Craving a tasty main course but easy to prepare? Today we make pork loin in milk, tender and juicy! The sauce, really flavorful and tasty, makes the meat very tender.
Pork loin in milk is a really easy dish to prepare. Perfect for a Sunday lunch or for celebrations and occasions. Great to serve during the Christmas holidays!
The pork loin in milk can be made either with the tenderloin or with the collar (or capocollo), a pork cut located between the head and the loin. The latter is less lean than the tenderloin, the meat remains certainly more tender and juicy and it’s my preferred choice. In Abruzzo, and also in Lazio, this cut is called “Lonza” or “Lonzino“, in the Central South “Capocollo“, Parma and Piacenza call it “Coppa“, in Tuscany “Capocollo“, in Umbria “Scalmarita“.
The choice of which cut to use is personal, if you prefer a drier meat go for the tenderloin, otherwise the collar.
The ingredients needed to make this meat dish are few and simple. A piece of pork (tenderloin or collar), olive oil, rosemary and bay leaves, salt and pepper, white wine, carrots, onion, and celery for the soffritto, and the milk which cannot be replaced.
The meat is well browned in a pan with the soffritto, then covered with milk and cooked over low heat for about an hour and a half.
Once ready, it is sliced thinly and served with the milk sauce, delicate and so tasty.
The sauce can be strained with a sieve, or blended with an immersion blender if you prefer it thicker.
But if there’s leftover sauce, how can I reuse it? Let me share a secret with you! I like to use it to season pasta… a lot of parmesan and you won’t believe the goodness you’re eating!!
But now enough chitchat, let’s get to it and prepare this easy and very tasty meat dish! You’ll make such a great impression, they’ll ask for seconds!
More easy and delicious main course recipes:
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 20 Minutes
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 5-6 people
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All Seasons, Christmas
Ingredients
- 1 kg Pork Loin
- 800 g Milk (whole or semi-skimmed, lactose-free for intolerance)
- onion (half)
- cloves Garlic
- White wine (half a glass)
- 1 carrot
- Celery (half a stalk)
- Olive oil (4 tablespoons)
- Salt
- Pepper
- 2 leaves Bay leaves
- 1 sprig Rosemary
- 1 teaspoon Flour
Tools
- Casserole
- Ladle
- Sieve
- Immersion blender
- Cutting board
Preparation
To prepare your pork loin in milk, start with the soffritto. Finely chop the carrot, celery, and onion.
Take a large pan, put 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil and add the chopped vegetables along with two cloves of garlic with the skin.
Sauté over low heat to avoid charring the vegetables. Then place the pork loin inside and brown on all sides.
This step is very important because it seals the meat, so turn it on all sides and ends and brown it well.
At this point, deglaze with the white wine and let it completely evaporate. Then salt the meat and add a bit of pepper.
Pour in the milk, add two bay leaves and one sprig of rosemary.
Lower the flame to the minimum and cover the pot with a lid. Cook for about 1 hour (see cooking times at the end), turning the meat occasionally with two ladles or spoons, avoid forks that might pierce the meat.
Once the meat is cooked, transfer it onto a cutting board and let it rest for about twenty minutes. Meanwhile, put the pot with the sauce back on the heat, add a teaspoon of flour, and thicken over medium-high heat.
Slice the pork loin and arrange it on a plate. Now you can choose to blend the sauce, only after straining it through a sieve, to make it thicker.
I preferred not to blend it because I like it more “runny”. If you like a thicker sauce, after straining it (an important step to remove the clumps the milk forms during cooking), you can blend it with an immersion blender.
Pour the milk sauce over the pork slices and serve. This easy-to-prepare and delicious dish will make you look great!
Article protected by copyright © – Gabriella Geroni © All Rights Reserved
Note:
The arista (or loin) once cooked keeps well, but there are some important tips to keep it as tender as possible.
🧊 Storage in the refrigerator
Duration: 2–3 days.
How to store:
Let it cool completely.
Keep the piece whole if possible, as it stays more moist.
If it’s already sliced, separate them with parchment paper and cover them with their sauce or with a bit of cooking liquid/broth to prevent drying.
Store in an airtight container.
👉 If you don’t have sauces, add a drizzle of oil or a teaspoon of broth (wine, milk, or broth): it helps a lot.
❄️ Freezing
Duration: 2–3 months.
How to do it:
Better to freeze in slices so it thaws more evenly.
Again, spread a bit of sauce or cooking liquid between the slices. Use freezer bags or tightly sealed containers, removing air.
👉 Thawing: only in the fridge, slowly, never at room temperature.
🔥 How to reheat it without drying it out
Place the slices in a pan with a bit of broth, milk, or water, cover, and heat over very low heat.
Or in the oven at 130–140 °C, always with a bit of liquid underneath and covered with foil.
In this way, it ‘regenerates’ and absorbs a bit of moisture.
Can this type of recipe also be made with another type of meat, for example, beef shank or veal?
Yes, the technique of cooking in milk is not exclusive to pork loin. It can be well adapted to other cuts and meats, taking into account the differences in connective tissue, fat, and meat tenderness.
🔸 Beef shank (or veal)
It is a cut rich in collagen → requires long cooking to become tender.
In milk, it turns out very well because milk helps to dissolve collagen and make the meat creamy.
Times: the shank is thicker and collagen takes longer to dissolve.
🔸 700–800 g
2 hours – 2 hours and 30 min
🔸 1–1.2 kg (standard size)
2.5–3 hours
🔸 1.5 kg and over
3 hours – 3 hours and 30 min
Cook over very low heat (similar to a stew).
Result: tender meat, thick and flavorful sauce.
🔸 Veal
More delicate and tender compared to pork or beef.
The most used cuts for this type of cooking are nut, round, topside.
Times: 60–90 min for a piece of 1–1.2 kg.
Result: very tender, with a light and sweet sauce.
The veal roast in milk is a traditional recipe in several Italian regions.
