Sous Vide Hamburgerryg (Danish Smoked Pork Loin)

November 23, 2020

Sous Vide Hamburgerryg (Danish Smoked Pork Loin)

Hamburgerryg is a lightly cured and smoked pork loin - the cut most people know as slices on an open rye-bread sandwich or from the cold Christmas table. Cooked sous vide, it isn’t about cooking raw meat through, but about warming the already-cured meat gently all the way through without it turning dry or tough along the way.

The meat is vacuum-sealed and sits in a water bath at a fixed, low temperature for several hours. The result is juicy and evenly warm from edge to edge - without the dry, gray rim you can easily get when hamburgerryg is boiled in water on the stovetop or warmed through too quickly in the oven.

From here the dish splits in two. Take the meat straight from the bag and slice it thinly, and you get a classic cold cut. Instead, give it a glaze of mustard, brown sugar and breadcrumbs and a short spell in a very hot oven, and it ends up a glossy, browned main course in the style of the traditional Christmas ham.

The glazed version belongs at the Christmas lunch and the Christmas Eve table, often side by side with the roast pork, while the unglazed version is everyday fare: slices for the rye-bread sandwich or a cold spread for the lunch table. To make it festive, serve with creamed potatoes or home-fried potatoes and glazed red cabbage; if it’s just everyday food, rye bread and a little mustard are enough.

Ingredients

Serves 4

0.8-1 kg hamburgerryg (whole, in netting)
1-2 tbsp Dijon mustard, for the glaze (optional)
1-2 tbsp dark brown sugar, for the glaze (optional)
1-2 tbsp breadcrumbs, for the glaze (optional)
a little apple cider vinegar, for spraying in the oven (optional)

Directions

Bring a pot of water to a boil and lower the hamburgerryg in, netting still on, for about half a minute to a full minute. This makes the netting easier to remove and at the same time draws a little of the excess salt out of the meat. Take the meat out, remove the netting, and pat it thoroughly dry with paper towels.

Vacuum-seal the hamburgerryg and place the bag in a sous vide bath at 149°F (65°C). Because the meat is already cured and smoked, cooking is about gentle warming through rather than cooking raw meat - so don’t set the temperature higher than necessary. Cook for 4 hours. If the piece weighs around 1 kg (2¼ lb), it can benefit from up to 6-7 hours to warm evenly through; if you’d rather have a slightly juicier, faintly “rarer” result, lower the temperature to 144°F (62°C) and shorten the time to 3-4 hours.

Take the bag out of the water bath and let the meat rest a couple of minutes in the bag before you open it.

To serve the hamburgerryg as a cold cut, take the meat out of the bag and pat it dry. Cut it into slices half a centimeter to a centimeter thick (about ¼–½ inch) and serve it cold or lukewarm.

To serve it instead as a warm, glazed main course, likewise take the meat out of the bag and pat it dry, then place it in an ovenproof dish. Stir the mustard, brown sugar and breadcrumbs together into a smooth paste and spread it over the meat. Put the dish in a preheated oven at 400-425°F (200-225°C), ideally with fan/convection or under the broiler, for 5-15 minutes, until the glaze bubbles and browns. Spray on a little apple cider vinegar along the way if you like. Let the meat rest a couple of minutes, cut it into slices, and serve.

Notes

Hamburgerryg is already cured and smoked, so no more salt should be added before cooking - season to taste afterwards if needed.
The meat can sit unopened in the vacuum bag in the refrigerator for up to a week at a maximum of 43°F (6°C), so the dish can easily be made well ahead.
Serve as a cold cut on rye bread, or as a glazed main course with creamed potatoes, home-fried potatoes or glazed red cabbage.