Pork Tenderloin

I have served pork tenderloin with roasted potatoes for years at the holiday party, having gotten the idea from a friend of my brother. I've never been completely happy with it, in part because it wasn't "mexican" enough. They'd always been a little dry, too. A classic problem with pork.

For the menu issue, I got the inspiration to used a pork taco mix I had from Penzey's as a rub and then use the Lime Cilantro recipe from Thanksgiving on regular, rather than sweet, potatoes. I also applied what I had learned about pork from the Sauces 101 class, as part of the ancillary learning to counter the dryness.

Turns out I was out of the Pork-specific seasoning, so I used one of my jars of Penzey's regular taco seasoning and let it sit for an hour. About an hour or two before the start, I seared all sides of each loin (2 packages = 4 loins) in a pan with corn oil (for the hint of flavor) and then set them to roast in a pan @ 350F with my remote thermometer in. I took them out when it hit 148F (targetting between 145 and 150) and let them rest.

I put them back in the oven, covered with foil at 200F, until ready to serve at 8:00. I then had my friend Ross cut them into medallions about 1/3" thick. They were perfect. Just the right temperature, just the barest hint of pink and still very juicy.

Time did get the better of me on the potatoes, but the pork itself just flew out of the pan. I've never run out before.

Meat 101

Slow lately, I know. I have 6 entries queued up in the "Draft" stage that I need to push through. But in the meantime, I went to another class. This one was funded, in part, by a birthday present I received from my friend, John, so that made it kind of neat.

My Chopping Block course this month was Meat 101. This consisted of working with Beef, Pork and Lamb. The recipe items (and techniques) were:

Red Wine Beef Daube (Stew) [Braising]
Sausage and Mushroom Stuffed Pork Loin [Roasting]
Grilled Lamb Chops 'Scottaditti' [Grilling - obviously]

My God, this was good. Every one of these is on my list to make again. I need to scan and clean the recipes to post them.

Things I learned (which may be mind-numbingly obvious to anyone else):

• When browning stew meat, particularly floured, don't overload the pan. Leave at least a little space between each chunk. Otherwise, you end up with stew-like stuff too soon and no carmelization in the pan.
• Cheaper cuts work better for a braise than an expensive cut like a tenderloin. The less connective tissue, the faster the meat will break down into a mush.
• Like chili, the braise is better the second day, after the flavors have had time to mingle. This is awesome for saving time the day of dinner.
• We browned the beef in bacon fat. If you don't have enough of a given fat for a browning or saute, add some grape seed oil. It's flavor neutral.
• Braising in an oven, instead of on a stove, gives you a more even heat (and less concern about an open flame, from my perspective).
• The longer and slower the braise, the better. We used 350 for 2 hours (due to the class time constraint), but the chef recommended 275 for 5 hours, if possible.
• Do NOT lift the lid during a braise, as it lets moisture escape.
• When searing a stuffed roll, like the pork, start with the "seam" side.
• Use a low or no sodium stock for a reduction (like a sauce). Like with salted butter, the concentration may get too high when the stock evaporates down.
• Raw meat can be out for about 3 hours once it hits room temperature (70F) before the nasty bacteria start to form. The corollary is that buffet items should be taken off the serving line/table at about 2 hours, to be safe.

This was the first class I've ever had at the Mechandise Mart location. I have to say, I think I like the Lincoln Square one better for hand's on. The stoves and ovens are laid out much better for multiple groups. We had three groups crowded shoulder to shoulder when trying to use the burners. Our individual group worked together very well and the recipes lent themselves to swapping out or sharing the hands on parts. We split the prep work so that each person got to work with it. This was particularly useful when we ground out rosemary salt (for the lamb) in a morter and pestle, which it seemed no one had made before and it was easy to pass around the bowl.

My knife and prep skills are definitely getting better. I whipped through the prep very quickly and accurately. That was one of my personal frustrations, driven home by Top Chef when I'd see them finishing entire dishes in the time it would take me to chop.

I did execute the pan sauce (for the pork) well, a definite improvement over the chicken debacle before.

Also, I may need to get a bigger braiser some day, if this method sticks for me. I got one as an extra gift from my mom (they were on a super sale when purchased with a saute pan she was buying me), but it may be a little small for the size of this recipe. A covered casserole would work in the interim.

Grilled Pork Chops with Garlic Lime Sauce

The big problem here, as noted in the menu, was that the meat was undercooked. This was totally a flub on my part. I didn't adequately test it and relied on the times in the recipe. However, I was using very thick (~1") chops, so that threw it all to hell. And they turned out really, really tough, to boot.

Sigh.

And also, the sauce was really way too strong for the rest of the menu. This was a distinct Latin flavor, so black beans, rice and plaintains would be the way to go next time.

They looked nice, though.