Meat can be an expensive luxury these days and there’s little cost or danger to learning to butcher meat at home. For about half the cost, 15 minutes of your time, and a sharp knife, you can have high quality cuts of meat in your own kitchen!
Head in to any meat department in the US and you’ll likely find a long slender meat tube full of a light pink meaty substance. The label? “Boneless Pork Loin” This ominous meat tube is actually three maybe even four delicious cuts of meat in a trench coat!
Ever heard of Thick Cut Pork Chops? That’s Boneless Pork Loin.
A Pork Roast? That’s a Boneless Pork Loin.
Maybe you’ve had Minced Pork or Thin Cut Breakfast Chops?
You guessed it. Pork Loin.
And you can take home this luxurious ominous meat tube for usually less than $25.
Label of my local meat shops Boneless Pork Loin, currently sold for $2.50/lb, October 2024
“But Justin, I’m not a butcher, what am I supposed to do with the giant ominous meat tube?”
I’m glad you asked! We’re going to break this down into its simplest parts, and you’re going to enjoy some restaurant quality pork in your own home.
Preparation
Grab a sharp knife, a cutting board, gloves if you prefer, and a few freezer bags. Take the loin, toss it in a clean sink, and slice off the wrapping. We’re going to start by giving it a quick rinse to get rid of any juices it might have been hanging out in. Give it a quick pat down with some kitchen roll and toss that bad boy on a cutting board.
Clean Up
We’re going to start by removing the white silver skin all around the loin and any other fat we don’t want. I like to use an inexpensive boning or filet knife and start to remove the big chunks of fat. If you’re going to be making mince meat or sausage remember to set aside some of the soft fatty pieces.
To do this, we’re going to turn our knife flat and come in from the side right under the shiny silvery skin.
Start moving your knife slowly back and forth while holding the knife at an angle facing up, roughly 15°. This will make sure we’re cutting the silver skin away from the flesh while leaving behind as much meat as possible. Once you’ve got to a spot where you’re happy, it’s time to start with our larger cuts.
First Cuts
What exactly is a pork loin? The loin is a large lean muscle that runs from the pigs shoulder to their ham along the top of the ribs.
View the pork long ways. You should notice a large square end tapering down to a smaller more ragged end. The large square end is your Sirloin End while the further end is your Blade End. And in between? All those delicious pork chops you’ve been thinking about.
Lay your hand palm down on the Sirloin End of the pork loin and measure one hand widths, from wrist to finger tip down the loin. This will be the first cut leaving you with a large pork roast.
This piece of meat will serve up well seared heavy on all sides in a cast iron pan, and then finished in the oven with over a bed of root vegetables. If you want to get adventurous, take your new pork roast and slice it in half length wise to create the pork loin you commonly see sliced into pork medallions.
There we go, that wasn’t so scary. Our ominous meat tube is starting to look a little recognizable!
The Chops
Chops come in two different varieties, good thick ones, and whatever it is you get at restaurants.
Due to misunderstandings, fabrications, shenanigans, and out right lies by the refined sugar industry, npr lots of American’s sought out “healthier” meat options starting in the 1960s; falling for propaganda that fat was somehow unnecessary in the human diet. Feeling the pressure of declining sales, America’s pork producers begin to breed leaner and more muscular pigs. Leaving behind the heritage breeds in favor of America’s Next White Meat.
Along with this transition to leaner meat, we also saw American’s, fearful of trichinosis, Wikipedia begin cooking purchased meats to 160°F. This resulted in some of the driest and least flavorful meat known to man. Luckily there is hope! America’s heritage breeds are returning, Grit, trichinosis is nearly gone, Cleveland Clinic, and even the FDA recognizes pork taste better, FDA at lower temps!
Current pork guidelines are 145°F for purchased whole meat and meat ground at home - FDA
So back to the chops. There are two kinds. The kind you cut thick, season heavy in rich, salty, acidic marinades, and shoe leather on a breakfast biscuit. Only partially joking, we’ll show you how to make great breakfast chops too. To get these thick delicious chops, we’re going to place two fingers width wise across the top of the loin end we just cut, and start to work our knife down making a roughly 2" wide pork chop.
Note: If you like to butterfly and stuff your chops, now is a great time to use 3 fingers!
Depending on the size of our loin, we’re going to get between 6-8 chops of this size. Once you’re comfortable with the number of chops, set those aside and lets talk breakfast chops.
Growing up, breakfast chops were always cut super thin, seared hard and fast in the pan, and slapped on a biscuit. Drop some yellow mustard on top and you had something you and the dog could play tug o’ war with later. We want to avoid that. Because this pork is going to be so lean, you’ll likely want to cut these as to what you think a normal pork chop width would be. Roughly a single finger wide. This will help account for shrinkage when cooking and keep you from overcooking into a rawhide for the pups.
The author cuts several thick pork chops from the Center Loin
Blade End
Now comes the shooter’s choice part of this. You’re left with a chunk of meat that likely has some small parts of sinew, interspersed fat, and darker “bloodier” looking meat. (It’s not blood.) You can cube it, then mince it, in a food processor with just two or three pulses, for ground pork. Or cube it and save it for Golden Curry.
Pricing
Lastly, the important part. We’ve learned a new skill. We’ve made some bespoke meat pieces for our favorite dishes. But in the end, is it worth it? Let’s run some numbers!
Our whole pork loin was roughly $25. And we got a Pork Roast, 8 Thick Cut Pork Chops, 6 “Breakfast” Chops, and a handful of stew meat.
| Meat | Qty | Pre-Cut | Home Cut | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pork Roast | 2lbs | $8.30 | $5 | $3.30 |
| Thick Cut Chops | 5lbs | $28.90 | $12.50 | $16.40 |
| Breakfast Chops | 1lb | $6.18 | $2.50 | $3.68 |
| Stew Meat/Mince | 1/2 lb | $1.96 | $1.25 | $0.71 |
| Total Saved | $23.89 |
I don’t know about you, but that looks like enough money saved to pick up a second pork loin! And I’d always rather have twice as much pork than less. I hope this post encourages you to go out and take a shot at being your own home butcher. Its a rewarding and financially worthwhile investment.
A pork loin sits on a cutting board carved into various parts, including a large roast, pork chops of various sizes, and stew meat.