Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Homemade SPAM - How To Make SPAM at Home!!

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Ingredients

  • 5 lbs - Pork Shoulder (ground)
  • 1 lb - Ham (ground)
  • 2 TBS + 1 tsp - Tender Quick
  • 3 TBS - Sugar
  • 3 TBS - Corn Starch
  • 1 TBS - Kosher Salt
  • 1 Cup - Cold Water
Directions
  • Mix Tender Quick, sugar, cornstarch, Kosher salt and cold water together until everything is dissolved.
  • Combine with ground meat and thoroughly mix.
  • Spread mixture into 2 - 9x5 loaf pans and press firmly to remove air bubbles.
  • Tightly seal with aluminum foil, place into a water bath and then into a 250ΒΊ oven for 3-3.5 hours or until they reach an internal temperature of 155ΒΊ.
  • Remove from oven, place a heavy flat object (I used a brick) on top while still hot.
  • Let thoroughly cool, then place into the refrigerator with brick overnight.
  • Remove SPAM from pans and slice as desired.
Enjoy!! 

Equipment I used:



109 comments:

  1. Larry
    Just a note to say how well done your YouTube and web instructions have been put together. I make all types of sausage as a hobby but have yet to attempt home made Spam. I am inspired and I will surely make some soon. Most of my grinders and sausage stuffers are old time units and I like to find them in junk stores and alike. One day I found a ham press. It is shaped just like the old style canned hams that had the metal key attached for opening the cans. The press is basically a canned ham shaped boat with a spring loaded lid that fits inside the press. Once filled with meat products the lid is closed and clamped down to remove air and keep the product firm. I assume it was then loaded in a steam cabinet with hundreds of others. I have yet to use it but plan to if this Spam recipe works out for me. We have a huge family camp out each year and fried spam is always prepared for breakfast. This will knock their socks off. Well done.

    As a side note, I have ground a lot of pork over the years for the sausage that I prepare. I know that pork shoulders and pork butts are the norm and a bit cheaper to buy. However, when I am in a hurry or feeling lazy I simply buy the boneless pork spare ribs at the Costco meat counter. They have the fat content needed but are already cut in nice thick strips that simply drop right in the throat of the grinder. A little more money but simple and fast. Thanks again for a well done projects. Roy

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    1. Hi Roy! Very interesting about the ham press, etc!! I'd like to see and hear how that turns out! Please share some pictures when you can!

      I thought about using the country style ribs too versus cutting up the pork should as well!! Great idea!!

      Thanks for watching and commenting!

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    2. I have to AGREE with MoxeeME! I, too, have made a lot of sausage and watched Many Videos. This was very very well done! Can't wait to try it! Job WELL done!

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    3. Thank you very much Dan I appreciate it!

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    4. I bet this would be awesome put into casings and then smoked!!

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    5. I cannot figure out how to print this out

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    6. can you can this instead of doing the process in the oven? Thank you

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  2. Larry I have tried this recipe a couple of times and it is as good as you said it would be or it was thanks for the recipe I really enjoyed it.

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    1. Thank you very much!! Glad you are enjoying it!!

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    2. I'm totally thinking the same thing. I'm going to say, pack the mix in the jars and process 90 minutes for points and 75 for quarts. I'm probably going to try it.

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  3. wondering if this can be frozen, and how long does it last in the refridgerator, Hubby loves spam and takes the individual slices on the road with him (he's a truck driver) for sandwiches, and has a refridgerator in the truck. But 2 loaves is way to much for him to take with him at a time, so if I can store the extra loaf and and remains that he doesn't take, this would be so worth it to make, love it and thank you for the instructions and youtube video.

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    1. Hi Jolene,

      I sliced a loaf and individually separated each piece with a piece of parchment paper, then froze and as long as it's properly sealed it will last a long time in the freezer. I'd say it will last a week in the fridge, probably longer.

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  4. is there a recipe or directions for dare i say it pressure canning this?

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    1. Can as u would pork.your attitude & weight 10.15.5.pints 75 min.qt.80.

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    2. I can a lot... I asked a lot of canning people this question too. They told me you can all meats for 100 minutes.15lbs

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  5. Well done instructions. Would this work with any combination of meats?

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  6. Larry, you knocked this one "out of the park"!! It is fabulous! Store bought spam has gotten so salty I quit buying it. I've had rave reviews on your recipe, to the point I've had to make a second batch just to give away to relatives who tasted my first batch. I've added some Hatch, NM green chili to some as well for a wonderful spicy spam and that was awesome as well. Thank you for a great recipe!!
    We freeze it in food storage vacuum bags when I make it and it does great frozen and thawed.
    Rich A., Watford City, ND

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  7. Thank you Larry for a wonderful recipe!! You knocked this one out of the park!! I've had to make a second batch for relatives who tasted the first batch. We also freeze it in vacuum storage bags, but not sure on the longevity of that yet. Put a spin on part of ground pork and ham and added some Hatch, NM green chili and it it awesome as well.

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  8. My question exactly. Thinking maybe bake on wide mouth pint jars half time, then can the usual time for meat?

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    1. I was curious if you tried this. I'm looking to make shelf stable spam too.

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  9. How would I modify for pink salt. Can't find tenderquick

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  10. Can find Tender quick in most big box outdoor stores. Also, you can Google it for home prep. It is just sodium nitrite as salt, sometimes with an anti-caking ingredient.

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    Replies
    1. Walmart and sporting good stores (deer season/jerky) usually have it. If you can't find it Amazon has it - http://amzn.to/2x5IOiX

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  11. I wonder how much a pound compared to factory made SPAM.

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    1. Would depend on the prices of each of course. Have made this as described and once using 85% beef CSR's and 15% ham steak. All has been wonderful. Thank you.

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    2. love this recipe!

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    3. Awesome recipe! will definately use it again



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    4. Well, I make 12 6lb Spam loaves with Chipotle seasoning on Tuesday each week and sell one large 1/2 inch crispy fried slice with Two fried eggs and homemade seasoned potato browns and a big ol sweet honey bisquit and coffee for $12 a plate every Saturday morning out of my little food truck. Got folks lined up round the block from 7am to 11am if it lasts that long, and I usually run out of my spam by 9. I average 150 plates each weekend. People can't get enough of it. It's tons of fun and I'm raking in the profit big time.

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  12. Out of curiosity, did you try cooking it until the internal temp was closer to like 200 to convert some of that collagen into gelatin?

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  13. Tried your recipe and the family loves it. Made a gif of the steps we took throughout the process.

    https://imgflip.com/gif/26h4fm

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  14. Hi! I am making an attempt on your recipe, but I am metric, so can you please clear for me whether the temperatures in your recipe are Fahrenheit or centigrade? Much appreciate it!

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    1. Fahrenheit Please let me know how you like it! Thanks!

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    2. Will do, thank you!

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  15. Hi. I have never used any sort of curing agent and don't really understand how they work. Or what they DO. I need to watch my sodium intake and Tender Quick is off the charts! Do you know what would happen if I simply left it out (or reduced the amount)? I guess I should just forget about SPAM, but your video made it look so good!! Thanks very much!

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  16. can I cook this in a smoker without the foil on top?

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  17. Hi, can I replace Tender Quick with Prague Powder # 2? If possible, how much should I use?

    Im from the Philippines and its kinda hard to source the Tender Quick. Cant wait to try making your SPAM. BTW I Love SPAM. :)

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  18. You would not want to use Prague Powder #2 as it also contains Sodium Nitrite for long time curing. Tender Quick is only 6.25% Sodium Nitrate and most of the balance is regular salt. I'll let you do the math conversion. I think with Prague Powder #1 you only use 1 tsp per 5 pounds of meat. The Sodium Nitrates purpose is to retard bacteria growth and to give a pink color to the meat. In this recipe, meat preservation is not even an issue as the meat goes right into the oven to fully cook. If you left it out, all you would lose is the pink color to the meat. I wonder if red food coloring would work as with Pork Char Sui?

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    1. I know this is an old thread, but Tender Quick also produces a taste change in the meat treated, so along with the pink color, you'd also lose that. Now you might not mind the taste change, so try it with a small batch first to see.

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  19. Great recipe. Can't wait to try it. Only thing I might do different, is grind it one more time with a smaller cut. Same way you'd do bratwurst.

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  20. Where in the UK can I find the Tender Quick curing salt?

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  21. Mine is in the oven right now. One of the memories of my dad was back in the 60's having fried Spam or fried bologna sandwiches. I have a nice foil wrapped brick waiting. This is going to be awesome! Thank you... Rick

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    1. Hope you enjoy Rick! Let us know how you like it!

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  22. I've been curing my own bacon for a few months now and it always turns out great so had to give this a try as well. Mine's in the oven as I type and I'm like a kid on Christmas eve!
    Thanks for the great recipe and video.

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  23. After 3.5 hours in the oven and the overnight pressing in the fridge, all I can say is ...WOW! This recipe is fantastic!
    I just had a few slices pan fried with eggs, baked beans and toast for dinner and it was heaven on a plate. Please don't tell my doctor ;-) Thank you again for this great recipe and video guide, Larry, it's a winner!

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  24. I won't tell Geoff! Glad you enjoyed it!!

    Thanks,
    Larry

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  25. It looks like you're adding cure to already cured ham. I would adjust the cure and only cure the pork shoulder. Let that set for a while then mix it all together. Everything else looks great. I will be trying this recipe in the near future!

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  26. Hello Larry!
    I found your recipe for homemade Spam recently and decided to try it. The only thing I did different was to use two packets of unflavored gelatin dissolved in 2/3 cup of water instead of corn starch. I also used Turbinado (raw) sugar instead of white sugar. It came out pretty good but I think I'll use the white sugar next time. Also, I've been making a lot of homemade fresh sausage lately and I've started cooking the blade bone and trimmings I don't put into my sausage into a homemade pork broth (minus the fat, which I skim off after it cools)that I add back to my sausage rather than water because it has all of that nice collagen in it and is gelatinous. This is what I intend to do with my next batch of your delicious Spam recipe! Thanks again for your great online recipe and tutorial!!
    Barry

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  27. Hey my name is Rickie I saw your video and recipe it looks great I have a pork butt thawing in the fridge right now I will be getting the ham tomorrow morning after sunSun morning Church I am really excited about trying it.If you have any other recipes I believe theyed be great as well and I'd be happy to try them.

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  28. Did not understand the part about the water bath do I cook it in the water bath or what

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    1. Think of it as a double boiler in your oven.

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    2. Oh my.well u take a 13×9×3 pan add water.then u put the spam loaf pan in the water.foil covered.See it steams it.the water.add more water if level goes down.

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  29. Wondering if you could can this in a pressure cooker? use wide mouth jars and use the pressure cooker instead of baking at 250.

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  30. hello sir, i was so inspired on your video. i was obsess looking for quick tender morton just to get my goal.. to make spam.. i let my sister inlaw send me and ordered morton quick tender in US.what is a substitute of quick tender? its hard to find here in Philippines.. my package from my sister inlaw just arrived with that morton.. i going to make one now..thank you so much for sharing your video in youtube.. now im here in your page. copying that recipe.. thank you LOVE from PHILIPPINES

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  31. Any idea if this can be canned? If so, how and any idea on shelf life? Looks amazing and I'm excited to give it a try!

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  32. Great question! I was wondering that, too. The only glitch I see is the press. In order to press, you’d need to precook with the press then can it. ??? Id like to find directions of home canned spam.

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  33. Yo Larry, are you aware that this sales website is using this very DIY spam video? https://www.thelostways.com The voiceover is NOT you but "The Wolfe Pit" logo is clearly visible in the shots. I hope they licensed it from you!

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  34. Hi Don, thanks for looking out for me but in this one instance we have an agreement in place for him to use the video. Please let me know if you see any other use of my videos. Thanks again!

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  35. So excited to make this for my son !!
    He's always loved SPAM ! Even got a couple of cases as graduation gifts years ago ! Him & the guys at the Firehouse are going to love it !!

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  36. I love spam but have stopped buying as I never know the quality of meat the manufacturer uses. This is the second time I've made your recipe from home. The meat was from a local farmer. Very good quality pork and ham. The finished spam product was not quite what I expected. While I followed the directions you've posted, my spam is more salty than I care for.... maybe there was extra salt in the ham? The spam is much firmer than I remember as well. There was a lot of jell, but the jell does not stick the the loaf. Have I done something wrong? It just seems to be salty and very lean. It was cooked slowly in the electric smoker outside.... Arizona, so it's plenty hot here in July. Smoker temp was set 250 degrees and the spam cooked for nine hours. Inside temp only reached 150 and we decided to remove the loaves.

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    Replies
    1. Jennifer - When you are smoking it I am assuming it's uncovered. If this is the case it's losing moisture that you would not lose if cooked covered in the oven as instructed. This is causing it the moisture to reduce and concentrate, therefore being too salty. That's my best guess because it shouldn't be salty. But everyone has different tolerances to salt.

      Maybe omit the cooked ham and add additional fresh pork shoulder or fresh uncooked ham..

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    2. Yep, something is odd there. I have made a few batches from this recipe and I actually increased the salt and decreased the sugar a bit to my taste. I do cook mine exactly to the directions in the recipe and have found it is a bit firmer/leaner than the store bought version. Next batch I'm going to add a bit of belly/side pork to the mix. I'll report back.

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    3. Perhaps you used Country Ham, which is insanely salty- too salty to eat without soaking it first.

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  37. Love the video going to make this recipe today in pint jars in the pressure Cooker. Can't wait thank you.

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    1. If you have a chance to take some pictures in the jars after sealing I'd love to include them in this post with your process? Lot's of people ask about canning, but I don't do canning and can't answer them. Thanks!!

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  38. once all is mixed and ready for Oven, can you can this instead?

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  39. How would you do the process for long time storage?

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  40. Hi you messaged me from a comment on YT and gave me this recipe however I'm in the UK and can't seem to find tender quick or this morton salt. Can you recommend some alternative or help me find these items that are similar but sold in UK thankks

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    1. I use the homemade substitute from post #4 in this thread.
      https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/tender-quick-substitute-with-prague-powder.261212/

      Hope this helps.

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  41. Just made my first batch. Pressure canning it into pints right now. Will see how it taste tomorrow.

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    1. Please let us know how it turned out and how did you can it.
      Was it too salty?

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  42. Yep.i am gonna make this spam.Then with other loaf i am gonna can it up.

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  43. Well someone put this on facebook, and I had to try it. Just got done making it, following the recipe above exactly. Guess what? I got SPAM! Just like I had as a kid. Thanks Thanks Larry!

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  44. Can this be mixed and put in jars and canned

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  45. A very thorough instruction and would like to make SPAM as it is one of my favourite. But would appreciate if you could advise what is tender quick. Thank you

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    Replies
    1. https://www.mortonsalt.com/home-product/morton-tender-quick/

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    2. try mortons Quick salt.. same stuff

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  46. This SPAM recipe is really good. I made a 13x9 pans worth with 2 lbs. smoked ham with 3 cloves garlic fine grind with it and 8 lbs. pig picnic, course grind. YUMMY!

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  47. Larry, I know you have received a lot of positive feedback on the SPAM. It's with great pleasure, that I would like to be included in these points of positive feedback! Made my first batch yesterday and had it this morning with breakfast. I was so impressed by the results I just had to share some with a couple from our church. Well done Brother Larry!

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    1. Thank you very much Ed I am glad you enjoyed it!!

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  48. My first batch .was with deer back strap, was scrumptious now I'm making my second batch but I'm just making it with cherry smoked bacon and your pork butt and a ham he just as good thanks for the simple recipe I have enjoyed it

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  49. What type of ham do you put in the recipe?

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  50. Has anyone used Cure#1 for this recipe? 1Tsp/5lbs meat.

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  51. Larry - we made the recipe this week and it was absolutely delicious!!!! I have been watching your videos for a long time and glad we took a chance on making this. Had to do some searching for the Tender Quick but found locally (it is also on Amazon). You're the man Larry!

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  52. For those asking how to can this. Check out this video on canning Meatloaf. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U89ZtzIftVU

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  53. This is great! Thank you for sharing the video, lots of people will be interested in!

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  54. I have made spam using your recipe several times already and it was great. Have you ever tried to use ground beef instead of pork?

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  55. Hi Mr. Larry. Thank you for sharing this video. I was wondering if I can steam this? I dont have an oven as of the moment. So, I was wondering if is there any cooking method I can use aside from baking? I hope you'll notice my comment. Thank you so much and bless you Mr. Larry. Lovelots from Philippines ☺

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  56. Just made this again for the second time. The first batch disappeared very quickly. My son took a big chunk and smoked it πŸ˜‹. A local store had pork butt on sale for 99 cents a pound. Six bucks for a pound of good ham, and this came out to about two dollars a pound (with the other ingredients). That comes out to $1.50 for 12 ounces which is a whole lot cheaper than the canned, plus it tastes so much better! πŸ‘πŸ‘

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  57. Good morning Mr. Larry Wolff. It's about 12:45 a.m. here in central Illinois I just woke up went to bed extremely early sore back. But just wanted to let you know I have major homemade Spam quite a few times and I have loved it every time and I wind up giving more than half of it away to my friends who keep bugging me to make more. But that's OK I love your recipe I have used mine in a Maddox Hamm press that I found online through Facebook. I've even posted pictures of it on Facebook and absolutely have had a lot of good comments. This one of the take this opportunity to tell you thank you for the detailed an amazing recipe for making this homemade Spam in a can recipe. Will be making it a lot more as the years go by now. I have made it and put it in casings and smoked it and I just woke up thinking that I need to turn around and you'll get a batch out and put it in my pans and probably do about 3 pounds of ground pork butt and ham before I go to the hospital in Danville tomorrow for the pain in my back. But I wanted you to know that I've ran across your blog side here and thought I would add my 2 cents into. God-bless you for a wonderful recipe thank you Mr. Nester

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    1. Thank you very much I really appreciate your comments and I'm glad you and your friends are enjoying the SPAM!

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  58. Hi Larry, I cannot wait to try the recipe. Do you have a substitute for tender quick. I want to stay away from nitrates and nitrites. Thanks.

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  59. Could ground chicken or turkey be used vs the beef? Also I've seen bacon flavor & Virginia Ham flavored Spam. Any idea how to replicate those flavors?

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  60. I've made Larry's recipe many times and it always turns out great! I'm doing another one shortly.

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  61. Grind ready to make some spam! I have a couple questions. What size blade on the meat grinder, large or medium? And are these exact amounts of meat? Can there be a little more and still turn out okay? Thanks

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  62. This SPAM recipe is great! We loved it. We froze some and canned some. Canned in pressure cooker in pints for 90 minutes. Both were great!

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  63. I MADE IT -- tastes WOW!

    An important tip:

    Perhaps test cook (e.g. pan-fry) a bit of your mixture. Maybe the type of ham I bought was more salty, so the batch was VERY salty! To rectify, I added more meat and moderate all other seasonings (but no more salt). Still ended up a tad salty but not as bad.

    Next time, I will omit the salt first till I taste-test the mixture. If salt is needed, I will dissolve it in a little water before mixing it in.

    Thank you for sharing the recipe! Yum!

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  64. Hi Larry.. I made your spam recipe, it turned out amazing!! I was going to vacuum seal it. How long does it last and is it best in the fridge or freezer?

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  65. I find it's not salty enough. how much salt should I add to have the same salt level as the commercial one?

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    Replies
    1. I found the same, take away 1Tbs of sugar and add 1Tbs of salt and it will be very close to the canned version.

      Cheers,
      Geoff

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  66. Excellent video, making my first 2 loads today. One question, if I wanted to make say 6 loafs would they keep in the pan wrapped in tinfoil in a cabinet? For how long?

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  67. not sure how long it would last on a shelf, I freeze mine

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  68. I was wondering how important the weight is. I would like to pressure can the recipe and well putting the weight on post pressure cooking would defeat the purpose the pressure cooking. Have you tried both? Does it affect the texture? Thanks.

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