A critique (Pork Tenderloin)

Recipes that you pull down off the interwebs can sometimes be first-rate, but there is no guarantee.  A reader sent a pork and apple recipe that seemed to have all the right ingredients; however it did not come out right.  Her comment was “the meat seemed more steamed than roasted.”  Additionally, she thought that it would be good with some kind of crust, a good idea.  The reason that this recipe did not work is that there is a real jumble of technique.  If the author had simply decided whether he was making a sauté or stew, the results would have been satisfactory.  Since he didn’t, the result is not as good as the ingredients would suggest.  Also, pork tenderloin, or any lean cut of meat, should not be cooked in liquid.  It should be roasted quickly.  More on that later.

I haven’t a clue where this recipe came from.  It is probably not from Rachael Ray, because I don’t see any place where she suggests coating good food in some kind of crap carbs like corn flakes or Doritos.  It is doubtful that it is Paula Deen’s, since there is no diabetic-safe deep fryin’ or overt racial insensitivity.  I normally do not present other’s recipes, but this will be instructive.  It’s time to be a cook/nerd.  Here is a rundown of what was recommended.  I’ve cut out any info that your really don’t need.  Make notes.  See if you can spot the problems.

2 (1- to 1-1/2-pound) pork tenderloins

2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more as needed

  1 1/2 teaspoons salt, plus more as needed

  1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

  1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

  1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 apples, cored and sliced

2 onions, sliced

1 cup chicken stock

1 tablespoon butter

1. Heat oven to 425°F.

2.  Trim each tenderloin of any silver skin.  Pat pork dry with paper towels.

3.  Then, using your hands, rub the tenderloins all over with 1 tablespoon of the oil,    sprinkle with 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and rub until both tenderloins are evenly coated.

4.  Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large cast iron skillet or heavy-bottomed oven-safe frying pan over medium heat. You will know when the pan is ready when the oil shimmers.

5.  Add the pork tenderloins and cook, turning occasionally, until evenly browned all over. Transfer the browned pork to a large plate or cutting board.

6.  Add apples and onions then cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned around edges, about 5 minutes.

7.  While the apples and onions cook, coat the pork all over with the mustard, sprinkle it with 2 teaspoons of the thyme and black pepper, and rub until it’s evenly coated.

8.  Add the remaining teaspoon of thyme to the apples and onions, stir. Then, place pork tenderloins on top of apples and onions and slide into the oven. Roast 10 to 15 minutes or until an internal thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers between 145 and 150 degrees F.

9.  Transfer pork to a large plate and cover with aluminum foil. Let rest about 10 minutes.

10.  While the pork rests, place the pan with apples and onions back onto the stove and turn heat to medium. Add chicken stock and use a wooden spoon to scrape the pan, lifting any brown bits from the bottom. Bring to a simmer and cook until reduced by half. Add butter and stir until melted.

11.  Slice pork into 1-inch slices then serve on a bed of the apples and onions with pan sauce drizzled on top.

Crack open a jug.  This might take a while.  I’m drinking a Cab from Wycombe Vineyards in Bucks County, PA.  Here is my point-by-point critique.  Excuse me for being picky.  It’s sort of what I do.  This is how chefs think.

·         -The chef who wrote this recipe assumes that the reader is able to competently clean the sliver skin off the tenderloin.  Additionally, he thinks that a reader will know that a pan is hot by the look of the oil heating in it.  I would never take that sort of thing for granted.  Both of those things take training and/or experience. 

·         -Don’t rub the meat with oil, you’ll make a mess.  Just season it and sear it in the hot pan with oil.

·        - The author is correct.  The meat should be seasoned and browned on all sides.  Instead of searing the pork, then reserving it until later to finish, why not put it in the oven to finish cooking it now?  

·         -That’s a lot of onions!  Half of that amount would give you a better apple character.  You could cook the apples and onions in the pan where you seared the pork.  That way, they would pick up the pork flavor; however apples and onions have completely different cooking times.  Apples will cook through in ten minutes or so, while onions need at least thirty minutes.  The better way to do this would have been to stew the onions down in a separate pan, add in the apples (which you should have peeled) and cook them until they are soft, preserving their aroma.  Deglaze the pan with white wine or even better some hard cider, then stir the apple/onion compote in.  You are making a sauce, not just cooking up some stuff.

·         -Apples and mustard do not go together.  They are good in separate sauces.  Also you should never cook mustard for an extended amount of time since it will get bitter and acrid, like most cooks.  

  

·         -When the pork is returned to the pan with the steaming apples and onions, you are stewing it.  It will get tough and stringy.  The color will be pale, rather than browned.  That’s not what a cook wants to do with a fine cut of meat.  It is good that author suggests searing the pork.  It should then be cooked fully and rested while the sauce is finished.  Just before serving, the meat should be sliced across the grain then sauced.  The unbending rule is that cheap cuts are cooked at a low temperature for a long period of time, while expensive cuts get quick cooking at a high temp.  Actually, pork tenderloin is best sliced and pounded into paillards and sautéed.  Chef Ted used to do that and call it veal.  He always made his food cost.  He was not particularly ethical.

·         -Covering the pork with foil only continues the cooking, essentially steaming the meat, making it tough, ruining the browning that you worked so hard to do.  Instead set the meat in a warm place while you prepare the sauce.

·        - Ignore the whole discussion about a pan sauce.  Anything you would get out of the pan is already in the puree.  Skip that and make the best puree possible.  Oh, and why do Americans put chicken stock in everything?  Pigs have bones.  

·         -I would either mash or puree the apples and onions, then adjust the consistency with water, pork stock or cream.  Remember you are making a sauce, so it should be a thin coating texture.  Alternatively, it would be nice to heat the thick puree and flambé it with applejack or brandy.  Do like the recipe says, slice the pork and lay it on top.  

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Pages back, it was suggested that a crust baked on top would be interesting.  I agree.  Here are two ways you might do it.  For both preparations, sear the tenderloin in oil, place it on a broiler pan, brush it with something to hold the breading then add the crust.  Bake at 400° for about 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven, rest for 5 minutes, slice then serve.

Mustard Crusted Pork Tenderloin

1 cup bread crumbs

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon black or yellow mustard seeds

1 teaspoon fresh sage, chopped

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

a few grinds of fresh black pepper

In a medium sauté pan, melt the butter over low heat.  Add the mustard seeds, sage, salt and pepper.  Sauté until the seeds begin to brown.  Add the bread crumbs, mix thoroughly, remove from the heat.  Brush the tenderloin with the Dijon mustard.  Top the pork with the mustard crust.

Parmesean Cheese, Black Pepper and Thyme Crusted Pork Tenderloin

1 cup bread crumbs

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons grated Parmesean cheese

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 teaspoon coarse grind fresh black pepper

1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

As in the previous recipe, melt the butter, add the seasonings and the bread crumbs.  Away from the heat, blend in the Parmesean.  Brush the tenderloin with the egg, then top with the crust.

Well, I hope you have had fun.  The above recipe is not a bad one, but if you have a little technique under your belt, you’ll be able to see through the problems and make a better dish.

You Need Soup Today! (Tomato and Fennel Soup)

Here's a quick soup for this cold, rainy day that I am preparing for tomorrow's Healthy Vegetarian Soups class.  There's still time to sign up..

A watery fruit like tomatoes can be used like a stock.  Fresh or canned tomatoes combined with water and aromatic vegetables, quickly cooked, make a soup of surprisingly complexity.  There is no need to thicken this soup and it will be on and off the stove in under 30 minutes. 

Tomato and Fennel Soup

1 quart tomatoes, pureed and strained

1 head fennel, cored and sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 quart water

3 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped

2 cups crusty bread, cut into 1/2 inch dice

salt and fresh black pepper

Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottomed stockpot.  Sauté the fennel over low heat for at least 5 minutes.  It should wilt and cook through, but not brown.  Season with salt and pepper.

Increase the heat to high.  Add the tomatoes and water.  Adjust the seasoning.  When the soup boils, reduce the heat to a low simmer and cook for 10 minutes. 

Serve the soup over crusty bread, garnished with mint.

Sauteed or Grilled (Pork Souvlaki)

Any chef, at least out here on the US East Coast has a Greek chef or two in their lineage.  As I said in an earlier blog, one of my first important cooking gigs was at a Greek owned restaurant in Rochester, NY.  Christos Petsos taught me a bunch or early lessons and let me know that maybe, just maybe, I had what it took to be a professional chef.  When chefs get to late-night, end of shift boozing, everyone has a Greek chef story, most of them profane, however all of them filled with grudging respect, sometimes awe. 

You see, in the northeast, I don’t know about the rest of the country, Greeks run many of the restaurants that are low to mid priced, just perfect for a stoner to get a job where no obvious skills are required.  Sometimes all it takes is showing up at the right time, like say when the chef has just punched out a cook and thrown his tenderized body out on the loading dock to marinate in the blood and the muck and the garbage juices that collect there.  Who would you look at that scene and say, “Hell yeah, I wanna work here!!!!”  Well, I did.  That’s how I was hired at a diner in Saylorsburg.   Later, I was to be the guy doing the thumping, proving that chef DNA can be transferred by osmosis.  I’ve mellowed since then.

Pork Souvlaki can either be made in a pan, as a sauté, or more commonly grilled on skewers over an open fire.  This is serious street food.  The butchering and marinade is the same.  I’ll be preparing this version sautéed with onions and peppers, served over bread that was browned in the pan before cooking the Souvlaki.  It could also be served with pita bread and garnished with crumbled feta cheese and Tzatziki sauce.  If bamboo skewers are to be used, be sure to soak them in water for at least 30 minutes before skewering the meat.  Without soaking, they will quickly burn, making a big mess of your grill.    

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Pork Souvlaki (serves 6)

2 pounds pork country spare ribs, cut into 1 inch dice, ribs removed

3/4 cup olive oil

1 lemon, juiced, rind removed

4 cloves garlic, chopped

3 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped (or 1 tablespoon dried)

1 Spanish onion, sliced

1 red pepper, sliced

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon fresh black pepper

Here's what you'll need for the marinade.  Fresh oregano, lemons, olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic.

Peel the lemon with a vegetable peeler, but not so deeply that you take off the bitter white pith.  Save the rind to cook in rice pilaf to serve with the Souvlaki.

 Combine 1/2 cup olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper in a large bowl to make a marinade for the Souvlaki.

Add the pork.  Mix to combine.  The acidic lemon juice will slightly whiten the pork.  Refrigerate for one hour.

Drain the pork.  You do not want to put wet meat cubes into a hot pan, because it will splatter and may flare up.  Heat a large sauté pan.  Add 1/4 cup olive oil.  When the pan is very hot, add the marinated pork. 

Turn the pork with tongs.  Brown each side.      

When the pork has cooked through, about 10 minutes, add to onions and peppers. 

Sauté for 2 minutes, until the vegetables have been cooked through.

We served the Souvlaki with sautéed kale and rice pilaf.

Yeah!!!!!! Eggfest!!!!!! (Pork Tacos, Chinese Style Ribs)

As promised, here are the recipes for what I was serving at PA Eggfest 2014 earlier today.  I had a blast and thoroughly enjoyed cooking next to my friend Jim Markowski.  It was his first catering gig and he pulled it off like a champ. 

For those I met today, please continue to follow the blog.  Good stuff here. 

A long, hot day.  Now, it’s nap time, right after bourbon time.

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Chili Smoked Pork

4 pounds pork butt

3 tbs. chile powder (recipe below)

2 tbs. brown sugar

1 tbs. kosher salt

Mix the chile powder, brown sugar and salt in a separate bowl until well combined.  Rub the seasoning mix onto the pork butt.  Marinate covered in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours, turning occasionally to redistribute the seasonings.

Heat your smoker to 160°F.  Smoke the pork butt for about 6 hours, until the internal temperature reaches 160°F.  Remove from the heat, hold warm for 10 minutes before slicing.  Serve sliced on a grilled corn tortilla with sliced iceberg lettuce and salsa (recipe below).

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Chile Powder (about 3 cups)

6 Ancho dried chilies

6 Pasilla dried chilies

8 Guajillo dried chilies

1 tbs. cumin seed

1 tbs. black pepper, coarsely ground

2 tsp. kosher salt

In a large, heavy sauté pan, toast the cumin seeds over a medium heat for five minutes while stirring constantly.  The cumin will begin to brown and may pop.  Transfer the seeds to a food processor.  Add the salt and black pepper.  Process on high speed for am minute, until finely ground.

Using the same sauté pan on medium heat, toast the chilies in batches until they begin to color, only about a minute per side.  Press down on each of the chilies with the back of a spatula, so that most of their surface browns.  Move the toasted chilies to baking sheet to cool.

Carefully remove the stem and the seeds from the chilies.  It is unlikely that you will get all the seeds, but don’t worry.  Break the chilies into roughly 1 inch squares.  Put them into the food processor with the other seasonings.  Process until the chilies have powdered, at least 10 minutes.  Store in an airtight jar.  Shake before using to remix the chilies, cumin, salt and pepper.

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Salsa

1 28 oz. can of petite diced tomatoes

½ cup white or red onions, diced

½ cup scallions, sliced

½ cup green pepper, diced

½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped

2 tbs. canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce

2 tbs. red wine vinegar

3 tbs. olive oil

salt and pepper, to your taste

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Remove 1/3 of the salsa.  Puree it finely to thicken the sauce.  Return it to the mixing bowl.  Refrigerate it for at least an hour before serving.

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Chinese Style braised Ribs

2 racks of pork spare ribs

1 cup soy sauce

1 cup rice wine vinegar

1 cup water

2 tbs. salted black beans

1 tbs. chopped ginger

1 tbs. chopped garlic

1 tbs. sliced scallions

Ask you butcher to split the ribs lengthwise, then cut the meat between the ribs, making riblets about 1 1/2 inches long.

Preheat your egg or oven to275°F.  Combine all the ingredients except the pork in a large, heavy stockpot.  Place the pot in the oven until it just begins to boil, then add the ribs, cover and cook for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

When the meat has softened, but is not falling off the bone, remove it from the pot of sauce and put it on a platter.  Drizzle the ribs with a few tablespoons of sauce and serve.

I Like Cider, a new discussion group!

I just started a discussion group about making, drinking and the developing hard cider culture. 

Join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ilikecider/

For the past 20 years I have been making cider.  I'm taking this opportunity to pass on that experience and am inviting other cider makers to add their bit.  A trip to Normandy last October really changed my understanding of cider and cider culture.  My cider got better immediately.

We'll talk about fermenting apple juice and discuss the best ways to make a variety of ciders.  Additionally, I'll encourage consumers to post tasting notes, to develop a database of good things to drink.

This will be fun.