salt too? Would it be better to add some salt to the drying stage?
Thanks for the great website and YouTube channel!!
10% would be way too much. It would be inedible. Try 3% along with the cure and see where that gets you..
Hi Eric
Thank you for your super videos.
I live in the UK and have difficulty getting collagen sheets and dry aging sheets.
Is it ok to wrap the meat in muslin and secure it with string instead?
Thank you
You could. Personally I’ve had better luck with Vietnamese rice paper (the white kind). Just wet the rice paper and wrap it round your tenderloin. Make sure you have 2 layers…
Hi Eric
Do you use the rice paper used for spring rolls which is quite thick, or the type of rice paper that is used to wrap candies? I’m in the UK too and even the Umai wraps mentioned below are hard to find 🙁
ignore me, I just found your video where you experiment with the rice paper and the nori! Thanks 😀
Nice. Glad you found it
Just wondering what the difference in formula would be using regular salt instead of cure #2. Thanks!
For this recipe you would omit the cure and increase the salt so that it totals 3% of the weight of the meat.
Hi Eric, no need to post this comment, it’s mostly just for you. Twice in the comments you mentioned 3% salt. However, note your calculator is outputting a total of 2.75% salt (regular plus cure combined). For an easy example, look at a 1000 gram muscle. It outputs 25 grams salt and 2.5 grams cure #2, which totals 27.5 g or 2.75%. Just thought you’d like to know and, if the calculator is truly supposed to output 3%, make an adjustment (note I am not myself worried over the difference between 2.75-3% – I just wanted to let you know).
Thanks for this recipe, too. I’ve got a cappocollo drying, 2 loma curing (one from red meat end of the loin, one from the all white meat end, just to see how those differ), and I am about to start this tenderloin curing tomorrow!
No worries Johann. If you were to use only salt to cure this muscle then you would use 3% salt. But if you were to use cure then the salt content can be lowered to 2.5% with the addition of cure at .25%.
Thanks Eric. I pulled one of the 2 pieces of meat today and it’s really quite flavorful, but it is a little too salty for me. I used the 2.5% salt + 0.25% Prague. I’m wondering if I can drop this to a total of 2.25% (2 as regular salt and the same 0.25 Prague), and may try that next time (I have a lot of pork tenderloin on hand).
Partially I think it may be too salty for me because I dried this one to 60% final weight. The piece coming out in 2 days should be right about 65%, and so may not be quite as salty tasting (for some reason nearly identical pieces of tenderloin are drying a quite different rates – and I do switch their places on the hanger daily).
I’m doing these in the fridge and did get the dark ring, approximately 5 mm deep, as you’ve discussed with others here. So the remainder is in a bag to equilibrate for a couple of weeks in the fridge as you’ve recommended.
Thanks for all the work you put into this incredibly educational website and your videos. I’ve learned so much. I’ve got Lomo and Capocollo nearing their dry times, I’ve got a Basturma/filet curing (although next time I might use a more traditional cut – my wife kind of blanched when she learned I was curing a $100 piece of meat!), and am starting an eye round for Bresaola later this evening.
Excellent. Can’t wait to hear how the rest of the projects turn out
Thank you for the informative videos.
Made the pork tenderloin and it was good but the inside looked raw. Can you help .
You can always leave it to dry longer if you think the texture is to soft.
Thank you !
Hello Eric,
I know you’re a fan of equalizing your products after drying and I saw the culatello equalized for 4 months. I was wondering if you know of an equalization calculator or if you have a rule of thumb you follow? I searched the web, but all I found were equilibrium calculators. Thanks again for the wealth of knowledge you share with all of us.
Regards,
An
I actually don’t normally equalize. If the product dried evenly it’s not really necessary. For the culatello I wasn’t ready to finish that video so I just vac sealed it and placed it in my fridge. The 4 month window was more about convenience than equalization. If your product has dry ring it’s recommended to equalize the same amount of time that it’s dried. (a loose rule)
OK, that makes sense. My first loin should be coming out of the chamber in about another 2 weeks and I just wanted to be prepared. The RH really takes a nosedive when the fridge kicks in. It recovers pretty quickly, but it’s under 70% for about 5 minutes, sometimes dipping into the 50’s. Thank you for the reply.
That’s typical for a refrigerator. The humidity will rise and fall through the day. The goal is to have an average of 80%
Hey Eric, excellent content. I saw one of your videos by a friend recommendation and instantly got hooked. Got two questions:
1. Do you happen to have a recipe for a salmon ham (lachsschinken), similar to this but cold smoke I assume. Or any cold smoked pork loin recipe?
2. Do you have a recommendation for an inexpensive but descent manual sausage stuffer? Meat grinder with sausage attachment didn’t like the sticky fuet mix…
I don’t have a recipe yet for salmon ham. As far as stuffers go. I’m a fan of the sausage makers stuffers. Have you looked at any of theirs ( https://tinyurl.com/wy2x3j9t)?
Any pros and cons for vertical stuffers versus horizontal stuffers? I’ll be going manual.
Not really. Both do a good job. Just make sure the gear system is well built, otherwise you’ll have issues stuffing small diameter sausages.
Good afternoon!
Thanks again for all your content and help. This is not my first question and I’m sure it won’t be my last so thank you for your prompt responses.
I wrapped my first Calabrian tenderloin on 12/24. It was 533 grams. It is now 1/2 and it weighs 402 grams.
This seems awfully quick. It feels, looks and smells good. I also have a bresaola drying in the same method and refrigerator with similar weight loss.
Just wondering if I should be looking for a slower rate of weight loss or if it all depends on my fridge using the dry aging wrap method.
Thanks again.
Slower is better. Try putting the tenderloin in the crisper section of your refrigerator. That might help slow the process down..
I recently bought a SIGVAL manual sausage stuffer for about 50 bucks. It is in caulking gun form and holds exactly one pound. Cut your casings to 18 inches and when the gun is empty and you have a perfect one pound ring. I’ve had many manual stuffers and they are a pain unless you have someone to crank them. I don’t.
I have a question about the drying/aging chamber. I have a small room off of my basement that keeps a fairly consistent humidity and temp of 90% and 52deg f. Do you think it will be to damp and cold or will the drying just take longer?
The humidity might be a little high but other than that it’s perfect..
Eric,
Awesome video as usual. What is the difference between the steak dry aging wraps and dry curing wrap? Both seem to be made of collagen.
The collagen sheets (dry curing wraps) are make of a perforated collagen material. The dry aging wraps are made from a vegetable based cellulose material of sorts. The slow down the drying more than the collagen sheets..
Hi,
Any idea what went wrong with my pork loin?
Here is a pic I shared on OneDrive.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AuKYnsZtI6aY0zJ3lHVsJHLc2AMc
The collagen sheets showed only white mold but when I removed them it seems to have black mold also. The meat is also a much darker color than I was expecting. I dried it until it lost 47% of its weight.
The only variation was that I followed your printable recipe that says to poke the meat. I now noticed that in the notes above it, it says to not poke the meat.
Any ideas?
Thank you.
Sorry here is the correct link to the photo.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GyFwNVUsM4lrWkey5IZJFHpJtUNjxTQw/view?usp=sharing
Did you dry this in the home refrigerator or a drying chamber. Also which wraps did you use? The collagen sheets (Dry Curing wraps) or the Plant Based Wraps (Dry Aging Sheets)?
I used collagen sheets and hung it in a curing chamber that has my first batch of soprasatta finishing in it. 55 degrees and 80% humidity.
ok. Seem a bit dry. What % did you dry it to? Looks like 45+. How is the air flow in your chamber?
Sliced this for the first time today. Great flavor, but texture was not what I expected. More pliable than what i was looking for + slight pink in middle. Used chipotle powder—no calabrian available here. Great smoky flavor. Thoughts on texture fix? Followed curing instructions then dried in umai bag till around 33% weight loss.
You could let it dry to 40% for a more firm texture
Thank you. No one has had any problem eating it. 😄 I have the lomo drying now, target is 35%. Should I up that to 40%?
I’ve been really happy with your recipes and detailed instructions. Clearly you put a lot of work into these and it shows. Thank you.
You are welcome!!
Thank you for all your videos. Very much appreciated. Can I use Umai bags for this recipe?
yes
Hi Eric, love your channel (and the Easy Freezer Meals one too), thanks for putting out such great content.
I’ve just started a charcuterie experiment, and I wondered if you might have some input on a couple questions. The experiment is to dip ready to age meats in liquid gelatin solutions of a couple different concentrations, and then dry age them in the refrigerator to see if I can find a level of gelatin coating that will work as well or better than the Dry Aging Steak Wraps do at slowing moisture loss to an appropriate rate.
So first of all, am I right in thinking that the only real function of the Dry Aging Wraps is to slow moisture loss (and also to block odors from other refrigerator items), and that the difference between the Wraps and the collagen sheets used in chamber curing is mostly the different degrees of moisture permeability?
Second, if we’re doing both the curing and the drying in the refrigerator, is there a strong reason to separate the two stages, as opposed to applying the moisture-loss-slowing barrier (whether Wraps or gelatin coating) as soon as the salt for the cure is absorbed into the surface, and letting the meat begin to dry from the outside in at the same time that the salt is diffusing from the outside in? Maybe the salt needs only a day or two head start to stay ahead of the drying? Or do you suppose allowing it to start drying would cause moisture to flow outward of the meat in a way that would prevent the salt cure from diffusing completely to the center?
Third, at refrigerator temperatures, are there noticeable changes produced by enzymatic, fermentation, or other processes that continue to add depth of flavor to a cured meat well beyond the point it reaches the desired moisture loss target, or does the cold inhibit most such activities and lead to a less complex final product vs. a traditional curing chamber?
Thanks again, your videos and site have been very inspiring and helpful!
That is correct. The dry age wraps and collagen sheets both control moisture loss just at different rates. If you try to cure in the wraps the moisture that’s expelled from the meat ill effect the adhesion and not allow it to properly work.. In a refrigerator, you won’t have the complexity that you will have drying the more traditional way. It’s a cool hack but at the end of the day drying in a higher temp with higher humidity is the way to go.
Thanks for the response, much appreciated. I’ll share the results of my experiment when it’s finished – currently my ~200g test pieces are at ~20% moisture loss, and losing about 3-5% per day. Speaking of, do you have a per day or per week percentage of weight loss that you feel is about the right rate to aim for, or some other rule of thumb for gauging whether a given piece is drying too fast?
There’s really no hard and fast rule for drying. It all depends on the drying conditions. Most meats will take at least 20-30 days to dry. So if in 1 week it feels very firm you’ll know that you have an issue.. Slower is better
Thanks again.
My experiment on drying pork loin samples in different concentrations of gelatin solutions is finished, and I posted a report on it on Reddit here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Charcuterie/comments/t63qeq/i_ran_an_experiment_using_gelatin_coatings_on/
The gist of it is that gelatin coatings do seem to be effective at slowing moisture loss to an acceptable rate for drying meats in the refrigerator, with perhaps a lower bound of acceptable performance at twice-dipping in a 3% gelatin solution (though likely better performance at higher solutions).
My next experiment will likely be to dry three more pieces, dipping each twice in either a 4%, 5%, or 6% solution, and I will come back here to report any results from that as well.
Thanks again for your thoughtful input.
Thanks for all the videos, very informative. If I can’t get the Calabrian pepper powder what else can I use instead? as well as Juniper berries?
Thank you
you can substitute for smoked paprika and rosemary or just omit the juniper berries..
Can you recommend alternatives to dry aging sheets and Calabrian pepper powder as neither referenced are available from Amazon.ca here in Canada.
Thanks for your help.
You could always try and find Umai bags. Those would work as well
Hi, I really enjoyed the video. One question, can this be made with pork loin with out any changes ?
Thanks
yes
Can this be made in the refrigerator with pork loin instead of tenderloin? Also do you have any other recipes that use a pork loin that can be dry aged in the fridge?
Thank-you.
yes. I do have a loin recipe on the site. Search Spanish Lomo.
Any issue with brushing the meat with mold-600 before putting in the aging chamber? My chamber is brand new so nothing much is there at the moment.
That will work. That’s usually what I do..
Eric, making this today. I bought the Calabrian pepper last week. My pork tenderloin came in a 2 pack… any suggestions for a good flavor for 2nd one, that can be a bit different?
I’m a huge fan of fennel charcuterie. Might be worth a shot..
I made the calabrian pork tenderloin and dried it in the dry aging sheets. The color is quite dark when i cut into it ,I was wondering what causes this and if this is an issue. Thanks in advance
Generally the color gets magnified as the moisture evaporates out. Sometimes it will look dark red once finished..
Hi Eric,
I hung my cured pork tenderloin in my humidity/temperature controlled drying chamber on 5/30. I did not spray with mold 600. Today, the meat is developing molds of different colors on the surface. Should I be cleansing the surface with vinegar at this point or wait till the dry aging is over? I also have salami hanging in the same chamber that was coated with mold 600.
Thanks!
I would clean the muscle with vinegar once you start seeing unwanted molds starting to grow
This looks like a great recipe, so I tried it on a small tenderloin and have it drying now. However, it looks like it is only going to get to 35% weight loss after 3 weeks. I used instacure #2. Is it safe to eat, or should I wait the full 30 days? Thanks!
If you are ready to pull it from the fridge, I would vac seal it and place back in the fridge for another week (till you get to the 30 day mark)
Hi, Eric, I made this using the refrigerator method but now I want to make it again in my newly made curing chamber. I got 2 tenderloins on sale, and my question is, can I make my equilibrium cure based on the combined trimmed weight of both of them and seal them up together in the same vacuum bag or do I need to do them separately. I, of course, intend to wrap them separately in collagen sheets.
I want to do one of them using the Calabrian pepper but, variety being the spice of life and charcuterie, I’m looking for an alternate finish for the second one. Asny suggestions?
Finally, I have been unable to find a chart relating the size of the netting and the size of the meat. I have #8 netting for this project, as you suggested, but I’m also working on a bresaola and you didn’t indicate a net size in your description of that project. But if there is a simple chart you could point me too that would be great because then I could figure it out myself.
Thanks.
Yes. I generally do that when curing small muscles. Ohh. A nice cracked fennel or toasted coriander rub would be nice. You could also go with a citrus finish like lemon or orange zest with peppercorn.
Hi Eric , just watched some of your vids , and i must say, great work!! dont stop 🙂 . I have a question for you, what would be the downside ( or plus side ) of using natural casings ( beef intestines ) instead of collagen sheets for drying meats , as i couldnt help but notice that all the vids i watched you’re only using collagen sheets
many thanks
You could do either. Collagen sheets are a bit easier to work with because you really need a tight fit for the muscle to dry properly without getting bad molds on the inside.
I see your using the Calibrian peppers 🌶 for season. I wish i knew their flavor, is it like Paprika? Is it like spicy hot peppers? Is it more like chili peppers jalapeños poblano’s? I just not sure. I have followed this recipe three times now without a problem except that I have not used the peppers in the recipe. I made another today and came back to this recipe for my calculations on Cure salt. My question as I made my new batch today was ……Is There any spices that should not be used? I have used garlic and pepper mostly? I just wonder if there is something that should never be used to avoid molding or rot?
The flavor of Calabrian peppers is amazing, unlike any other pepper. Slightly smoky, spicy, citrusy. Very tasty pepper. There are no spices that are off limits (at least none that I know of)
I am ready to try some whole muscles. I am ordering the aging kit from The Sausage Maker. I am going to make 1 Pastrama Pork Loin and 1 Colabrian pork loin
and 1 Colabrian Eye of Round. Will the kit have enough netting or what size netting should I buy as a general use 1. There are so many sizes?
the netting in the kit is fairly large. It won’t work for the tenderloin and depending on the eye of round it might be too big as well. When buying netting look at the “working size” it would read something like “Working Diameter : 1.5 – 2.5″” I think you might be able to select a little easier. Here’s an example of one: https://amzn.to/3hGqwjH
In this recipe you just state cure your meat for 6 days. Why did you not use the brining calculator to determine the time?
I wanted to keep it easy. You can certainly use a cure calculator to be more precise if you want but there are no pork tenderloins that would take longer than 6 days to cure 😉.
(This may be a double-posting, had problems with my other browser) But, Thank you for the great recipe and video for the Calabrian Pork Tenderloin. Wife bought me two double-packs of tenderloins and I made four tenderloins varying the amount of Rosemary and Juniper berries plus using the Dry Aging Wraps in the refrigerator process. When it came time to wrap them I tore the wrap on the first one while trying to get it into the netting (need to get me a tool to help for this process) so it went into the smoker with plum wood .. very tasty. The remainder I tried to hand-tie with butcher twine to hang. One week into it and the twine was now getting loose and they were drying too fast. I alternated between putting them into a zip-lock bag for a few days, then putting them on a wire rack loosely covered with plastic for a few days. After 5 weeks they’ve all reached the 35% stage. After unwrapping them I noticed a few black splotches on them. I did not get any mold growth on the exterior of the wrap. Cutting into the tenderloin(s) they are a nice deep rich red color throughout. Tasting them they are delicious, the meat is smooth to eat, and the different amount of seasoning is noticeable. But being new to this process .. how do I recognize mold or any other signs that I might have botched this and made unsafe meat. Or is the fact that the amount of salt and cure going to make that nearly impossible?
mold will usually grow on anything given the right conditions. You would be wise to invest in a mold culture to ensure that you are growing the right type of mold. Mold 600 is what I recommend. Outside of that it’s a toss up. Unless you are a mycologist and understand what different molds look like it would be impossible to tell the good from the bad.
Thanks for the great recipe. Thanks for introducing me to Calabrain spice, my family calls it Italian Paprika it has made it into almost daily use.
I just finished the whole process of making 2 calabrian, one with the hot calabrian and one with the regular (mild) calabrian. I can say this both turned out great. i used the refrigerator method for the final stage.
Once again thanks for a great recipe.
You are very welcome!
Can you use smoked salt? Just curious if it would add anything? Also what other kinds of pepper/chili powder can you use?
Sure. It would add a slight smoky flavor. As far as chili powders you can literally use any that you like.