# Wanted: Recipes for easy 'casserole-ish' dishes based on lean pork? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [March 6, 2022, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-recipes-for-easy-casserole-ish-dishes-based-on-lean-pork/960584 "2022-03-06T21:47:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-recipes-for-easy-casserole-ish-dishes-based-on-lean-pork/960584/1 "2022-03-06T21:47:34Z")
I was given a whole pork loin, something like ten pounds of it. Given that this is a two-person household, that is a LOT of pork to go through. As a temporary measure, I hacked it up in one pound chunks and frozen them separately. Now, what can I make with the pork? I mean, yeah, I can slice each hunk up into cutlets and fry them, or pound them out, bread and then fry them, but that will get boring fast. What I’d most like are some recipes for something ‘casserole-ish’, that is, where I chop or grind the pork up, and combine it with whatever sauces/starch/veggies/seasonings into sort of one-pan meals. (If leftovers are easily reheatable, that would be great.) Or, I dunno, other dishes where pork cutlets are cooked with sauces to create different flavor profiles? I’m not really experienced with pork, it wasn’t a regular thing in my household. Ham, yes, bacon, yes, but not fresh pork. And I do know this loin is actually amazingly lean, virtually no marbled fat at all, if that affects your advice. Thanks muchly! ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-recipes-for-easy-casserole-ish-dishes-based-on-lean-pork/960584/2 "2022-03-06T22:43:18Z")
Either of my options from the Country Ribs thread work well here, although I’d recommend using the pieces of the pork loin from the sirloin end - you want as much connective tissue as possible, which is pretty minimal in most of the loin. > [@Country ribs recipe](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/country-ribs-recipe/947221/2): > > Ah, country style ribs, love them. Okay, so first, my favorite option is out, which is to smoke them, as while I consider it completely different from BBQ, there’s enough overlap and I don’t know if you have a smoker. What I would recommend is a New Mexican-style green chile pork, which only requires a slow cooker and ingredients, so really nice for hotter months, and does a good job with cuts that have a lot of diseparate bits of meat and connective tissue like Country style ribs. Easy-peasy… This would require a slow cooker or crockpot, although you can do well in an instant pot or other pressure cooker as well. @pulykamell 's options in the thread would work as well. And may I also suggest [Jamaican Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-all-things-jamaican-jerk-style-recipes-techniques-etc/913797/35) options as well? Even though those are (mostly) chicken based, I find the lean pork of the loin works well for these dishes - having at least as much flavor as boneless chicken breasts, although perhaps not as much as thighs (depending on the sourcing of the loin). ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-recipes-for-easy-casserole-ish-dishes-based-on-lean-pork/960584/3 "2022-03-06T22:45:37Z")
Pretty much any pork loin or butt recipe will work, but the biggest catch with pork loin is that it’s so fantastically lean. Personally, I’d take a different tack and cut it into 1/2-3/4" chops and treat them as if they were boneless skinless chicken breasts. They cook a lot more like them than they will most other pork recipes. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-recipes-for-easy-casserole-ish-dishes-based-on-lean-pork/960584/4 "2022-03-07T00:36:05Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Personally, I’d take a different tack and cut it into 1/2-3/4" chops and treat them as if they were boneless skinless chicken breasts. They cook a lot more like them than they will most other pork recipes. 100% agreed. Pork loin doesn’t stew or slow cook well. Some people don’t seem to mind, as long as there’s a lot of sauce, but I do not like it. The texture becomes too dry and stringy. I would definitely go with something like roast pork (cooked to an internal temperature of 155 max, preferably closer to 150 or even 145–I like rubbing it with a mix of fennel, salt, black pepper, garlic, and rosemary), grilled pork chops (marinated in jerk paste, as mentioned, works really well for me), and schnitzels (which you’ve already mentioned). Oh, and stir fry. It works really well as the protein in whatever stir fry you prefer. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-recipes-for-easy-casserole-ish-dishes-based-on-lean-pork/960584/5 "2022-03-07T00:42:51Z")
Oh, and staging off @pulykamell’s comments, if you aren’t using it in smaller pieces like a stir fry, I suggest treating it like boneless, skinless chicken in another way - brine it before cooking it, especially in any dry cooking method. Because, as pointed out by all, it gets very dry, very fast. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-recipes-for-easy-casserole-ish-dishes-based-on-lean-pork/960584/6 "2022-03-07T02:08:35Z")
Slice, sous vide, then a very quick sear. Serve covered with sauerkraut and small boiled potatoes. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-recipes-for-easy-casserole-ish-dishes-based-on-lean-pork/960584/7 "2022-03-07T02:16:24Z")
I think I’d might try bacon wrapped pork bites. ---
**Author:** ![flaming\_yawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cab0a1/32.png) [@flaming\_yawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flaming_yawn)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-recipes-for-easy-casserole-ish-dishes-based-on-lean-pork/960584/8 "2022-03-07T02:41:20Z")
My son get the Hello Fresh meals and I then take the recipe cards and recreate the meals not using the delivery service. One I tried and loved was Pork Bulgogi bowls. Basically a rice bowl with ground pork and a bulgogi sauce which I made from scratch but have now found it premade at store. Check out their website or google Hello fresh pork bulgogi bowl recipe and it should come up. It is easy and really tasty. ---
**Author:** ![Tarataratara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Tarataratara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarataratara)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-recipes-for-easy-casserole-ish-dishes-based-on-lean-pork/960584/9 "2022-03-07T22:35:20Z")
Something like this [Roast Pork with Apples & Onions Recipe: How to Make It](https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/roast-pork-with-apples-onions/) ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-recipes-for-easy-casserole-ish-dishes-based-on-lean-pork/960584/10 "2022-03-07T22:46:57Z")
I purchase a full pork loin every few weeks. Here is what I do: I cut it into 6 steaks, a roast, and get and extra softball size chunk from the small end. The oven roast is my “Sunday dinner”. Au Jus marinade with potatoes and carrots, BBQ spices and corn bread, lemon herb with alfredo…Just don’t overcook it. A little pink is okay. I pull mine just after 135 F. The softball of stew meat is great for pounding out cutlets (like you mentioned), breading and frying, or stir-fry after baking soda “velveting”. The steaks. Treat them like a beef steak but cook to 140F. Bake them with Cream of whatever and rice. This is usually called a “No-Peek” recipe if your searching. Bake them with cream of chicken and StoveTop stuffing on top. I like skewers with pork and apple with a cinnamon apple juice marinade. ETA: Don’t try and make any “lean” recipe that calls for pork butt, shoulder, leg or cushion. It never works. I don’t know how many meals and loins I’ve ruined. ---
**Author:** ![anny\_m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@anny\_m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anny_m)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-recipes-for-easy-casserole-ish-dishes-based-on-lean-pork/960584/11 "2022-03-07T23:20:19Z")
**Cornbread Topped Pork Pie** Salad oil 1 md onion, diced 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 lbs pork, cubed 1 28 oz can tomatoes 1 4 oz can chopped chiles, drained ½ cup water 2 tsp brown sugar Salt ½ cup flour ½ cup cornmeal 2 Tblsp sugar 1 ½ tsp baking powder 1/3 cup milk 1 egg Cook onion and garlic in 2 Tblsp oil until tender. Remove. Cook pork in drippings until well browned. Add onion/garlic mix, tomatoes (with liquid), chiles, water, brown sugar and ¾ tsp salt. Heat to boiling, stirring to deglaze pan. Pour into 2 ½ quart casserole. Cover and bake at 350 for one hour. Mix flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and ¼ tsp salt. Stir in milk, egg and 2 Tblsp oil. Spoon on top of pork mix. Bake uncovered 20 minutes. Serve at once – otherwise cornbread will get soggy. (Although, when I heat up the leftovers it’s sort of like a tamale, which I like.) It’s been some time since I’ve made this. I think I usually left out the sugar in the cornbread. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-recipes-for-easy-casserole-ish-dishes-based-on-lean-pork/960584/12 "2022-03-09T05:02:49Z")
Any large supermarket should sell the flavoring packets to make Japanese curry, which can use any kind of cubed or minced meat. Cooking time is short—you’re just dissolving the flavoring packet in water and letting it seep into the meat/potatoes/carrots—and it’s delicious served over rice. I do it with boneless chicken thighs about half the time; with cheap pork chops (boned and cubed) the other half. Large Asian markets will also sell very similar Japanese “Tasty Brown Stew” flavoring packets, which have an even more familiar, pot-roast sort of taste. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-recipes-for-easy-casserole-ish-dishes-based-on-lean-pork/960584/13 "2022-03-09T14:04:48Z")
Thank you all for the suggestions! The SDMB hive ;mind is a wonderful resource. 😄 > [@ParallelLines](#): > > And may I also suggest [Jamaican Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-all-things-jamaican-jerk-style-recipes-techniques-etc/913797/35) options as well? Even though those are (mostly) chicken based, I find the lean pork of the loin works well for these dishes - having at least as much flavor as boneless chicken breasts, although perhaps not as much as thighs (depending on the sourcing of the loin). Like, this option would never have come to my mind! But I’ll give it a try as soon as I’ve picked up a few ingredients. > [@bump](#): > > Personally, I’d take a different tack and cut it into 1/2-3/4" chops and treat them as if they were boneless skinless chicken breasts. They cook a lot more like them than they will most other pork recipes. Overall, I think this thought helped me the most, though. Yes, I don’t have much experience with pork, but chicken? Wooo, boy! Them kind of recipes I have. > [@pulykamell](#): > > I would definitely go with something like roast pork (cooked to an internal temperature of 155 max, Plain and simple, I like it. Unfortunate that I didn’t keep any bigger pieces, but maybe if I tuck a couple in together, or even truss them up together? Because one of the delights of doing a roast is making a hash out of the leftovers. Yum! > [@pulykamell](#): > > Oh, and stir fry. It works really well as the protein in whatever stir fry you prefer. Oh, should have thought of that myself! I love stir fried rice. > [@flaming\_yawn](#): > > One I tried and loved was Pork Bulgogi bowls. Basically a rice bowl with ground pork and a bulgogi sauce which I made from scratch but have now found it premade at store. This sounds delish for some future day, but the recipes I’ve looked at all specifically warn against using pork loin – more fat needed. > [@Tarataratara](#): > > Roast Pork with Apples & Onions Recipe: How to Make It Another really good option, can’t wait to give it a try! > [@sitchensis](#): > > I like skewers with pork and apple with a cinnamon apple juice marinade. And this one! But maybe not until we can get the grill out. (Summer has to come sometime, right?) > [@anny\_m](#): > > Cornbread Topped Pork Pie Ding! Ding! This was the first spot winner! Because I happened to have all the ingredients at hand. Well, sorta: I made only a half batch and (don’t hate me) subbed in a Jiffy Mix box of corn muffins for the topping. Came out great, though! After the first bites hubby hosied the leftovers! LOL. > [@Mr\_Downtown](#): > > Any large supermarket should sell the flavoring packets to make Japanese curry, which can use any kind of cubed or minced meat. Cooking time is short—you’re just dissolving the flavoring packet in water and letting it seep into the meat/potatoes/carrots—and it’s delicious served over rice. Will check into this, I don’t spend enough time in the ‘foreign food’ section overall. (Mid-west background, as in, I tend to cook what I was taught by my mother, who cooked only what her mother cooked…) [quote=“ParallelLines, post:2, topic:960584, full:true”] Either of my options from the Country Ribs thread work well here, although I’d recommend using the pieces of the pork loin from the sirloin end - you want as much connective tissue as possible, which is pretty minimal in most of the loin. Hmmm. I’ll look into this, but my impression of the meat from chopping it up was that it was basically a single huge muscle, with virtually no interior fat or connective tissue. Like, it was something that will one day come out of a ‘vat grown meat’ industrial plant in an endless extruded tube’o’tasty’protein. Again, I thank you all! I no longer feel so overwhelmed by the huge hunk of meat I was (very generously) gifted with. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-recipes-for-easy-casserole-ish-dishes-based-on-lean-pork/960584/14 "2022-03-09T15:25:52Z")
Excellent, glad to hear you get yourself some good eats! As for the slow cooker options, I mentioned them because you did specifically ask for one-pot / casserole-ish dishes. I do agree that the loin is a sub-par choice, meat-wise, but it will work, just being much drier than I think any of us would like. Adding a cup of frozen homemade heavy bone-based stock can help along with cheating and adding 4-6 oz of cooked salt pork. On the note of other ‘treat like chicken’ fixes, if you’re ever in the situation again, roasting it (brine first remember), you can wrap the loin tightly in fatty bacon, the way many people do a turkey or leaner beef roast. 🙂 I actually cook a LOT with pork loin, because in many cases, it is cheaper than boneless chicken (breast and thighs) and far, FAR cheaper than beef. I rate it thusly for my preferences, Duck . . . \> Beef \> Chicken Thigh \> Lean Pork \> Chicken Breast in flavor, but that means those on the end (chicken breast and pork) are great when you want the meat texture and nutrition, but want it to be secondary to the flavor combination you’re making. ---
**Author:** ![anny\_m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@anny\_m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anny_m)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanted-recipes-for-easy-casserole-ish-dishes-based-on-lean-pork/960584/15 "2022-03-09T16:38:17Z")
Glad you and hubby enjoyed the recipe! It got me thinking that I should make it again soon. And between you and me, I’ve used the Jiffy mix instead of making the cornbread from scratch, too. I was going to suggest that, but the recipes here were so gourmet-ish I was intimidated.