Kyl Haselbauer has 20 years of experience working in fine-dining and modernist kitchens, including Bar Cotto and Anchovies &amp; Olives in Seattle. He is also the owner of Bright Spot, a café and coffee shop in Seattle.

Kyl Haselbauer

Homemade Spam? Yes! Oh, were you asking why we, you, or anyone else would make homemade Spam? Got it! Well, homemade Spam is better than the stuff in the can. It’s as simple as that.Spam is just ground up meat that’s heavily seasoned and cooked, which is also essentially what a <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/homemade-mcrib">McRib</a> is (<a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/ultimate-sous-vide-meatloaf">or a meatloaf</a>), so it seemed like a simple pivot to mold ground meat into a Spam can–like shape and call it a day. But the real challenge in developing this recipe was nailing Spam’s unique texture: firm and super easy to slice when cold, but with a soft bite that yields to a creamy interior. We knew there was a ton of fat blended into the meat mix, but that didn’t account for the way slices of Spam fry up so nicely, with an almost tender-crisp brown crust.Turns out, adding potato starch helped with that crust. The starch also helped bind all the added fat, which is great because we took the amount of fat to the upper limit. It won’t ooze out in puddles when you fry slices, but there’s enough to make the meat super creamy and delicious. Taking a cue from mousselines and emulsified sausages, such as mortadella and hot dogs, we add crushed ice—has to be crushed, can’t be big cubes—when mixing the meat, fat, starch, and salts, which helps keep the mix emulsified and adds extra water for tenderness.Made entirely with stuff you can find at a grocery store for just a little more cash than what you’d spend on a can of Spam, this isn’t a Spam copycat—it’s an improvement. Everything is tailored to make it taste good rather than make it shelf stable: It’s super well-seasoned but not salt lick salty; it’s got just enough sodium nitrite to impart a little “hamminess” without masking the sweet natural flavor of pork; and cooking sous vide instead of pressure-cooking it in a can makes it lighter and less dense.

DIY Sous Vide Spam