Sliced pork

[Itsdone]

I was grocery shopping earlier today and local grocery store had pork tenderloins on sale for $3.49/lb w/$1.00/lb off digital coupon so it brought it down to $2.49/lb. Limit one per account. Not a bad deal. Now i don't usually buy this cut since i like fattier cuts for pork chops and pulled pork. But it got me thinking where this cut could be good. Obviously my first thought was med rare pork medalians, those are great. But for whatever reason, I remembered that i had just bought a bag of Amoroso rolls, and philly roast pork sandwiches came to mind. Now this is a lean cut, but its also tender. And normally i use a boneless picnic shoulder but its tricky to cook enough to break down the fat and connective tissue and still be sliceable. This got me thinking that tenderloin might be a better choice if done right.


Looking for opinions, and honestly curious if there is another cut i don't know about.

I live near philly and have had both dinics and tony luke's. There pork is sliced on the thinner side ( not super thin ), tender and "meaty" and not full of fat or connective tissue. So in my opinion, they are using a different cut then picnic shoulder, or they are really trimming all the fat and connective tissue out and trussing them back up. Which is what i always assumed, but what throws me off is even picnic shoulder has a bunch of white and dark meat, where both these places use all dark meat.

This is apparently a Pork Loin.

BTW, I have never got a pork loin with dark meat. If dark meat pork loins exist, it must be a special breed, or a special cut. Like how rib roast change once you get to a certain bone?

 

[Fooball]

Every site I visited said the Philly sliced pork sandwich is made from a cured boneless shoulder.


I'm thinking that's what is in your pic above even though you don't see much fat or connective tissue. There is some right where the dark meets the light.

This site gives a recipe for curing:

https://www.themanual.com/food-and-drink/philly-roast-pork-sandwich-recipe-guide/

DiNic's talks about how his sandwich is made in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WD9YXl_OhU&t=81s

 

[SirPorkaLot]

I think Fooball is spot on.

It’s darker meat than you’re accustomed to because it’s cured pork loin.

Curing the meat changes the color and the texture.

Pork tenderloin is a staple around here, but we rarely cook loins.

If you want to do something different with your tenderloin, you could always do a challah style meat braid

 

[Big George's BBQ]

It all looks good to me When living outside of Phila I enjoyed a good sliced pork sandwich

 

[sudsandswine]

Whatever it's called, I prefer to eat that end of the loin.

 

[bluetang]

It looks like the rib end of a pork loin. The spinalis is darker than the longissimus.

 

[Fooball]

I think Fooball is spot on.

It’s darker meat than you’re accustomed to because it’s cured pork loin.

Curing the meat changes the color and the texture.

Pork tenderloin is a staple around here, but we rarely cook loins.

If you want to do something different with your tenderloin, you could always do a challah style meat braid

I've never seen that done before!

Thanks John, I have tenders in the freezer that I'll try that with. Holds the spices internally for good penetration.

 

[Evan]

That is a piece of a pork loin. A whole pork loin will have both dark and white meat in it. I haven't seen a whole pork loin in a grocery store in a couple of decades at least. You can find them at Sam's, and I assume Costco.

The darker meat is more flavorful and moister. This video show a guy breaking down a whole loin and gives a couple cooking tips. https://youtu.be/svKZe40Pg5I

 

[Juggy D Beerman]

That is a piece of a pork loin. A whole pork loin will have both dark and white meat in it. I haven't seen a whole pork loin in a grocery store in a couple of decades at least. You can find them at Sam's, and I assume Costco.

The darker meat is more flavorful and moister. This video show a guy breaking down a whole loin and gives a couple cooking tips. https://youtu.be/svKZe40Pg5I

I am not a big fan of youtube videos, but that one is right on target. As the video shows, what you have there Bob is the sirloin end of the roast. What you are probably are used to seeing is the center cut section of the loin which has very little of the dark meat shown in your photo.


People sometimes use the terms, loin and tenderloin interchangeably. Loin is also referred to backstrap. Loin is harvested from the top area of the outside of the rib cage next to the spine. Tenderloin is taken from the inside of the rib cage. The color of the tenderloin is consistently one color while the loin color varies from end to end.


Lager,


Juggy

 

[ronbrad62]

I'd say Bluetang is spot on, in regards to a ribeye comparison, that's the top part above the eye of the steak, the most tender in my opinion.

 

[gcs]

That dark area is called delicious.... yes its a pork loin,

 

[Itsdone]

That braided tenderloin looks amazing Sirporkalot. I am guessing that pink color is from smoking.

Also, that link to curing is not going to effect color since there is no nitrites added in that link.
Also, that pic is not mine. I found that on google looking for "dark meat pork"
If you read the bottom of my original post, I said i have never seen a pork loin with that much dark meat.
Bluetang nailed it as its not your average pork loin, as i expected ( and mentioned ) reading comp is pretty bad in this thread...