Making Lonzino

I told you I was going to use some of the meat from out pigs as preserved meat and so today I was able to get our loin ready for sealing and drying. On New Years Day I rubbed the meat with a mix of salt, cloves, garlic, thyme and other herbs and spices and it was put in ziploc bags in the fridge. For 10 days I've flipped the bags over and made sure that the juice that came out of the meat and the salt mixture were able to really work their way into the meat. Today I prepared it for the last step, dry curing. Now of course I don't have a cellar that's cool and dry to hang my meat in so instead I'm using special bags that allow drying to occur and the meat is vacuum sealed and placed on a wire rack in the fridge for a month or so. Here's a look at my project for today. And if you'd like more info check out http://www.drybagsteak.com/

I'm so sorry but the layout is all wonky and messed up. I will try to fix it up ASAP.

Here's my foodsaver vacuum sealer. A very handy little appliance.

My Foodsaver vacuum sealer. Very handy.

Lonzino marinated for 10 days

 Here's what the bags look like. You can see the chunks of garlic and some of the liquid inside the bags. It's been soaking for 10 days so now it's time to wash off the cure thoroughly under cold running water.  Some of the pieces of pepper were still there but I washed off as much as I could.                                               

Washed and ready for dry curing.

Too long for the bag

 The photo above shows the washed loin folded in half just so it fits on the plate while I got the bag ready. As you can see, it doesn't fit in the bag with enough room to make a proper seal so I trimmed several inches off one end.  You can see how lovely and consistent the colour is throughout the meat and how dense and almost translucent it looks. Beautiful! I had a little trouble with the UMAI bags I was using so I made up a test bag and then just kept at it until it worked. Now my lonzino is drying in the fridge on a wire rack for a month.

Beautiful Pork!

Cheerios. I couldn't get the sealer to work so I did an experiment.

With the vac mouse in place but the bag is too long now.

The finally sealed lonzino.

They're sitting on a wire rack in the fridge for 30 days.

 There you have it. I"m now waiting for the meat to dry cure and lose about another 30% of their weight. The small pieces should be cured and ready for eating in as few as 14 days so I can hardly wait.