One of the most valuable parts of a pig is the loin. It is essentially solid muscle without much connective tissue, so it is easy to prepare. It gets turned into many things - chops, steaks, roasts or my favorite - Canadian bacon.
I had the loins from our very special hogs boned out and turned into roasts. Boneless pork loin roasts are a very special product: essentially pure loin meat. They are expensive, because boning out reduces the weight, and has a high labor cost. But boning them out results in meat that is extremely easy to prepare and eat.
I'm more of a bacon, sausage and chops sort of guy - but I figured I had to make a boneless pork loin roast, so I'd know my product. So below are photos of me preparing my first ever boned out loin roast. The basic steps were:
- Chop all the vegetables.
- Rub the meat inside and out with the garlic.
- Put the parsley inside the roast, close as best as possible.
- Make the bed of veggies under the roast, cover the roast with the veggies. Insert meat thermometer.
- Roast at 325 to an internal temperature of about 150F. That takes a few hours.
- Let it rest for 15 minutes.
First, the vegetables. This took the most time - chopping the parseley, carrots, onions and cabbage:
Here's the meat about 5 lbs:
And here it is opened up:
Rubbed with garlic and covered in parsley:
In the pan on the bed of veggies, covered up and with the meat thermometer:
Done cooking, with some slices taken off:
And then on the plate - please see that first picture at the top of the post.
All in all, it was very easy. I let the thing cool, made my meal-size portions of meat and vegetables and then froze them. My wife and I ate them over the next few weeks.
The meat was extremely tender, juicy and flavorful. The accompanying vegetables were really tasty.
A boneless pork loin roast is an expensive cut, but it was very easy to prepare, and the results were superb.
6 comments:
Looks delicious. Personally I also like wrapping my pork loin in bacon before I roast it. Because there is no such thing as overkill when it comes to pork.
Whne you call it a pork loin, are you talking about the long muscle that runs along the spine inside the rib cage? I know there are other definitions for a pork loin, but that is the one I think of, but your pork loin did not look like I expected.
Just curious, the differing definitions has been a topic of discussion lately.
I'm curious about the same thing as Mr. Anonymous.
Generally we think of pork loin looking more like this:
http://content.nimanranch.com/images/catalog/products/large/2002.jpg
Albeit that's two tied together.
If the mulefoots are any example though, the fat content is so much higher that I would anticipate they would look a lot different of the bone, so maybe the manglitsa falls into a similar realm.
I only wish I were closer so I could try some of this meat.
Hi Heath,
First off, your roast looks delicious, and I am a huge fan of the slow and low technique for boneless pork loin roasting. Are you sure that was a boneless porkloin, it would have to be off the "sirloin" end with that much connective tissue. Just the same, it looks like y'all had a couple great dinners...red cabbage, the Austrian way.
Heather,
I would have used bacon, but my wife doesn't like that. I wanted both of us to eat it, so I refrained.
Anonymous - you may find this information about the names of pork cuts interesting: http://woolypigs.blogspot.com/2007/12/food-labeling.html
boberica and stlbites - I think it was a boneless sirloin. Definitely not from the center.
It was lean, but still juicy.
Sorry, but that's not a pork loin.
What you have pictured is a pork shoulder roast. Still a pig, but not a pork loin
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