L&S greatest-hits section of the hog:

We’ve arrived at the part of the hog responsible for some of the products L&S is best known for: the belly, ribs and loin.

Bacon. Pancetta. Ribs. Pork chops. Ham. Tenderloin. Lonzino. Lard.

There is a LOT happening in this section of the hog, so let’s start with the obvious favorite.

The Belly: Yep, This Is Where Bacon Comes From

Yummy, yummy in the literal tummy.

The pork belly is prized for its beautiful balance of meat and fat—and this is where our L&S bacon begins.

Our bacon is cured in a salt solution for seven days, allowed to rest, and then smoked as a whole slab before being thick sliced and packaged.

But bacon isn’t the only thing we make from the belly.

Bacon vs. Pancetta

Our pancetta starts with pork belly too, but what happens next is completely different.

Instead of going through the same curing and smoking process as our bacon, pancetta is dry cured and then spends about five weeks aging in our new curing room.

The result is a completely different product from bacon, even though they started with the same cut of pork.

We offer our pancetta peppered or unpeppered, and rather than the thick slices we love for our bacon, pancetta is thinly sliced or cubed. Toss those cubes into pasta, soups, vegetables or sauces and you’ve got little pockets of rich pork flavor throughout the dish.

Same belly. Two very different results.

And Then There’s Porchetta…

This isn’t something we make regularly, but every once in a while, Shawn makes a porchetta. It deserves a mention here.

Porchetta is an Italian-style roast made by wrapping pork belly around the loin with herbs and seasonings before roasting it.

Crispy, rich pork belly on the outside. Tender loin inside. Herbs tucked between the two.

Shawn has only made it a handful of times, but it is genuinely one of the most incredible roasts I’ve ever eaten.

Maybe we need to bring that one back…

Moving Up: The Ribs

Everybody loves ribs.

And around here, we love them enough that even the rib tips don’t go to waste.

We serve lunch to our employees every workday, and smoked rib tips make an appearance at least once a week. They’re a definite company favorite.

There are two main styles of ribs you’ll see from us:

Spare Ribs

Spare ribs come from the lower portion of the rib cage, closer to the belly.

They’re the longer, flatter ribs, with plenty of fat and connective tissue, which translates into fantastic flavor when they’re given time to cook.

They’re particularly good for smoking and slow cooking, where that fat renders and the meat becomes beautifully tender.

Baby Back Ribs

Move farther up the rib cage toward the loin and you get baby back ribs.

And yes—the name makes sense once you see them side by side. They’re the shorter ribs. Baby. 😂

They’re more curved than spare ribs, generally leaner, and the meat is wonderfully tender.

They’re a great choice when you want ribs for a family dinner, weekend BBQ or party without committing to one of the larger spare-rib racks.

The Loin

Now we’re getting into some very familiar L&S territory.

The loin runs along the back of the hog, and it’s where you’ll find several of our most popular cuts.

Including, perhaps surprisingly…

Our Ham

THIS is where our Loin Ham comes from.

When we started L&S, we made the decision to use whole pork loin for this style of ham.

No pressed meat in this house.

Using the whole loin gives us a naturally beautiful, tender piece of meat that can be cured, smoked and sliced without needing to manufacture a uniform shape out of pieces of meat.

What you see in the package is what it looks like: an actual cut of pork.

It also allows us to cut our loin hams into different sizes without relying on binders or other ingredients used in some commercially formed ham products.

Simple idea. Really good ham.

Pork Chops

The loin also gives us our pork chops.

If you’ve ever wondered about the relationship between pork chops and loin, they’re essentially different ways of cutting and preparing meat from this same general section of the hog.

And we’ve got something new:

Boneless Pork Chops!

We’re now able to offer them alongside our traditional chops, giving you an easy option for quick weeknight cooking, grilling or pan searing.

The Tenderloin

Tucked underneath the loin is a small, delicate muscle with an extremely appropriate name:

The tenderloin.

Because this muscle doesn’t do much heavy work, it stays exceptionally tender and is also one of the leanest cuts of pork.

You don’t need to do much to it.

Rub it with your favorite herbs and spices, give it a careful roast, and you’ve got the kind of dinner that looks like you worked much harder than you actually did.

That’s a win.

Lonzino: The Loin’s Charcuterie Transformation

And because apparently, we can’t leave a good piece of pork alone…

We turn the loin into charcuterie too.

Lonzino is one of our favorites. Think of it somewhat like prosciutto’s leaner cousin but made from pork loin rather than the hind leg.

The whole loin is dry cured and then aged for about three months in our fancy new aging room.

Slice it paper thin and you’ve got something pretty special: concentrated flavor, a delicate texture and a beautiful addition to a charcuterie board.

It’s also fantastic wrapped around melon.

Sweet melon + salty lonzino = trust us.

And Don’t Forget the Fat

This section also gives us something that generations of cooks understood very well:

Lard.

L&S lard is simply rendered pork fat. No hydrogenation and no mysterious extras.

It has a relatively high smoke point, a mild flavor and is incredibly versatile in the kitchen. Use it for frying and roasting or put it into pastry and discover why your grandmother’s pie crust was probably better than yours.

That flaky crust isn’t magic. It’s fat.

And here’s another interesting thing about raising pigs outdoors: sun exposure and diet can affect the nutritional composition of pork fat, including naturally occurring vitamin D and its fatty-acid profile. That’s one of the many reasons we’re interested in how an animal is raised—not just what happens after it reaches the butcher room.

One Section. A Whole Lot of Food.

So there you have it.

From one area of the hog we get:

Bacon. Pancetta. Porchetta. Spare ribs. Baby back ribs. Rib tips. Loin ham. Pork chops. Tenderloin. Lonzino. And lard.

And that’s exactly why we’ve been doing this series.

A package of bacon looks like bacon. A pork chop looks like a pork chop. A rack of ribs looks nothing like either one.

But when you see where each one actually comes from, you start to understand how connected they all are—and just how much can come from one animal.

So go on a little adventure.

If you’re normally a bacon person, try the pancetta. If you always order baby backs, give the spare ribs a shot. Grab a tenderloin you’ve never cooked before. Add some lonzino to your next charcuterie board. Or pick up a tub of lard and make a pie crust your grandmother would approve of.

Start at the top. Start at the bottom. We don’t care. Just keep exploring.

There’s a whole lot more to the hog than bacon.