Sous Vide Pork Loin, Round 2

I anxiously got out of bed this morning to de-bag what I hoped was porcine alchemy. Last time I did loin, it was a la tenderloin, at 140 for a scant 2 hours. It was decent for sandwiches, but still not a tenderloin. Go figure. This time around, I decided to really blast the collagen and go for 12 hours at 142, right in the bag it came in. I might die, but it was easy.  This morning, I plunged it into ice water, and seasoned and seared 30 minutes later. Not bad.

The pork flavor was great, despite the no-seasoning bagging, and it was quite tender. 12 hours may be a little much though, and 142 a bit too high. I took the polar opposite approach from last time and what I need is somewhere in the middle, I suspect. The generous fat cap was divine, don’t be me wrong. And the slices were much better when I grilled them individually, upping the maillard-meat ratio. But it was still a little dry.

Now, this could be because like brisket, this cut is not known for it’s marbling, relying instead on a fat cap for moisture. You know my stance on marbling. It could also be that 142 was indeed too high, but let’s be real here – we’ve all had pork chops at 145+ that have been juicy as all get out. So I don’t really know. Maybe pork loin was never meant to be tenderloin. But I’m going to try one more time, at around 6 hours, to really know for sure.

UPDATE