# Lonzino Dry Aged Pork Loin



## BGKYSmoker (Feb 20, 2012)

First i would like to say this.

This is a dry cured aged meat using cure #2. Please do not attempt this if you do not have the proper dry aging area and the understanding of dry cureing/aging meats.

The basic rub.

2.5 Tbs non iodized salt

1.5 Tbs brown sugar

1 level tsp cure #2

1 Tbs black pepper

1.5 tsp garlic poder

4-5 lb pork loin rinsed and patted dry.

Mix all the dry together to make a rub. Place loin on plastic wrap, glass or plastic container. Rub the loin with the dry rub.

Yes the salt will start to pull moisture from the loin, This is normal.

After the loin is rubbed with all the dry TIGHTLY wrap the loin in plastic wrap. I also used 2 zip lock bags and wrapped over the bags.

You will need to fridge the loin at 36-38* for 12 days

After the 12 day mark take from fridge, Rinse loin and place on wire cooling rack for 3 hours at room temp.

NOTE

Make sure you have a large collagen or fibrouse casing that will hold the loin.

After the room temp rest, Work the loin in the casing trying to avoid air pockets. Tie the ends of the casing as normal.

You will need to hold the loin at 80* with 70-80% R/H for 12 hours.

After this 12 hours you will need a 17-20 day hang at 60* and 70-80% R/H

The Lonzino is then ready to slice thin with cheese, crackers and Vino.

Here is my loin being prepared.














Mixing the dry.







Applying the dry.













Wrap very tight. Rotate the loin 1X daily













See ya in 12 days.


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## DanMcG (Feb 20, 2012)

Marked my calender. And on a side note .....that thing looks huge! what did it weigh out at Rick?


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## slownlow (Feb 21, 2012)




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## sam3 (Feb 21, 2012)

Nice!


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## alblancher (Feb 21, 2012)

Nepas,

You are going to make me finish my cure chamber build!  So many  new things to try.

At least I can cure vicariously through your posts


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## adiochiro3 (Feb 21, 2012)

Man, I thought I was gonna see some finished product!  Can't wait, Rick!


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## africanmeat (Feb 21, 2012)

i will wait
	

		
			
		

		
	






	

		
			
		

		
	
who is wiating with me?


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## solaryellow (Feb 21, 2012)

Added to the to-do list.


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## BGKYSmoker (Feb 21, 2012)

Gunna be a wait.

I will update the progress.

Turned the loin this morning to keep the liquid rotating from side to side.

Waiting is going to kill me.....yikes


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## laszlo (Feb 21, 2012)

Looks fantastic. I'll be on it once I get my hand out of that damned plaster. The chamber is up and running, ready to go.

I like this receipe, because it it easier to do than any other lonzinos I've read about.

Two questions I'd like to ask:

All lonzino receipes I've seen (I haven't made any lonzino at all) call for using half a dry rub and 7-10 days in fridge, then rinse meat well and apply second half of dry rub for another 7-10 days in the fridge. Anyone see any reason to split the curing that way? I'm sure I read it in Ruhlmann's Charcutterie and some other guys doing the same just following his way? Dunno.

Do collagen casings work OK? Will they let the meat dry throughout? If there is air pocket, is it OK to pierce with sterilised needle like sausages? Again, the receipes I've seen call for beef middles (hard to get for me, but not impossible) or meat is tied with twine, or use butchers stockinettes. I have no experience with collagens at all, but I can source them very easily.

Thanks in advance.


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## laszlo (Feb 21, 2012)

Oh forgot summthin'. Nepas, you Cure#2 does not look pink, I thought both #1 and #2 were supposed to have this red dye in it for safety reasons. Just curious that's all.


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## chef jimmyj (Feb 21, 2012)

This is going to be Fun to watch...JJ


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## BGKYSmoker (Feb 22, 2012)

Laszlo said:


> Oh forgot summthin'. Nepas, you Cure#2 does not look pink, I thought both #1 and #2 were supposed to have this red dye in it for safety reasons. Just curious that's all.




Guess it all depends on where ya get it from or who is the maker of the cure. Got this 2, from Butcher Packer a few years ago. Cant really see it but it does have a very slight pink tint to it.

My daughter bought me a DSLR for my bday so when it gets here my pics will be better.

I flipped the loin over again this morning.


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## BGKYSmoker (Feb 22, 2012)

Laszlo said:


> Looks fantastic. I'll be on it once I get my hand out of that damned plaster. The chamber is up and running, ready to go.
> 
> I like this receipe, because it it easier to do than any other lonzinos I've read about.
> 
> ...




All good questions and you have the good book to read it.

I dont have any natural beef middles or caps so the Lonzino is going into a fibrous casing. This should work, going to try not to poke any holes in the casing. Both ends will be open and i will hog ring after and tie with the net twine.


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## smokinhusker (Feb 22, 2012)

africanmeat said:


> i will wait
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'm in!


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## gersus (Feb 22, 2012)

So I can just hang that in my garage right?  JUST KIDDING! Love the color of the meat post-cure. Can't wait to see it when its finally finished!


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## BGKYSmoker (Feb 22, 2012)

gersus said:


> So I can just hang that in my garage right?  JUST KIDDING! Love the color of the meat post-cure. Can't wait to see it when its finally finished!










You almost called in an air strike with that one.


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## sprky (Feb 22, 2012)

africanmeat said:


> i will wait
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'm also in


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## BGKYSmoker (Feb 29, 2012)

Lonzino comes out from under wraps on Sunday to get rinsed and put in the casing.


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## BGKYSmoker (Mar 4, 2012)

Got the Lonzino out from its 13 day cure. All washed and air dried for 3 hours.








Did a little fat trim and into a casing.







Got my PID set to 80* and some salt with water to get close to 75-80% R/H. Lonzino should pick up some smoke for the next 12 hours.


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## nrich (Mar 9, 2012)

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?


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## BGKYSmoker (Mar 11, 2012)

nrich said:


> My first post... pardon the flurry of questions.
> 
> Any pics of the post smoke product?
> 
> ...




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.


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## laszlo (Mar 12, 2012)

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.


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## BGKYSmoker (Mar 13, 2012)

Laszlo said:


> 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.


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## ronrude (Mar 14, 2012)

Looking forward to seeing the finish.


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## nrich (Mar 14, 2012)

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?


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## DanMcG (Mar 15, 2012)

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..


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## BGKYSmoker (Mar 15, 2012)

nrich said:


> 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.


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## laszlo (Mar 15, 2012)

nrich said:


> 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.


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## nrich (Mar 15, 2012)

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. (?)


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## laszlo (Mar 18, 2012)

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.


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## BGKYSmoker (Mar 18, 2012)

Laszlo said:


> 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.


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## nrich (Mar 20, 2012)

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!


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## nrich (Mar 21, 2012)

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


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## laszlo (Mar 21, 2012)

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.


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## nrich (Mar 25, 2012)

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?


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## nrich (Mar 25, 2012)

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


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## nrich (Mar 26, 2012)

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!


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## diesel (Mar 27, 2012)

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.


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## BGKYSmoker (Mar 27, 2012)

Diesel said:


> 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.


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## nrich (Mar 28, 2012)

Diesel,

Following the direction NEPAS is heading with his next Lonzino, I did the 6 pictured above (no casing).  I added the step of brushing with olive oil and cracked black pepper...

I am getting some small dots of natural (wild) white mold now on mine as well.  I got mold even on the smoked ones... I thought smoking was supposed to keep mold off?  I wiped them off with vinegar, in preparation for the M-600 bath tomorrow morning.

My chamber keeps rising in humidity, without any running of my humidifier (going from 72% - 82% in 24 hrs.).  Anyone know why?  Is it the meat drying and throwing humidity into the air?

Here's a Pic of my 6 with a fresh coat of olive oil last night.


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## BGKYSmoker (Mar 28, 2012)

my thinking on the humidity is maybe the bricks holding the moisture?


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## BGKYSmoker (Mar 28, 2012)

So i uncased the Lonzino. Its turning out good but not as i hoped with the protein lined casing.

Un cased and cut the end off to look and taste. Taste good but needs more hang time. Next time i will use beef bung casing.

Here is the slice $







So i re tied w/out a casing and going to hang back. If it dont turn out then oh well.


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## nrich (Mar 29, 2012)

NEPAS,

That Lonzino looks REAL good!  Taste was there too, you say?  No worries, gonna come out great, from what I see!

The basement outside the chamber is 47%... same bricks... (and I'm not running my boiler)?  I left the door on the chamber cracked open an 1/8" last night and it went from 72-76%... so I'm going to leave it open 1/4" today and hope it stays around 70%.  My plan is to slowly ratchet down the humidity 'till I get to like 60%... I think.

You run a humidistat controller?  What's your humidity plan?

Thanks for the help.

PS: The 6 lonzinos got their M-600 spray down this morning.

ALSO, saw a nice Bezerba SE12 commercial slicer for $1K... (which I would never spend)... made the mistake of mentioning it to the wife.   
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





  Oh boy!


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## BGKYSmoker (Mar 29, 2012)

nrich said:


> NEPAS,
> 
> That Lonzino looks REAL good!  Taste was there too, you say?  No worries, gonna come out great, from what I see!
> 
> ...


Yeah i run a Dayton humidity controller.

Yeah i told my wife i wanted a Stumps Baby smoker and got the


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## nrich (Mar 31, 2012)

Mold is starting to grow... M-600 is working.

There is possibly a few spots of green mold... anybody ever surgically remove (with vinegar) just the green mold?  (or am I a noob obsessing?)


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## nrich (Apr 10, 2012)

Here's the progress of the Lonzino... powdery mold is finally taking hold, and shrinkage is evident.

Running the room around 60% RH for the last stage.  Hope I get that slicer.


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## slownlow (Apr 11, 2012)

nepas said:


> So i uncased the Lonzino. Its turning out good but not as i hoped with the protein lined casing.
> 
> Un cased and cut the end off to look and taste. Taste good but needs more hang time. Next time i will use beef bung casing.
> 
> ...


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## smokinhusker (Apr 11, 2012)

That's some good looking lonzino you have there Rick! Hope it all comes out the way you want.


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## nrich (Apr 11, 2012)

Thanks!

I'm hoping that following the rules will carry me to success / It'll look as good as NEPAS'S...

... _success_ will sure be tasty in this endeavor!

Should be about a week 'til


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## nrich (Apr 11, 2012)

Just weighed to verify the 'week til ready' statement... initial weight was 27 lbs., 21 days later it's 18.3 lbs (32.2% weight loss)

They are all still pretty squeezable... like about a 1/2" of give (1/4" both sides).  Is that ready?

NEPAS, how solid was your lonzino in the above pic? (  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





   Man, there really is no good way to say that! )


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## nrich (Apr 11, 2012)

Read that some people are taking down their lonzino at 29% weight loss, for a more prosciutto like texture... so I figured, 'No better time than the present.  I can always rehang if it's not ready.' 

Here's my cut shots...













Tastes ALOT like prosciutto... a bit less salty, with a hint of the cinnamon that was in the recipie.  I'm VERY happy/releived!  At this weight loss, a thin slice is key... MAN I need a slicer!

Till then I'm rehanging.


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## diesel (Apr 12, 2012)

All of this looks really gooooood!!!!   The slicer will really change things for ya..  Heck, take it to a butcher or deli somewhere and ask them to slice it up for ya.  Offer them some. 

Good Job !


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## BGKYSmoker (Apr 16, 2012)

Looks good there nrich.

I cut my Lonzino today. I think its done.


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## nrich (Apr 16, 2012)

Finally found a slicer... does make a difference with the lonzino.  THIN is beautiful and tasty!  It's like butter.

Had on some nice crusty bread with marinated mozzerella (ital. seasoning, crushed red pepper, Adobo and some olive oil) and sun dried tomatoes.  I've always loved that sandwich w/ proscuitto... now I love it even more.

Here's my post slicer pic:


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## laszlo (Apr 17, 2012)

^^

Looks awesome. Is it the smoked or non-smoked one? Any taste difference? I'm just about ready to get my lonzino going, I'm wondering if it is worth to go thru the smoking bit.

Cheers.


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## nrich (Apr 17, 2012)

Lazslo, The pics above are of a smoked one.  You inspired me to cut into one of the unsmoked for a comparison... I can't taste ANY difference, but this was my first attempt at "ninja smoke' and I only gave it 6-7 hrs... some are giving their lonzino 36 hrs! 

One small tip: If you use any cinnamon make sure you use other strong spices to balance it, or use very little.  I used 1.4 tsp / 9lbs of loin and it is borderline too much.  I balance it after slicing by pairing it with strong flavors. Last night I made some appetizers of feta and cilantro, drizzled w/ olive oil and wrapped in lonzino.  No complaints.

It continues to hang...


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## nrich (Apr 17, 2012)

NEPAS, How's the flavor?  I like the dry you gave it... mine is still hangin.  I'd like to get mine to where your is, the kids like it more jerkyish.  Have you found the saltyness going up as it dries? It would figure.


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## BGKYSmoker (Apr 23, 2012)

nrich said:


> NEPAS, How's the flavor?  I like the dry you gave it... mine is still hangin.  I'd like to get mine to where your is, the kids like it more jerkyish.  Have you found the saltyness going up as it dries? It would figure.


flavor was good. i didnt get to eat much, when i got back from the N FL SMF Gathering it was gone.


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