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Pork is the lone meat I still buy, in no small part because I have access to heritage pork raised the old way, with a varied diet and generally darker and fattier meat than that crap you get at the supermarket. I do routinely shoot wild hogs, too, and they are excellent for this recipe, Italian lonzino.
Lonzino is a fabulous dry-cured cut of pork that ages into a lovely pink, slices well and tastes not unlike a good cured ham. The Spanish call this same thing lomo. And if you coat the meat with a certain set of spices, it becomes the Armenian favorite basturma.
You use the loin of the pig for this recipe. Trimmed of all sinew, and, depending on your preference, fat. I prefer my lonzino lean, but some people love the fat v. lean you get with each bite. Either way works.
The coolest thing about lonzino is how easy and relatively quickly you can make it. Unlike prosciutto, which takes more than a year, lonzino can be ready in a month.
The only special equipment you need is curing salt and a cool place to hang your loins. You can get curing salt, Instacure No. 2 online, and your hanging place can be anywhere that isn’t bone dry (70 to 80 percent humidity is good) and is anywhere from 40°F to 60°F.
And like I mentioned at the beginning of this, you also need good pork. Lonzino highlights the innate qualities in your pork, so if it is factory-farmed you will very definitely notice – especially if it is put up next to a piece of quality pork. So do youself a favor and buy the good stuff.
Note that the time in the recipe does not include cure time.
A word on salt. You need to weigh your meat in grams and then weigh out 2.5 percent of that weight in sea salt or kosher salt, plus 0.25 percent, that’s one-quarter of one percent, in curing salt No. 2, which contains sodium nitrate. Weigh out an equal amount of sugar to the salt and add that to the mix.
Lonzino, Air Cured Pork Loin
Ingredients
- 1 length of pork loin, about 3 pounds
- kosher salt (see above)
- sugar (see above)
- InstaCure No. 2 (see above)
- 10 grams black pepper
- 5 grams garlic powder
- 5 grams ground cloves
- 10 grams onion powder
- 8 grams dried thyme
Instructions
- Mix all the dry ingredients. Rub them well into the loin, then put the meat into a plastic bag or wrap with plastic wrap. This is to keep it from drying out. Keep the meat refrigerated for a week to 12 days.
- When the meat has firmed up, remove from the wrap, rinse it off and then let it dry on a rack for 2 to 3 hours. I use a portable fan set on low to oscillate over the meat.
- Truss the meat with kitchen twine (the white stuff) as you would a roast. Leave a long loop at one end so you can hang the meat. You can also use pre-made sausage netting.
- Hang the meat in a cool place to dry. It needs to be humid, about 70 percent humidity. How long? At least another 12 days. It should feel firm throughout and be a pleasing red. How long can you hang it? Up to six months or more, but it will become harder and drier the longer it hangs. If you've found you have dried it too much, let it go all the way to hard-as-a-rock stage. Then use a microplane grater to grate the dried meat over pasta or rice.
- To store: Wrap tightly in butcher paper or, better yet, vacuum seal pieces of it – I cut the loin into three chunks – and freeze. Unfrozen, it will last indefinitely in the fridge, but it will continue to dry out.
Notes
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
“Wondering if anyone has tried the Umai charcuterie system/bags.”
I’ve got a lonzino drying right now with that stuff. just started drying some salami with it too. will know in a few weeks how it will work but from just looking at it week and a few days in seems to be drying nice . the material is kinda expensive but it seems to regulate humidity better than a casing does.
Thank you so much for recipe and process! do you have any idea what the Teaspoon/tablespoon equivalent would be?
Garhof: Yep, it will be fine, but possibly very salty.
I’m not going to be able to take the loin that I’ve got out at the 12-day mark. It’s going to be more like 15-16 days when I get home from a work trip. How will this affect the meat? Will it just be saltier?
Thanks!
Wondering if anyone has tried the Umai charcuterie system/bags.
https://www.drybagsteak.com/shop-umai-charcuterie.php
I know it’s cheating a bit but seams like it would cut down on errors a lot with novices like me.
Just curious why you rinse the loin off after that first 12 days, hence getting rid of all those great spices/flavoring. Is their impact done as of that point?
Thanks so much, Hank! I’ll give it a shot using some great local loin.
Best, Phil
Phil: Honestly I would not use tenderloin. Use loin instead. It’s what lonzino is meant for. And I don’t case my lonzino, either.
Hank,
Great site. I want to make Lonzino but want to use Pork Tenderloins and no casing.
Ever done this or should I just go with regular Pork Loin?
Best regards,
Phil McCormack
Freeport, Maine
You are so right about buying quality pork for making lonzino. But it does make me wonder why all the seasonings you add to the cure are also not fresh. Sorry, but garlic powder doesn’t cut it against minced fresh garlic. Ditto for the onions. Dried thyme can’t hold a candle to fresh. I think you’ll notice a huge difference if you go to the real thing. I made some guanciale last year. It was late Friday night and I didn’t have any fresh thyme. I used dried, rather than wait until morning and picking up some fresh from an herb grower at our local farmer’s market. Big mistake! It just was not the same aroma and flavor.
For Jacob V up above: your lonzino should lose between 30% to 35% of its weight during the drying process. The key, though, to great lonzino is the correct humidity while it’s drying. As Hank has already said, if it dries too quickly because the humidity is not sufficient, the outside will be hard long before the inside has dried sufficiently. My basement where my cured meats hang can drop below 70% in the dead of winter, and that’s when I have to get out the humidifier to bump it back up. Didn’t bother once, and it was a huge mistake that I won’t be repeating!
Nick: Only one way to find out.
Hank,
Can the lonzino be cured for the duration in a refrigerator? As in a drawer with adustable humidity.
Thanks,
Nick
Jacob: Not that I know of, but thickness is the key here, not overall weight.
Is there a formula that one can use to calculate weight or thickness of the meat vs time to cure?
Many thanks,
Jacob V.
Love it Hank
just did my first peice of pork out of the rump – prop not correct cut of meat but nice – just a bit salty – have to check measurement where correct
Thanks mate
MrG
Australia
Hank,
I am new to your web site. As an avid hunter and fisherman as well as being deeply interested in cooking it seems tailor made for me. I have been fortunate enough to bag plenty of ducks and several wild boar and deer each of the past few years. I usually wind up giving a lot of the meat away for fear of letting it freezer burn before my family can consume it all. Your recipes will help keep a good variety of dishes in rotation at my house. I have recently built a couple of curing chambers and have only cured pork belly in a few different styles. I am very interested in trying a lonzino venison back strap. Will it really work well? My fear is that there is not enough fat for flavor. Would you change anything in your recipe specifically for venison? I have one thawing in the fridge right now. Also do you think dry curing wild duck breast is a waste of time? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks and regards.
Tim: Nope. You eat it as-is. There are a lot of cured pork loin recipes in Europe. Every region has their own. In Germany I am certain they would smoke it – the Germans seem to smoke everything…
I have a very basic question: Do I need to cook the lonzino before I eat it?
We enjoyed some ‘cold smoked’ ham in northern Germany several years ago – right at the place where they cured it. Quite an interesting operation, and delicious. So, I’m wondering if the Lonzino could be in the same family?
Love your site!!! I’ve got a 3-lb loin started and in the cure right now. Anxious to taste the results.
Hello Hank,
I was wondering generally there is a fat cap over the top part of the loin,is it necessary to trim it off or would it actually help in the flavor dept?
Thanks
David: First, no, you cannot substitute Instacure No. 1 for No. 2. You need No. 2 for any long-cured product.
Second, yeah, that will help. What will help even more will be to case the lonzino in a large casing, like a beef middle. You can order them online through Butcher & Packer.
Good luck, and be sure to check your lonzino as it cures — pull it early if you need to. Only under ideal conditions can you hang a lonzino longer than 2-3 months.