CarneAtlas
Kassler

Kassler substitutes

What to use when you can't find Kassler at your butcher

Kassler is the traditional name in Germany. Outside that tradition, butchers carry comparable pork cuts under different names — sometimes the same anatomical piece, sometimes a close cousin. The alternatives below are grouped by country so you can match what your local butcher actually carries.

United Kingdom

Back baconclose substitute

Both cured pork loin products. Kassler is German brine-cured and cold-smoked, eaten reheated (poached or pan-finished). Back bacon is British wet-or-dry cured, sliced into rashers and pan-fried fresh. Same primal, different finished products.

United States

Pork chopclose substitute

Kassler Kotelett is the bone-in chop variant — same cut as a pork chop, but brine-cured and cold-smoked rather than sold fresh.

Pork loin roastclose substitute

Same anatomical cut — Kassler is the brine-cured, cold-smoked form of the fresh pork loin. Anglo-American "Canadian bacon" is similar in concept (cured loin) but is fully cooked rather than smoke-cured.

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