Okay here’s the situation. I have a pork loin defrosted, and ready to roast. Unfortunately I have no inspriation for what to do with with it.
I bought a bunch of them for really cheap several months ago, and this is the last one. The meat is really good, and everything I’ve done with them so far has been great. My basic MO is to make a marinade/sauce, roast it, then take the left over marinade, dump in a bunch of honey to make a glaze for it and crust it up at high temp.
So far I have done Barbecue style, Jerk style, honey-mustard style, Sesame-ginger-garlic-hoisin asian style, curry style, and a Cranberry Balsamic style. My plan for this one was a hawaiian pineapple type thing, but the thought of it really doesn’t excite me for some reason. I have all the stuff to whatever Mexican style I want, but that just sounds meh as well.
Somebody please give a new and exciting idea for my pork loin roast , that hopefully doesn’t require purchasing more than one or two non-standard ingredients.
Well, you could slice the loin into medallions, bread them and “fry” them in oil. Top with your favorite sauce.
You could make some kind of “roulades”. (sp?) That would involve slicing the pork, and pounding it flat. At that point, one recipe I like to make involves liberally seasoning the pork with salt & pepper, and rolling it up like a stromboli with red pepper slices and provolone cheese slices. Hold together with string or a couple toothpicks.
I cook mine on the grill, rotating a few times, but you could probably roast it, too.
What’s your “Mexican Style”? Because my first thought was “throw it in a pot, throw some salsa ranchero over it, and cook it down until it shreds and put it in tortillas.” Is that the “meh” Mexican thing you mentioned?
Other than that, Cook’s Illustrated had a good recipe for an herb-roasted pork roast that I made the other day and it was really good. If that sounds good, I can dig up the recipe and post it.
Hmm. interesting. One of the reasons I like the roast format is that being single, and cooking 6 pounds of meat at once the roast easily converts into slices for sammiches for the rest of the week. So however I cook it I need something that works well out of the fridge.
I’ve never tried that with a loin. I love cooking down a butt and shreading it, but I wasn’t sure a loin has enough fat and a loose enough structure to cook down.
My wife made a pork loin braised in leeks the other night that was very good. The recipe was from Italian author Marcella Hazan, and I have found this link to a slightly altered version of the recipe online. It’s very simple and quite delicious.
Another Hazan recipe I have made in the past (though using “steaks” from the pork loin roast, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work with a full roast) is pork and milk:
get a hot pan and brown the pork
add a cup or 2 of 2% milk and a couple of tablespoons of butter
cover and simmer on the lowest setting your cook-top has for about 2 hours
what you are looking for is the the milk to reduce and brown down to a nice golden color and to be pretty thick (almost all the loose water evaporated off). The milk becomes sweet and nutty flavored and is like a simple gravy for the roast. Usually, the milk fat gets a bit lumpy by the end of the cooking, so take the roast out and just wisk the remaining milk back until it’s smooth. Pork made this way is extremely tender.
Improvisor, could you try that link again? It isn’t working.
So, this tread inspired me to dig a 6 month old pork tenderloin out of my freezer, which I bought frozen and has never been thawed. Is it still good, do you think?
For the meat:
1 small can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
Pork loin
Puree the chipotle peppers and sauce in a food processor, and rub the pork loin with it. Allow to marinate anywhere from one hour to overnight. Gets spicier the longer it sits.
Grill to desired doneness. Allow to rest 10 minutes. Slice thinly.
For the salsa:
One ripe, medium-sized mango, diced
4-5 tomatillos, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1-2 Tbs. red onion, diced
Salt and pepper
Lime juice
Honey
Cilantro, chopped
Combine mango, tomatillos, jalapeno and onion, then season with remaining ingredients to taste. Allow to come to room temperature before serving.
Peel and julienne one medium-sized jicama.
To serve:
Place jicama sticks in center of large plate. Arrange slices of pork on top of the jicama. Surround with dollops of salsa. Enjoy!
Is it a tenderloin or a loin? I have seen other people posting for each type and wondered which you had. It sounded more like you had a LOIN ( like the pork chops without the bones or the tenderloin). Right? If its a tenderloin I have another really good one but its a bit fussy.
For a loin, here is an easy and very tasty one from the Frugal Gourmet
Chunk up the roast and brown it on all sides in olive oil. Place into a large coverable kettle (or you can use a crock pot).
Add: 2 cups stock (chicken or veg or water if its all you have)
1/2 white wine
2 teaspoons worth of diced or crushed garlic
Cover and cook until meat is very tender. Then add 4 cups of chopped celery (the more leaves the better) and simmer another 45 minutes or so. You can uncover it and reduce the juices if desired or need be. I like it with some corn bread but of course you could use whatever you have to help sop up the juice; potatoes, rice, crusty rolls. It is good leftover and reheated in a microwave too.
Put your pork loin in a slow cooker with chopped (chunks, not mnced) onions, garlic, salt and pepper. And then add a can of cherry pie filling.
About 4-5 hrs later, the aroma of this dish will have the neighbours pounding on the door, trying to weasel an invite for dinner. Serve with potatoes or rice, and some steamed veggies. The Sauce/ au jus from this dish is wonderful dribbled over the plate.
1 bulk porkloin chunked
2 bananas mashed
5 green plaintains peeled and chunked
1 Cassava root peeled and chunked
2 onions chopped
5 cloves of Garlic crushed
1/4 to a 1/2 bottle of Red or Green El Yucateco Hot Sauce
4 tbls. of Peanut Butter
24 oz. of Chicken Broth
1 can of Coconut Milk
Salt and Pepper
Combine in a Crockpot.
Low and Slow for a minimum of 8 hours
Serve over rice.