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Jennifer McGavin learned to cook German food while living in Germany for 11 years and has worked in the food industry for many years.
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Updated on 02/15/22
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:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/black-forest-ham-2278383_1920-5996006e845b340010c7eec1.jpg "Make Quick Smoked Pork (Schwarzwaelder Shinken) With This Recipe (1)")
Prep: 4 hrs
Cook: 90 mins
Total: 5 hrs 30 mins
Servings: 6 servings
Yield: 1 1/2 pounds
23 ratings
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Have you ever considered making your own smoked meat? This German Black Forest Ham recipe or Schwarzwaelder Schinkenis an easy beginner project for do-it-yourselfers which yields delicious and quick results.
Authentic German Black Forest ham takes several months to make. It is cold smoked (low temperatures) and then air-dried. While that is best done by professionals, we amateurs can use some of the same tricks to mimic the taste and appeal of thisSchinken. That is especially important when we cannot buy the real thing.
In this recipe, the meat is cured for 4 hours, then smoked for less than 2 hours. It uses traditional Black Forest spices and smoking with pine chips, as they do in the Schwarzwald(Black Forest). Some smokers say to avoid pine chips at all cost because of the pine tars present, but this is how it is traditionally done in Germany.
WhichCut IsBest to Use?
This "ham" can be made from almost any piece of meat off the hog. I used part of the rib meat connected to the loin. This piece of meat consists of many smaller muscles held together by fat and sinew and is not often purchased for fresh eating. Because of the salting and slow cooking, the meat is tenderized and very tasty.
- Equipment:
- Pine and/or juniper wood chips
- Smoker or grill
- Charcoal
- Meat thermometer
Ingredients
Pork:
2 1/5 pounds (1 kilogram) fatty pork loin, or ham, no more than 2 inches thick
Dry Cure:
4 ounces kosher salt
2 ounces sugar
1/2 ounce pink curing salt
Spice Rub:
2 tablespoons black peppercorns
2 tablespoons juniper berries
10 whole bay leaves
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 teaspoons dried marjoram
Steps to Make It
Getting Started
Remove thick pieces of fat from the meat. You may leave a thin layer. Mix together the Dry Cureingredientsand coat the meat evenly with the mixture. Because of the nitrites in the salt, don't let people or pets ingest the mixture.
Place the meat in a nonmetal container (such as a Pyrex casserole dish), cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours. The liquid will be drawn from the meat.
Start Smoking
At the 3-hour mark, start your charcoal fire. Soak 2 cups (or so) of wood chips in some water.
Wash off all the salt under running water and pat dry with paper towels.
Make the spice rubby grinding together (I like to use an old, electric, blade coffee grinder), the whole spices,bay leaves and dried marjoram, and sprinkle over all sides of the meat, pressing to adhere.
Place your smoking tray (or aluminum foil tray) on top of the charcoal and add 1/2 cup wet wood chips. Place the grill above that, not touching.
Place the meat on the grill grate, cover and smoke 1 1/2 hours, until the internal temperature is 150 degrees F. or above. Add more wet chips, as needed, to keep the smoke up.
The meat is now ready to eat or use in recipes such as pea soup, lentil stew, or eat it like breakfast ham or chop it and sprinkle on salads. You may wrap chunks in plastic and freeze for a few months, or refrigerate for two weeks.
This recipe is adapted from the recipe for Tasso Ham (a Creole delicacy) in "Charcuterie"by Michael Ruhlman (W.W. Norton & Co., 2013), a well-written cookbook on sausages, hams, bacon and other preserved foods.
Curing Meat Warning
Curing meat requires specific expertise and failure to cure meat properly may result in sickness or death. If you have no experience in this area, we advise you to consult an expert to teach you proper techniques and applications.
Great Resources on Curing Meat
Since curing meat requires such a specific skill set, otherwise, it can lead to illness or worse, we highly recommend consulting with an expert to teach you proper techniques. We found that the following four publications are super helpful guides and go in-depth about just such processes, procedures, and techniques:
- Charcuterie: The Art of Salting, Smoking, and Curing by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn
- Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages by Stanley Marianski
- The River Cottage Smoking & Curing Handbook by Steven Lamb
- USDA’s Processing Procedures: Dried Meats
| Nutrition Facts (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 77 | Calories |
| 2g | Fat |
| 13g | Carbs |
| 4g | Protein |
Show Full Nutrition Label
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| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings: 6 | |
| Amount per serving | |
| Calories | 77 |
| % Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat 2g | 2% |
| Saturated Fat 0g | 2% |
| Cholesterol 11mg | 4% |
| Sodium 8249mg | 359% |
| Total Carbohydrate 13g | 5% |
| Dietary Fiber 1g | 5% |
| Total Sugars 9g | |
| Protein 4g | |
| Vitamin C 0mg | 2% |
| Calcium 33mg | 3% |
| Iron 1mg | 5% |
| Potassium 117mg | 2% |
| *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice. | |
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)
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