Gourmet Homemade Olive Loaf Luncheon Meat

[Smokehowze 3,550]

A Gourmet Homemade Olive Loaf Luncheon Meat

 

In my sausage making endeavors I have wanted to make an olive loaf for quite a while.  My son and I finally did the deed.  I call this a gourmet olive loaf because of the ingredients used and the resulting quality and flavor of the resulting product.  This loaf is somewhat denser that store bought, probably due to a lower fat content.

 

Gourmet Olive Loaf

 

A Simple Sandwich with Just Mayo and Mustard to Check Out the Result

 

We made 6 ¾  lbs of the finished loaf following a recipe by Len Poli from his excellent sausage making website.  Here is his main page  (http://lpoli.50webs.com/)  And here is his olive loaf recipe (http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Olive%20Loaf.pdf ).  I appreciate the significant effort he has put into his website and I have used it as a learning resource on many sausage making aspects. 

 

For the pork, I used boneless pork loin and for the beef a boneless top round steak cut.  Both are very lean and I selected them for their minimal fat.  The added fat per the recipe was from pork back fat by percentage thus it can be well controlled.  We ground the fat though a 3/16 inch plate and then again through a 1/8 inch plate after partial freezing of the fat back cubes.  The lean meats were ground separate from the fat on the 3/16 plate and again on 1/8 plate with partial freezing in between.

 

The emulsification step was performed in the Cuisinart food processor in small batches with the addition of crushed ice and ice water as necessary.  Frankly, it was just about not up to the task.  We are glad we double ground the meats and used the 1/8 plate. 

 

This made two loaf pans of the product. One weighted 4 lbs and the other 2 ¾ lbs.   Had we not filled the first loaf pan to the brim both loaves would have been just over 3 lbs each and of equal size.  Not a problem, however.  We lined the pans with plastic kitchen wrap and lightly sprayed the pans with cooking spray first to hold the plastic wrap as it was placed in the pans.  Use enough of the wrap in the lay out to cover over and seal the loaf during cooking.  They were slow cooked in the oven preheated at 180 degrees until reaching the 150 degree internal temperatures.  The slightly smaller loaf took just over 3 hours and the full to the brim pan took 3 hours and 40 minutes.

 

We were very pleased with the results.  I figure this olive loaf cost about $5.00 a pound to make due to the quality of the meats and ingredients used which I got at Costco (pork loin at $3.50/lb and particularly the top round steak at $5.99/lb).  But I know exactly what was in it and it was definitely a lower fat product with good texture and taste.  It certainly could be made with lower cost meat cuts and/or the addition of filler meats such as hearts, tripe, etc., or more fat but nonetheless a certain level of lean meat especially the beef is needed as the base for proper, water take up, emulsification of the fat, protein binding and other aspects.  Being the first time out making this, I also wanted to try a version on the healthier end of the scale to see how it would be.

 

Mrs. Smokehowze gave her good housekeeping seal of approval to all aspects of the olive loaf – especially the quality and taste.   Son Smokehowze who assists in the sausage making in the household was also quite happy with the outcome of our work and his advice and observations were invaluable as we noodled our way through.

 

The initial setup, prep, grinding activities and first clean-up took a couple of hours and the final phase (after the refrigeration rest) of the mixing, emulsification (small batches at a time in the Cuisinart), building the loaves and cleanup took another hour and a half or so.  In our view,  it was well worth the time and investment.  Next time doing an emulsified sausage product will probably be faster.  As with any first time endeavor there are some things we learned and would improve upon the next time around (such as how much ice and water for the emulsification step) to create an even better final product.

 

What we do not use immediately will be portion sized, vacuum packed, and put in the freezer as a future treat.  

 

If you are looking for a new cooking horizon try homemade sausages.  It is a natural fit with our Kamado cooking.

 

Here are some additional photos. 

 

Beginning the Grinding

 

Grinding  Nicely

 

In the Food Processor with Crushed Ice and Some Ice Water

 

A Peek at the Emulsion with the Olives Folded In

 

Filling the Loaf Pans

 

One Full to the Brim Pan Ready to Bake

 

Wrapped Up and Headed to the Oven

 

After Cooking and an Overnight Chilling in Refrigerator

 

Nice Finished Loaf

 

A Gourmet Luncheon Meat Treat

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CeramicChef 10,019]

Smoke - as always a VERY fine post.  

 

That Sammie looks first rate and I'd eat that anytime!  

[aljoseph 3,218]

Nicely done sir. Olive loaf is one of my all time favorite luncheon meats followed by veal loaf which I cannot find here in Florida. Yours looks to be superb.

[Edsland 620]

I buy it all of the time, one of my favorite. Homemade wow that must taste really good.

[Freddyj 6,016]

finished product looks great and very interesting to be able to see the process!

[Remoh 2,290]

Fantastic looking loaf.

[jrow17 4,767]

Wow that looks fantastic!

[bosco 12,251]

That looks great!!

[magician 1,966]

Add some provolone and you almost have a muffeletta. My father loved olive loaf and liver cheese. Couldn't stand it myself and I would bet that wouldn't be the case with your homemade loaf. Well done.

[coast2coast 176]

So you cook it with the plastic wrap on?

[Smokehowze 3,550]

Add some provolone and you almost have a muffeletta. My father loved olive loaf and liver cheese. Couldn't stand it myself and I would bet that wouldn't be the case with your homemade loaf. Well done.

I actually have a jar of muffaletta salad mix picked up on my last trip to Slidell in the fridge.  It almost went in the loaf in place of the whole olives.  

[magician 1,966]

Yep I have some too that's pretty good but what I wouldn't give for some of my mother's homemade olive salad!! It would've made the guys at Central Grocery run away.

[Smokehowze 3,550]

So you cook it with the plastic wrap on?

Yes .  The plastic wrap assists in the removal from the pan and when you wrap it up seals the meat like a casing.  The plastic wrap is fine at those temperatures.

 

As a cook's treat and test of the loaf, rather than wait for the big loaves to bake and cool overnight, my son made a small chub of the loaf mix (~ 8 oz)  in plastic wrap with the last of the emulsion.  He twisted the end seam and tied with twine.  That went into 180 max poaching water for about an hour, with the water starting at about 120 and slowly being raised up.  The plastic wrap substituted as a casing.  No leaks either.

 

We went for the same 150 degree internal temp (actually we went over it a bit), except we had to guess the time/temp curve to avoid puncturing the plastic wrap with the Thermopen.   Rule of thumb from researching seems to be about 10 minutes for each 1 cm (3/8 in)  of diameter.  

 

Here is how it went:

 

Cook's Treat & Test Chub

 

Poaching (It wanted to float - but we fixed that!)

 

 

Test Chub Cooked & Chilled a Bit in Ice Water Before Unwrapping (Kinda cute, too)

 

 

The Late Night Cook's Treat  (we hit the olive jackpot!)

[Marty 2,358]

Smoke another awesome post. It is almost enough to make me buy a grinder. That looks really good.

[Smokehowze 3,550]

Smokehowze Dad and Smokehowze Son Have a Major Difference of Opinion

 

… on how to make a test sandwich for assessing the homemade olive loaf.

 

Smokehowze Dad  [Toast, meat, mayo, yellow mustard]

 

Smokehowze Son [Double decker toast stack, meat, & more meat, homemade smoked cheddar cheese, homemade Greek yogurt salad dressing, yellow mustard, chopped parsley…smash down so it will go in mouth]

 

 

BTW.  They were both good sammies.  The olive loaf really held its own on his combo.  Yeah, I had a bite or two. 

 

 

What do you think???