Resolution Recap 2012:Pork Entrees

I tried three new pork dishes last year.  One was a last minute idea trying to make use of ingredients I had on hand, basically apples and a pork loin.  I found a recipe on a blog about honey pork and apples in a crockpot, used it as the base idea and tweaked it for cooking in a dutch oven.  Below is the actual recipe from that blog with my modifications noted in (parenthesis).  I think this dish was just a tad bland for me so I only gave it * Pretty Good. However, Brad ate two helpings and later all the leftovers.

Crockpot Honey Apple Pork Loin*

• Pork Loin, 2.5-3 lbs.
• Red Delicious Apples, 3 sliced (I used gala)
• Honey, approx 4 T
• Cinnamon, 2 T
• (1 cider, I used Angry Orchard Ginger Cider)

 

Lay the apple slices, from two of the apples, in the bottom of the crockpot (dutch oven). Sprinkle with cinnamon. Cut slits in the pork loin, approx 1/2″-3/4″. Drizzle some honey into the slits. Then place apple slices into the slits. (Generously salt and pepper the loin.) Place the pork loin into the crockpot (dutch oven). Drizzle the top with the remainder of the honey. Place the rest of the apples on top. Then sprinkle the whole thing with cinnamon. (Pour in the cider or you can use apple juice instead.) Cook on low for 7 hours (for dutch oven, cover with lid and start on stove top on medium heat till liquid is simmering then place into a 325F oven for an hour or until meat is at least 145F and tender). For more flavor, you may poke holes in the pork. Then place the pork loin in a bag with honey and cinnamon and marinate it overnight. (Note some reviews indicate the dish is too dry and the writer indicated the need for a complete sealing crockpot lid).
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The next recipe came from Real Simple magazine and also rated a *Pretty Good. 

Pork Scaloppine*
(Total Time: 20 min, Serves: 4)

 

• 8 ounces egg noodles
• 1 1 1/4-pound pork tenderloin, sliced 3/4 inch thick, pounded 1/4 inch thick
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2/3 cup white wine
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

 

Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Meanwhile, season the pork with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Coat it in the flour. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. In batches, brown the pork, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.  Return the skillet to medium-high heat. Add the wine and butter and cook for 1 minute. Add the pork back to the skillet and sprinkle with the parsley. Serve the pork and sauce over the noodles.

 

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The final recipe I took from Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook.  I have tried several recipes from the cookbook and thus far all have been very successful for me but this one ended tasting just OK, good but not worth the effort.  I think the issue was lack of a good demi-glace.  Recipe below is copied from the book. To make this recipe you first need to make Garlic Confit.

Garlic Confit

• 2 heads of garlic, broken into unpeeled cloves
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 sprig of thyme
• Coarse sea salt

 

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Leaving the skin intact on each clove, gather the cloves together into a bunch and wrap with aluminum foil, adding the oil, thyme, and salt before sealing the packet. Cook in the oven for 30 minutes (you may want to agitate the bunch a few times during cooking to ward off uneven roasting, i.e., brown spots). Set aside and allow to cool before popping the garlic cloves from their skins.

 

Mignons de Porc a l'ail

• 4 heads of garlic confit (see instructions above)
• 4 pork tenderloins, about 10 ounces (280 g) each
• 2 slices of bacon
• 1 tbsp (14 ml) olive oil
• 3 tbsp (42 g) butter
• Salt and pepper
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced
• ¼ cup (56 ml) white wine
• ½ cup (110 ml) strong, dark chicken or veal stock
• 1 sprig of flat parsley, finely chopped

 

Use the fork to mash half of the garlic cloves. Reserve the remaining cloves separately in the small bowl. Lay two of the tenderloins down across the cutting board. Lay some plastic wrap across them and give them a light pounding with the heel of your hand. You’re looking to flatten the tenderloins ever so slightly on the fatter end. Remove and discard the plastic wrap.

 

Top the tenderloins with the mashed garlic, spreading the pastelike substance evenly along the length of the tenderloins. Lay the bacon slices across the garlic the long way. Now lay the other two tenderloins on top of the first two, the fatter ends pointing in the opposite direction from the ones on the bottom, so that they nestle together in a yin-yang sort of a way, creating a fairly even-shaped tube. Using kitchen string, tie each double tenderloin together tightly and evenly at several points along the tube (that way it can be sliced into medallions without cutting the string). Refrigerate overnight.

 

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the tenderloins from the refrigerator. In the sauté pan, heat the olive oil over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the butter. When the butter stops foaming, season the pork, then add it to the pan, working in batches so as not to overcrowd the pan. Cook the pork over high heat for about 6 to 8 minutes per side, after which the meat should be nicely browned. Place the meat in the roasting pan and finish cooking in the oven for about 20 minutes. When cooked through, but still moist in the center, remove from the oven and allow to rest on the plate.

 

Discard the fat from the sauté pan and add 1 tablespoon of the butter. Heat over medium-high heat, then add the shallots. Cook for 2 minutes, or until the shallots are soft. Stir in the wine with the wooden spoon, scraping the bottom to dislodge the good stuff. Cook over high heat until the wine is reduced to a glaze consistency, then stir in the stock. Cook over high heat until it’s reduced by half. (At this point you should, if you can, whisk in a spoon of that good demi-glace from your stash.) Add any drippings from the plate that’s holding your cooked pork. Whisk the remaining tablespoon (14 g) of butter into the sauce, as well as the remaining cloves of garlic confit and the parsley. A little splash of raw wine at this point is nice, too.

 

Slice the pork into 1½-inch (4-cm) medallions, arrange them around the platter, and spoon over the sauce. This dish is very good with mashed potatoes, in which case, you might want to arrange the medallions on and around the potatoes, with the garlic confit-studded sauce also poured over and around. Delicious.