Artisanal Cooked & Smoked Pork Loin Royale

Description

The lean, elegant end of proper charcuterie. One whole pork loin, cured with nothing but salt and the curing salt, smoked over wood and poached gently. It slices into rosy, silky sheets with a clean, delicate smoke behind them. Three ingredients and nothing else — artisanal, rustic and all-natural, hand-made for the Gold Seal range by our master butchers.

How it is made

1. The cut. A whole loin — the eye of the back. It is the leanest cut on the pig, with almost no intramuscular fat, which makes it the most elegant cut to cure and the least forgiving to cook.
2. Curing. Salt and curing salt, given several days under refrigeration so the cure equalises right through a long, thin muscle. That patience produces an even rose colour and a sweet, faintly nutty cured flavour, rather than a salty rim and a bland middle.
3. Drying. Hung until the surface goes tacky, so the smoke bonds rather than sitting on damp meat.
4. Smoking. Smoked over wood, laid on gradually. On a lean cut the smoke has nowhere to hide, so it is kept light and clean.
5. Poaching. Finished in water to a core of 68–72°C. This is the whole ballgame on a loin: with next to no fat to protect it, a few degrees too far and it goes chalky. Held at the right temperature it stays silky and moist.
6. Chilling. Cooled straight down and held at or below 5°C.

Loin or collar?

Our smoked collar is the rich, marbled one. This is its opposite number: leaner, firmer, cleaner-tasting, and the better choice for a delicate board, a breakfast plate, or anyone counting the fat. Both are cured, smoked, poached and ready to eat.

How to eat it

Ready to eat, straight from the fridge. Shave it wafer-thin for boards and sandwiches — this is a cut that rewards a sharp knife or a slicer. It warms through beautifully, and dices well into eggs, salads and a silky pasta plate.

The card

• Ingredients: Pork meat (98%), salt, preservative (E250).
• Allergens: none of the 14.
• Storage: keep refrigerated, maximum 5°C.
• Formats: 1kg, 500g, 250g and 100g — unsliced, sliced or diced.