Pork and Potatoes

September 10, 2015

Pork Loin with Potatoes and Gravy

Ingredients:

1 Pork tenderloin

Spices

Oil

Potatoes

butter

milk

Stock, broth, drippings, or bullion cubes

Directions:

Rub the pork loin with spices of your choice*

Preheat oven to 350 F

Heat oil in pan

Sear loin on all sides

Put in oven for 10 minutes

Turn and roast 10 more minutes

Verify at least 150 F internal temp

Remove, and cover

Meanwhile, have made potatoes, mash, whip, and flavour as desired

Make gravy with drippings

Enjoy

*NOTE: I use a mix a bit on the spicy side of garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, ginger, red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, ground mustard, oregano, salt, pepper, paprika, and a touch of basil and marjoram.  I have it mixed in a jar and use it on a lot of different things.

My wife and baby are sick today, so it was a throw together meal tonight. And my post is going to be a bit shorter, and potentially more rambly than usual. Also, my directions are terrible if you don't know what you are doing.

However, I am going to ask my editor to add his thoughts and directions on gravy, because he makes the best gravy ever. Mine is good, but his is better. Tonight I used drippings and some mushroom stock that I had in the cupboard. My potatoes were flavoured with butter, of course, and lots of garlic and chives.

Editor’s Note:  Well alright then, I was also hoping for a slack evening tonight, but with a compliment like that, I can’t let the people down now.  

Good Gravy!  First of all, do you know what a roux is?  Have you made a roux?  This is what is going to give you a great gravy over a good gravy.  A roux is a french culinary preparation of flour cooked in fat.  Classically the fat is butter.  but depending on what you are making any fat will do the job, and impart flavours.  Essentially the point of a roux is to thicken a sauce, so depending on your sauce, you will have to make an appropriate decision on your fat.  That being said, it also doesn’t have to be flour either, in Japanese cuisine, a roux is built with curry powder and oil.  But we are looking at gravy here so let us not get too far off track.  The key to a good roux and finally a great gravy is going to be patience, as it does take a little time.  The following is how I make mine.  I will never claim to be technically accurate on traditional procedures, but I do know what works from me.  

First in a fairly heavy large frying pan melt some butter, how much you ask?  Great question, I don’t measure things so, assuming you have a decent amount of drippings and at least 4 cups of broth standing by, let’s say 2/3 cup of butter.  It doesn’t need to get to hot, just melted, now add some flour.  Again approximately 1/2 cup, mix it all together.  The goal here is to have it all mix together and cook down at least until you can not taste raw flour.  You want it to end up with the consistency of a soft paste, if it is getting to dry and starts to ball up or get crumbly, add more fat.  Now here is where the patience thing starts.  The longer you cook this, on a medium-high heat BTW, the darker it will get and the rich the flavour it will impart unto your gravy.  I like to get at least a medium brown.  This is up to you, once it has reached that paste consistency and you can not taste the flour, it will do the thickening job, the rest is about flavour.  

Once you are happy with your roux, is time to add your drippings and other flavour juices.  At first you are going to want to do this slowly.  Also take note of the temperatures of your ingredients, you do not want them too hot or too cold, as this will cause lumps.  Add your fatty drippings first and incorporate into your roux with a whisk, take some time for the fat to blend into the paste.  Once all mixed in, SLOWLY in batches add your broth, taking time to mix it all in.  The trick is to not add so much liquid at once that your paste starts to separate and float around as this will also cause lumps, if you can add is slow and mix it will gradually all blend together and the will just have a nice consistency the whole time, slowly getting thinner and thinner.  Once you have added all of your liquids, you will most likely be looking at it thinking this is way too thin.  If I wanted a cloudy juice, I could have just added milk to my meat juice before not using it and dumping it.  Again Patience!  Now that it is all mixed together, put it back on a higher heat and let it just come to a boil then turn it down to a simmer.  Let it simmer for a few minutes, and it will thicken up to a GREAT GRAVY.     

Bon Apetit

Pork, mash, and potatoes

I once heard on a cooking show that the secret to great mashed potatoes is to have 1 part butter to 1 part potato. I know it was a joke, but I get closer to that point every time I make potatoes and they get better every time (I can’t let people watch when I am making for a crowd, it’s better if they don’t know). I do think that melting the butter with the milk/cream/liquid you plan on using makes a big difference, and I mash by hand before ever introducing a hand blender to the mix.

Also, a note on silverskin: I know a lot of people don't like to cut their own meat, and it can be very intimidating the first time you try it. Buying things like pork tenderloins, or chicken breasts or thighs, or roasts that have a little bit of trimming to do is a great way to get started. If you screw up it’s not like you wasted a lot of money, or ruins a big cut of meat, it’s just you practicing, and still having perfectly good food left at the end.

I also can’t stress enough the need for good knives. You don't need to go out and spend crazy amounts of money and get a single knife for $400, but you do need to have a couple of basic knives that are easy to sharpen, and are sharp enough to make your life easy.

That's enough for now,

Cheers and Best wishes!

The Omnomnivore

P.S The above article, my family state of illness, and my lack of motivation, has given me an idea. As I am not going to be making a dessert tonight because I’m not feeling up to it, and no one posted any ideas for one, I am going to do a first installment of Mandatory Kitchen Equipment. I’ll still have a post, but no food.