This Corned Pork recipe cures pork, or corns it just the same as a corned beef. The meat is chopped into bite-size chunks, about 1 to 2 inches. Which reduces the cure time to about 3 days. Brined with Sure Cure or Prague Powder #1 and a homemade pickling spice that is really going to add an elegant aroma and flavor. There’s just nothing like it.
What a beautiful smell to fill the house, too. Leaving you anticipating the Belly Smile! It’s an incredible Sunday evening meal, or used to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a boiled dinner using corned pork instead of corned beef. If not making the boiled dinner, save the broth for gravies or soups, like the Canadian split pea soup.
Corned Pork Ingredients
Pork (Shoulder, Butt, Loin, or Tenderloin), Brine (Sea Salt, Brown Sugar, Garlic, JAH Pickling Spice (Black Peppercorn, Mustard seeds, Coriander seeds, Dill seeds, Allspice Berries, Red Chili Flakes, Cinnamon, Clove, Ginger, Bay Leaf, Mace.), Sure Cure, or Prague Powder #1).
Pork
Use pork shoulder, butt, loin, or tenderloin with excess fat trimmed off. Chop the pork into 1-2 inch cubes. Save the fat trimmings to include or render out for certain recipes. Weigh out 5 lbs worth or 2270 g. This is very generous for a family meal with plenty of leftovers or follow-up meals. It is also ideal or used for a small gathering of up to 8 people or servings served with a bunch of sides like a Boiled Dinner.
Pickling Spice
This is an impressive and elegant pickling spice I created and use for Corned Pork and other recipes too. It adds such a pleasing complexity of flavors to the meat. I have also tried making this recipe with store-bought pickling spice, and they’re not as good. It’s this pickling spice blend with curing the meat that creates such a wonderful flavor. There really is nothing like it.
1/4 C of the pickling spice or the whole recipe below is included when curing the meat in the refrigerator. I just add it to the brine. Then strain the meat out with the spices to fill the pot back up with water and include both the meat and spices. Then remove the meat and rinse off any spices, then strain the broth. You can place it into a sachet to both brine and simmer with. Which makes it a bit cleaner and easy to remove all the spices.
Pickling Spice
- 2 tsp Black Peppercorn, Mustard seeds, Coriander seeds, Dill seeds, & Whole Allspice Berries
- 1 tsp Red Chili Flakes
- 1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp Ground Clove
- 1/4 tsp Ground Ginger
- 1/4 tsp Ground Bay Leaf
- 1/4 tsp Mace
Corned Pork Brine
Combine all the corning brine together in a large bowl or pot and add diced pork. Brine for 3 days, stirring once or twice during refrigeration. Afterward, strain it out, saving the pickling spice to throw both the meat and strained pickling spice back into the pot to fill with cold water.
Corning Brine
- 16 C Water
- 1/2 C Sea Salt
- 1/2 C Brown Sugar
- 1/4 C Pickling Spice
- 2 tsp Sure Cure or Prague Powder #1
- 3–5 Cloves of Garlic
Sure Cure
Sure Cure or Prague Powder #1 is the curing salt used to cure the meat and give it that pink color when cooked. Consisting of Salt & Sodium Nitrite (6.25%) and can be picked up at butcher shops or ordered online. Getting the ppm (parts per million) in any cure is essential. Not only for the flavor but to prevent bacteria growth as the meat is being cured. This recipe is a light to medium cure which can range from 124 ppm to 155 ppm, depending on taste.
1 level tsp of sure cure is approximately 6 g.
Calculating Corned Pork ppm
This brine solution cures 5 lbs of meat at a nitrite level of 124 ppm. Generally, Corned Pork or Corned Beef is within the range of 150-200 ppm. For a lighter cure, use 2 tsp (12g) of Prague Powder #1 or Sure Cure which will yield a 124 ppm cure. Using 2 1/2 tsp of Sure Cure will yield about 155g ppm, a slightly heavier cure. Between this range is ideal.
The maximum for this recipe is 3 tsp or 1 Tbl for 5 lbs of meat in a brine of 16 C Water. Which places it at 200 ppm or just shy below. In my opinion, this is much too strong. Around 2 to 2 1/2 tsp is good, with 2 tsp being more ideal for my preference and offering up a nice light cure, and the latter for a slightly heavier cure. Ensure that you are using Sure Cure or Prague Powder #1 and not any other form of nitrites.
The below equation shows how to calculate Corned Pork PPM;
Target PPM x Total Weight in grams (Meat & Water) / Nitrite level (0.0625)/ 1,000,000 ppm = total cure in grams
5 lbs of diced pork: 124 ppm x 6055 g (2270 g meat + 3785 g water) / .0625 nitrite level / 1,000,000 ppm = 12 g curing salt or about 2 levelled tsp.
You can opt to add 2 1/2 tsp of Sure Cure for a slightly heavier cure based on taste. This will yield about 155 ppm and brings the cure in the typical range for corned pork.
Straining Corned Pork
After the curing, strain out both the meat and spices through a fine sieve, discarding the brine. The meat does not need to be rinsed or soaked. It can go straight back to the pot with the pickling spice and water to cook.
Although you can if you want to reduce the salt content in the broth and possibly later season the broth with added salt to adjust. But it isn’t really needed at all, especially if making a boiled dinner. Since vegetables will be added and soak up some salt as well.
How to Cook Corned Pork
Add the cured meat to a pot with 16 cups of water, including the strained pickling spice. Cover and set the heat at medium-low (9 position) to cook for 4–5 hours. Do not bring to a boil over max heat and then lower the heat. Let it get there gradually and very slowly.
After 2 hours, it’ll be simmering, skim the scum from the surface and give it a good stir. Cover again and leave to slow cook the final duration, until it is very tender.
Gently scoop and dip or otherwise shake gently, washing away any spices that will stick to the meat, within the broth. Strain the broth, discard the spices.
Corned Pork Servings
You lose about 25% of the meat weight when cooking. Portioning out about 1/2 lb of raw meat per serving and multiplying by 25% will give you the amount you need. So if you wanted to feed 8, then portion out .5 lbs x 8 = 4 lbs of raw meat. Then multiply that by 1.25 (25%) for a total raw meat weight of 5 lbs for 8 servings. This depends on what sides are available to fill the dinner out. But in general, this is a pretty good guideline.
Corned Pork Broth
It’s the long simmer time of the meat that creates a flavorful broth. With a boiled dinner, this broth is elevated even more with the added vegetables contributing to flavor. Either way, don’t discard the Corned Pork Broth.
The Broth can be used to make a Boiled Dinner and served by itself as a small appetizer bowl of soup as a side for the boiled dinner or to pour over the plate of a boiled dinner. It can also be made into a Gravy, or saved for Split Pea Soup or other soups.
Corned Pork Meals
I typically use this Corned Pork recipe for a Boiled Dinner. Either using the cured meat by itself or coating it in a Brown Sugar & Mustard glaze and broiling to serve with Boiled Dinner. Both of which are pictured below.
Other places may include Corned Pork & Bean Soup, sandwiches like Corned Pork sandwiches, Irish Pork Stew, Corned Pork Dinner with Mashed Potatoes and Sauerkraut (optionally with the corned pork covered in mustard and brown sugar to broil), Corned Pork Hash (instead of corned beef hash). Corned Pork & Baked Beans.
Boiled Dinner
Corned pork, cabbage, carrots, and potatoes are cooked low and slow for a corned pork boiled dinner. Covered in Butter and seasoned with Salt & Pepper.
Broiled Corned Pork with Brown Sugar and Mustard
50/50 combination of yellow mustard & brown sugar to gently toss the corned pork in and into the oven on broil until browned to your liking, just a few minutes.
Ingredients
- 5 lbs Pork Shoulder
Corning Brine
- 16 C Water
- 1/2 C Brown Sugar & Sea Salt - each
- 5 Cloves Garlic
- 2 tsp Sure Cure or Prague Powder #1 - see notes
Pickling Spice
- 2 tsp Black Peppercorn, Mustard seeds, Coriander seeds, Dill seeds, & Whole Allspice Berries - each
- 1 tsp Red Chili Flakes
- 1/4 tsp Cinnamon, Clove, Ginger, Mace & ground Bay Leaf - each, all grounded
Instructions
- Brining: Combine all the ingredients together for the Corning Brine into a large pot. Optionally place the pickling spices in a sachet bag to brine with the meat or include in the brine itself.Trim away any excess fat from the meat. This can be placed into freezer bags and saved to render out for other recipes. Dice the meat into bite size pieces, about 1-2 inch chunks. Add it to the brine and refrigerate for 3 days. Give it a stir once a day.
- Slow Cooked Corned Pork: Strain the pork with the pickling spice, discarding the brine.Place the pork along with strained pickling spice into a large pot and fill with 16 C of fresh water. Cover and set to a medium-low heat (9 position). After 2 hours, skim the scum off, give it a mix, and continue to cook for a total of 4–5 hours. Gently mix occasionally.
- Straining the Broth: Scoop out the meat, and dunk it or gently shake off any spices that will stick to the meat, and let it rest. Strain out the broth, discarding the pickling spice, and place the broth back into the pot. You can optionally simmer any vegetables you want to serve with the corned pork for a boiled dinner or cool the broth and save it for other recipes. You can also reduce the broth to concentrate the flavors before cooling and saving for other recipes.