A Note From a Customer

Just last week, a new customer showed up and bought a huge amount of boneless loin roasts from me, to feed 26 people. I was very nervous about this - he bought a lot of expensive meat, and if it didn't turn out well, that could be very bad for Wooly Pigs.

I'd heard from some people that our meat was tough (older pigs are tougher, in addition having better flavor), so I gave the customer specific instructions not to cook the meat too quickly. Here's the note he sent me today:

Hi Heath,
Just had some bacon for breakfast.  Delicious.
The loin roasts were fantastic.  I thawed them, salted them
overnight, took them and rinsed them under a dripping faucet for a
couple of hours,
browned them on the top of the stove and roasted them in the oven @
175 degrees for 5.5 hours (with a little bacon on top---don';t need
much).  Took them out and let them rest for 40 min .
Couldn't have been better.  Tender, juicy with amazing flavor.  25
happy guests.  I told everybody about you, too.
Merry Christmas....

There's a number of things he did right: he brined the meat, but then soaked out the excess salt (a potential problem with frozen meat). And he roasted the meat very slowly - with the addition of some bacon, to make it that much better. He did a better job than I did with my boneless roast - I had mine on too high, and as a result had some chewy connective tissue in there.