Dutch Oven Pork Loin Roast

Not typically part of my rotation, but wanted to share another easy recipe. I normally roast my loin on a roasting rack set in a pan. I think this adds a bit more of tenderness vs. the “bark” of the open rack method. This recipe is not modified at all and comes straight from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Amazing that this recipe still works and it is 60 years old. You must have a fireproof and oven-safe pot (Dutch Oven) with cover for this recipe or you will need to improvise. For brevity, I have reworked it a bit here:

1) 3 # boneless pork loin. It calls for a marinade but I did my typical 48 hour dry brine of salt, pepper and Adobo.

2) In a Dutch oven large enough (I put mine in a 4 1/2 quart Dutch oven), heat 4 TBSP of fat, lard or oil. You are now going to brown all sides of the loin. A few minutes all over to create a crust.

3) Take pork out and set aside. Leave 2 TBSPs of fat left in the pot. If needed add butter. Put in 1 sliced onion, 1 sliced carrot, 2 cloves of garlic (I omitted it), and some herbs (parsley, thyme sprigs, bay leaf). Cook for 5 minutes.

4) Add the pork back in pot and put cover on. Put in a 325 degree oven and cook until the meat registers 145 degrees. I lowered mine to 300 degrees as I wanted to give myself some time for other things. The 3 lb should take 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Mine was done in 1 hr 30 minutes. I do recommend that you check on it prior to that point.

4) Take out pork and put on a carving board to rest for at least 15-20 minutes. Take out the vegetables and set aside too. Resting the meat is so important as all the juices will need time to redistribute through the meat. Also, there will be carryover cooking and the internal temp will rise 5-10 degrees getting above the USDA recommended temperature. Now, this is up to you but you can make a gravy out of those drippings in the pot.

5) Optional: Leave about 1-2 TBSP of fat in the pot. Take 1/2 C. of wine and simmer in the pot, scraping up all those wonderful bits on the bottom. If you are short a little liquid, add some chicken stock.

Eat.Drink.Savor.

Smoked Pulled Pork - An Easy Version

I love Pulled Pork! It has become a staple in our house and moreso during the summer when I can lay back and enjoy the outdoors. The issue with Pulled Pork is that it takes forever to cook. As it is big hunk of meat of at least 5-10 pounds and full of connective tissue, fat and tendons, it has be cooked low and slow or it will not be good. How do I tackle this if I am pressed for time? Cook it overnight!! What? Yup! Takes some advance planning but it works. Here is my secret approach:

1) Dry Brine or season your pulled pork how you like it. Once ready to cook AND around 7 or 8pm, I put it on my smoker (if you don’t have one, you can use your grill) for about 3 hours OR until the pork reads 140 degrees internal temp. Why? Most meat can’t absorb any more smoke after it hits that temperature. After that temperature, your smoker doesn’t really add any more flavor and it turns into an oven. What if you want to use your smoker or grill? You can but you have to tend it…but if that is what you want to do, please wrap your pork in foil and add a bit of liquid (1/2 cup of juice, broth etc.) and keep an eye on it but…

2) I put my pork in a deep roasting pan, add my liquid, say beer, wine, cider etc., cover with foil tightly and put in a 225 degree oven. Make sure your oven is relatively clean and you have working fire detectors of course.

3) Go to Bed! Wake up to a house smelling of pork… MMM! It should be falling apart but not mushy. The low temp of 225 degrees gives you that buffer. I oft times put it at 200 degrees if my cook will exceed 8 hours in the oven. Most pulled pork is done around 195-205 degrees internal temperature.

That’s it! Really? Yes! I have prepared pulled pork like this for many years and it works like a charm.

Roasting Meat - The Rest

A very common mistake learning or new cooks make is not letting meat rest after it has come out of the oven. It is easy to skip this step when you have hungry people waiting at the table. Why is this important?

During cooking, all that heat evaporates liquids on the surface of the meat and eventually from the outside in. If you cook it long enough, well, you’ve overcooked it and it is bone dry. Cooked right, there will still be liquid concentrated in the center of the meat. When the meat comes out of the hot environment and has been given a chance to cool, the liquid will redistribute amongst all the meat fibers. The picture on the right is a pork loin that has rested for 25 minutes.

Depending on the size of your meat, you can have a shorter rest or a longer one. Remember, you don’t want your meat to fall below 140 degrees for too long before serving as it can introduce harmful bacteria.

Remember to give that meat a rest!!

Eat.Drink.Savor.