Roast Pork Loin

For my roasted pork loin, I began with two pretty big pork loins. I'm talking like, industry standard sheet pan length. Times two. I made a quick spice rub with garlic powder, cracked black pepper, paprika, ground oregano, summer savory, and fresh finely chopped rosemary and thyme. I rubbed this all over the meat side of the loin, then flipped it over so the fatty side was on top. I roasted this quickly at a high temperature. Although low and slow is typically better, the high heat here helps to melt and render down some of the fat, which then bastes the meat. At 450◦F, the roasts took less than two hours to reach 140◦F. I then let them rest for nearly an hour before slicing them. 
I served them with their own juices along with a sweet-sour brown sugar and apple cider vinegar gastrique sauce. 

Roast Pork Loin Dinner

• Spiced roasted pork loin
• Sour cream and grainy mustard mashed potatoes
• Honey glazed carrots
• Caramelized apples and red onion
• Roasted patty pan squash
• Brown sugar apple cider gastrique

Easy Pork Tenderloin

"Mmm, this pork is delicious, what did you put on it?" Uh, salt and pepper. And a little garlic and cilantro. And some love and sweat.
Pork tenderloin is already a really nice cut, 'tender' and not overly pricey. It doesn't need a whole lot of love to be awesome; although it is rather versatile and can benefit from a lot of different preparation techniques.When I think pork tenderloin though, I always think roast. You can go crazy with marinades and rubs and sauces if you wish. But I kept it simple this time and it paid off.

Easy pork tenderloin
Trim the pork tenderloin of any silverskin.
In a large freezer bag, put some salt, cracked black pepper, garlic powder, dried cilantro.
Place the tenderloin in the bag and shake to coat all sides with the spices.
Heat some oil in a large frying pan over high heat.
Sear the pork on all sides just until browned.
Transfer to the oven and bake to desired doneness. Even overcooked, it's still pretty good!

On The Fly Pork Dinner

Seared pork tenderloin, Creamy potato gratin, Roasted broccoli and zucchini, Crispy onions, Cilantro walnut pesto, Mushroom maple sauce.

All prepared within an hour using a small, limited kitchen and some random ingredients bought at the store plus a small pantry supply. It isn't complicated or time consuming to make some really tasty, balanced, meals at home. I will be sharing the individual components of this dish in the coming week.

Exploring The City

Today I did a big walking tour of the downtown city area. I got to see lots of sights - historical structures, buildings of interest, nature sights, shops, restaurants, businesses, cultural hubs, and so much more!

Mountains still in view

Big city hotel

View out the sky train window

home cooked supper

I also cooked dinner at the house tonight which was fun to use a kitchen I wasn't familiar with and had limited equipment/pantry. I kind of made the meal up on the fly using a few key ingredients and came up with this...
Seared pork tenderloin, Creamy potato gratin, Roasted broccoli and zucchini, Crispy onions, Cilantro walnut pesto, Mushroom maple sauce.

Pork Belly & Mash

This was one of the action stations placed on the gold course event. It is easy to do to order and do in large quantities.

1. Brined, smoked, confit, seared pork belly
2. Creamy, buttery, mashed potatoes
3. Sweet apple cider gastrique

A piece of pork belly is brined overnight, double-smoked at a cool temperature for a long period of time, slowly cooked confit in fat, then seared until crispy. It is placed on a pile of creamy, smooth mashed potatoes and drizzle with an apple reduction sauce. 

Smoked Pork Crustini

Homemade rye bread
Toasted into crustinis
House brined, smoked, and sliced pork tenderloin
Sweet apple chutney
Flower garnishes

One great, well-balance canape!

Skills - Secondary Cooking Pork Tenderloin Entree

Cooking group one, day two - entree. The entree had to consist of a roasted pork tenderloin, glazed battonets of carrots, sauteed spinach, gratin dauphinoise (recipe provided), peppercorn sauce (recipe provided) and one garnish of choice. Other than that, there were many variations including the seasoning and sear on the pork, a stuffing or none, the doneness and presentation of the pork, how the potatoes were cut, etc. In the captions I have pointed out some key difference.

raw apple slices

fresh herbs

soft poached egg

cheese tuiles

rolled and filled pork tenederloin

bacon-wrapped pork

Head Cheese

Head cheese is not a dairy cheese at all, but rather a terrine made of animal flesh (traditionally the head) set it aspic. It is a cold cut that originated in Europe. The process to make it isn't difficult, although it may be a bit of a turn off for some people. Head cheese is also incredibly cheap to make, because when you think about it - no one wants to buy pigs heads. It's not a prime cut at all.

To make head cheese, you take a whole pig head and use a blow torch to burn off any extra hair or fur that may still be attached to the skin. This smells REALLY BAD but you also do not want a hairy terrine. Next the pig head is boiled in a pot of water, vegetables, and aromatics, much like a stock, for six hours until it is tender. The stock is strained (and reserved) and the meat is taken from the head and chopped roughly. You can use as much or as little meat as you wish depending on how much head cheese you want. Pork cheeks and ears have many other great uses, and you may wish to omit the brain and eyes. Also try to trim off as much of the fat as possible, which can be used for something else. Be sure to remove the teeth as well!

The meat is then mixed with some chopped fresh herbs, seasonings of choice, and aspic to bind it, then set into terrine molds and chilled. It is sliced to serve, and it great with some crusty bread.

Apple Pork Steak

Apple Pork Steak
1/2 cup apple juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 Tablespoons granulated (white) sugar
1/2 Tablespoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
pork chops
apple slices

Mix all ingredients together except for the pork. Marinate the pork in the mixture for a few hours or overnight. Place pork in a casserole dish and pour sauce over. Place the apple slices on top of the pork. Bake, basting occasionally with the sauce. Baking time depends on temperature and thickness of pork cuts. 

This sauce makes the pork moist and gives it a little apple flavor. The sauce is not thick and does not coat the pork, but it just lends it some juiciness. A good flavor for fall. My mother made this dish for a change, and although I am not a huge fan of pork, it was an ideal way of preparing it. 

Potato Pork Casserole

The other day we decided to try something a little different for supper. Since pork chops were on sale, we decided to try a pork dish. We don't typically eat pork all that often. I am not a huge pork fan myself, but if pork chops are cooked tender enough so that they aren't tough and dry, I enjoy them. My mother remembered a simple pork casserole recipe she used to make years ago, which my father found and decided to make. The recipe is simple, just lay out pork chops in a casserole dish, layer them with sliced potatoes, cheese, and pour one can of cream of mushroom soup over top. My father did do a few things differently though. He pre-browned the pork chops, just fr a bit of extra flavor and to ensure they cooked, just five minutes per side. He also used a block of fresh cheese cut up, instead pf just slices. The original recipe serves four and calls for four pork chops, but he cooked six. The recipe turned out quite well, except for the potatoes. I guess they should have been sliced thinner, because after being in the oven for an hour at 325◦F immersed in bubbling sauce with the pork chops, they were still very hard. The pork was cooked perfectly at this point, but not the potatoes. Fifteen more minutes of cooking was only drying out the pork, and doing nothing for the potatoes, so they had to be microwaved separately. However, once together, the dish was quite tasty, and the pork chops were certainly tender and moist. The dish would have been even better with some fried onions and mushrooms added to the sauce. So next time, we will either make the potatoes really thin, or parboil them beforehand. 

Kaisers

These are the kaiser rolls we used to eat our pulled pork. I didn't make them myself (I would have if I had had the time), but we bought them freshly baked. They come in white, whole wheat, and multigrain, and we tried both the white and the whole wheat. Both types were very light and fluffy, nice big rolls that can hold a lot of pork and absorb the sauce well. They are especially good if you toast them first. Actually, these rolls are good for much more than just pulled pork, they also make really good sandwich buns, rolls to eat with soup, and are especially nice as pizza buns. Just out a little sauce, meat cheese, and vegetables if you wish, and pop them in the oven or toaster oven for a few minutes to toast them and melt the cheese. This is what we did with some if the leftover buns. These buns are especially suited to hold meat, such as beef, pork, chicken, turkey, ham, and cold cuts. They are soft and tasty.

Pork On A Bun

Here is a supper we recently enjoyed. It is slow cooked pulled pork roast in an apple butter sauce. I am usually not a huge fan of pork, but if it is done right I really enjoy it. And this time, my father certainly did it right. He used the pulled pork recipe our friends gave us after we ate some at their house this summer, and could not stop raving about it. It was so delicious! I believe I featured it a few months ago, when my father tried it the first time in the oven. However, he did not use the same sauce our friends recommended and I did not care all that much for the flavor of the sauce he used. This time my father cooked it long and slow in the slow cooker and used the same sauce as our friends. This time, the pulled pork was much better! It was even more tender and juicy, and the flavor was definitely much better. Here is a picture of it served on a fluffy bun with some sweet potato fries on the side. This is a good dish to make that is not too time consuming or difficult or requires too much prep work, especially when done in the slow cooker. It also just requires a few simple side dishes, like a salad, or vegetables, or potatoes, and a good quality bun. In addition, it is a warming winter dish that fills the house with delicious aromas while it is cooking. 

Pulled Pork

Earlier in the summer, we visited some family friends who used to live next door to us. While we were at their house, they were kind enough to prepare a delicious supper for us. There was certainly a nice variety of dishes, but the one that stood out for me the most (besides the wonderful strawberry shortcake for dessert of course), was the pulled pork. Even though I am usually not a huge fan of pork, the moment I walked in the house I could smell the enticing aroma of the pulled pork in sauce warming up in the oven. I knew I had to try it, and I was sure glad I did. The pork was extremely tender, moist, and flavorful. You didn't even need a bun or roll to eat it with, I just ate it by the forkful it was so good. So soon after we arrived home, I asked my mom to ask for the recipe. I knew we probably could not exactly duplicate the pulled pork we had there, because it would be extremely difficult to top, but we had to try.
Our friend promptly e-mailed us the recipe, although she said there was no real recipe for it, and you could vary pretty much all of the ingredients and adjust the cooking times/methods a bit and the recipe would still work out. I suppose as long as it is thoroughly cooked and has a good sauce, you can't really mess up on pulled pork, however, it just won't be as good as this pulled pork. We just got around to trying this recipe yesterday. We used a pork loin instead of the typical shoulder, because that is what we found at the grocery store. The night before we roasted it with some vegetables and apple juice (cooking liquid was one of the main ingredients that could easily be varied). The house smelled very good at this point, but I knew I had to wait until the next day to try the pork. The next day, we baked the shredded pork with some barbecue sauce and served it on buns. The result? The pork was certainly very tender. The only problem was, we had not used the same barbecue sauce as our friend had, which was basically what made the dish so good. The pork is smothered in sauce, so you really have to have a good tasting barbecue sauce. The barbecue sauce we used was a bit strong and overwhelming. I had thought we would use the same sauce, but it turns out we did not have it on hand, and we didn't want to make a trip to the grocery store just for that. This pulled pork was good, but next time we will use the same sauce, and it will be even better, though I'm not sure it will ever be as good as our friend's was.

Sweet and Sour Glazed Pork Chops

There were some extra pork chops from last night's supper, but no leftover sauce, so I whipped up a new little glaze to put on them. I decided on a sweet and sour glaze, which gave the chops a delicious, tangy flavor, and keep them moist in the reheating process. Here is the sauce I made:

In a medium saucepan, put 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar, 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup white vinegar, 1 tablespoon ketchup, and 1/2 tablespoon soya sauce. Heat and stir over high heat until the mixture begins to boil. Boil, stirring constantly, for 5-7 minutes until thickened. 

I cut the pork chops in half to more thoroughly coat them in sauce, placed them in a casserole dish, and poured the hot glaze over them. I covered and baked at 300◦F for half an hour to reheat. This glaze would work well for other meats too, it would be really nice on chicken or beef. It certainly is finger-licking good!

Creamy Mushroom Smothered Pork Chops

Tonight for supper I cooked up a quick, easy, and quite tasty dish. First, I sauteed some pork chops in a frying pan in a little oil over high heat. The trick to a nice sear and a flavorful crust is to have the pan really hot before adding the chops. I cooked them for about 5 minutes per side, just to get some color on them. I found it best to just leave them plain -  don't dredge them in egg, coat in flour, or season, as there will be enough flavor in the sauce. Then I transferred them to a lightly oiled ovenproof pot, covered it and put it in a 350◦F oven to finish cooking the pork chops. They took about 30 minutes.
For the sauce, I added a little extra oil to the pan I used to saute the pork chops. Then I added some diced onion, and cooked it, scraping up the brown bits from the pork, until the onions caramelized. I then added some fresh sliced mushrooms, and deglazed the pan. I made it into a sauce by adding some cream of mushroom soup and gently simmering until smooth and thick. This thick, creamy sauce is an excellent accompaniment to the tender, juicy pork. Serve each chop with a generous spoonful of sauce, plus a little extra on the side. Quick, easy, and delicious!

Roast Pork Tenderloin and Mushroom Dinner

Here was tonight's supper: a roasted pork tenderloin cooked with mushrooms, potatoes, and sweet potatoes, and cooked in a creamy mushroom sauce. It was very easy and efficient to make, since the entire meal cooks together in one dish. The various aspects cooked beautifully together, and cleanup was a breeze. I found the recipe in a 2011 calender. The only big changes I made was to use two small pork tenderloin "quick roasts" because that is what I found at the grocery store, and to add an extra sweet potato.

Roast Pork Tenderloin and Mushroom Dinner
1 large pork tenderloin, trimmed (about 1 lb/500g)
2 medium white potatoes, cut in 3/4 inch chunks
2 medium sweet potatoes, cut in 3/4 inch chunks
salt and pepper
1 tbsp butter
8 oz (250g) mushrooms, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 tbsp Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 375◦F. Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Place pork in center, tucking thin end underneath. Arrange potatoes around pork, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add mushrooms, garlic, onion, paprika, and 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper. Saute until mushrooms are browned, about 8 minutes. Stir in broth and mustard. Whisk flour into milk, stir into pan and bring to a boil. Boil, stirring for 1 minute.

Pour sauce over pork in pan, roast 10 to 15 minutes longer, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the pork registers 160◦F. Let rest 5 minutes, before cutting pork crosswise into thin slices. Serve with a scoop of mushrooms and potatoes and a drizzle of sauce. 

 "Roast Pork Tenderloin and Mushroom Dinner.” http://www.dairygoodness.ca/recipes/roast-pork-tenderloin-and-mushroom-dinner. Dairy Goodness, n.d. Sunday, December 4, 2011.