Lonzino Dry Aged Pork Loin

[nrich]

My first post... pardon the flurry of questions.

Any pics of the post smoke product?

Did you say you gave it 12 hrs of smoke?

Any particular wood?

I've got 27 lbs ((6) 4.5 pounders) of this in the fridge right now, working on finishing the curing chamber... 2 days of cure left. 

I was thinking of smoking mine as well...(got pleanty of apple wood).  Read 36 hrs of cold smoke somewhere... (I think 12 hrs is more reasonable, but i do not know)

since I haven't put my hands on any large casings yet, i was considering cheescloth and lard, after the smoke.  What do you all think of that?

 

[BGKYSmoker]

My first post... pardon the flurry of questions.

Any pics of the post smoke product?

Did you say you gave it 12 hrs of smoke?

Any particular wood?

I've got 27 lbs ((6) 4.5 pounders) of this in the fridge right now, working on finishing the curing chamber... 2 days of cure left. 

I was thinking of smoking mine as well...(got pleanty of apple wood).  Read 36 hrs of cold smoke somewhere... (I think 12 hrs is more reasonable, but i do not know)

since I haven't put my hands on any large casings yet, i was considering cheescloth and lard, after the smoke.  What do you all think of that?

I didnt roll any smoke during the 12 hours and the PID running the low heat. The residual smokiness (season) of the smoker will provide some smoke flavor to the Lonzino.

The Lonzino is hanging in the dry fridge and has a couple more weeks yet to hang.

 

[laszlo]

Looking great.

One more question (and promise I will not ask anymore) - what is this 12 hour high humidity, 80*, step for? I understand that this is required when bacterial cultures are used to 'kick off' the meat fermentation process. Am I missing something?

Cheers.

 

[BGKYSmoker]

Looking great.

One more question (and promise I will not ask anymore) - what is this 12 hour high humidity, 80*, step for? I understand that this is required when bacterial cultures are used to 'kick off' the meat fermentation process. Am I missing something?

Cheers.

This starts the drying process. No fermentation culture or dextrose is used.

 

[ronrude]

Looking forward to seeing the finish.

 

[nrich]

Thanks Nepas! Any thoughts on the coat of lard?
Update... Rinsed the 6 lonzino and have them resting tightly in Saran, in the fridge.... Gonna cold smoke 3 of them. And then hang them in my chamber. If I like the smoked ones better after the hang, can I smoke the remainder then?

 

[DanMcG]

Nrich, I don't make dried sausage, so take what I say as just some random thoughts..

I'm thinking if you intend to dry it, the lard would be a bad idea. The moisture in the meat needs to escape and I'd think the lard would prevent this from happening.

As far as smoking half of them to test the flavor is fine, but wouldn't you need to dry them for a week or two before you could test it. in the mean time the other non smoked ones are drying out and I don't know how that would work.



Btw welcome to the forums..

 

[BGKYSmoker]

Thanks Nepas! Any thoughts on the coat of lard?
Update... Rinsed the 6 lonzino and have them resting tightly in Saran, in the fridge.... Gonna cold smoke 3 of them. And then hang them in my chamber. If I like the smoked ones better after the hang, can I smoke the remainder then?

I wouldnt coat the meat with lard. It wont get any smoke thru the lard to the meat.

 

[laszlo]

If I like the smoked ones better after the hang, can I smoke the remainder then?

According to Ruhlmann, yes, you can cold smoke them at any time of the drying process. The key word is COLD. I assume that as meat gets dryer it would be more difficult for smoke to penetrate the entire volume of the meat. Also I'd think it would be beneficial to maintain high (75-80%) RH in the smoker to avoid drying the surface and create the dry crust. Dust in AMNS and pan of water should do the trick.

Cheers.

 

[nrich]

Thanks for all the replies! Yeah, I was thinking of COLD smoking before the lard... Please explain the "dust in AMNS"

Has anyone here ever cold smoked a lonzino?

When they make parma ham, they coat the non fat areas to keep them from drying out too quick... SOMEwhere online someone is doing the lard w/ pepper... Alternately, someone else is using a coat of olive oil. (?)

 

[laszlo]

By "dust in AMNS" I meant A-Maze-N Smoker filled with dust rather than pellets to keep temps down (pellets burn hotter).

I personally haven't smoked lonzino but the one I'm going to make soon I will.

The few receipes I read about lonzino reccommend to stuff it into casing (beef middles, collagen or fibreous) to slow down drying even though my Italian friend maintains that lonzino is traditionally just tied up with twine.

 

[BGKYSmoker]

By "dust in AMNS" I meant A-Maze-N Smoker filled with dust rather than pellets to keep temps down (pellets burn hotter).

I personally haven't smoked lonzino but the one I'm going to make soon I will.

The few receipes I read about lonzino reccommend to stuff it into casing (beef middles, collagen or fibreous) to slow down drying even though my Italian friend maintains that lonzino is traditionally just tied up with twine.

I put mine in a protein lined casing. Next one i'm just going to tie and hang.

 

[nrich]

FINALLY got my curing chamber close enough to complete to be able to hang the lonzino... made the chamber out of 3" Polyisocyanurate.  MAN is that stuff itchy!  Since the easiest method is just to tie and hang, I think I'll be going with that. (ESP. since NEPAS' experience is pointing him in that direction)  Gonna cold smoke 3 of the 6 and see which I like better.  Will post pics of the cure chamber when i find the time.  Probably durring my cold smoke.  Gonna have to baby sit the Brinkman Smoke King... (don't have an AMNS yet...) but I did learn that I don't need to keep the smoke pourin' out of the smoker like it just blew a head gasket!

 

[nrich]

Here are some pics of the Lonzino (olive oil & pepper coating) hanging in the curing chamber.  Gotta get some humidity in there... basement is about 50% RH right now.  A bit low for first week. Temp is good though.  54*...

Without door...

With door

With Lonzino Hanging...

FINNALLY!

Tomorrow night comes the cold apple smoke for the other three...

RICH

 

[laszlo]

Boy, this thing is massive - you can dry cure two whole hogs in there! Nice project though.

Gotta control your humidity, 50% is way too low for drying meat.

Those lonzinos are looking great.

 

[nrich]

Yeah, my sheets of polyiso were 4x8 so I figured 4x4 in plan would work and give me some room... threw the other 3 lonzino in the smoker w/ some ice water and a little horseshoe elec. element (out of a REAL old Craftsman smoker) and put some apple sawdust in the pan making sawdust is a real PAIN.  Wish I had a planer.  Gave it about 5 hours of light cold smoke and then coated it in olive oil and a bit of black pepper. and put it in the chamber.  put a cool mist humidifier in the chamber, cuz I was at 47% RH and ran it ALL day, before remembering someone here said RH on an indoor outdoor thermometer is only INSIDE... RH was off the chart.  Unplugged the humidifier and it has leveled out to 80% for the past 3 days. (58 - 60 degrees) not bad... I'll take it.  Anybody know how often to coat with olive oil?

 

[nrich]

Here's a pic of all 6... hoping to see some nice dry white mold...

 

[nrich]

I guess I will be seeing some nice white mold, since I just bought some M-600 from Butcher-Packer... Shipping and Handling was $7.50 on a $15 item!

 

[diesel]

Nepas,

You mentioned trimming the fat before casing.  Did you remove the whole fat cap from the loin?  I have done the lonzino before and removed the whole fat cap with a little meat and cured like panchetta.. really turned out great. 

 

[BGKYSmoker]

Nepas,

You mentioned trimming the fat before casing.  Did you remove the whole fat cap from the loin?  I have done the lonzino before and removed the whole fat cap with a little meat and cured like panchetta.. really turned out great. 

Just a little not all. Used protein lined casing, no mold 600 and its getting natural mold now. Next time i will just use my cured rub and hang with no casing.