I've been trying for a while to figure out the trick to good pork loin. I've tried just about everything, brining, marinades, rubs. Short hot cooking, longer and slower. Just about no matter what I do it ends up drier than I wish it were. I'm beginning to resign myself to the fact that the modern hog just doesn't have a high enough fat content in the loin area.
In any case, the latest (moderately successful) attempt was to butterfly out the loin, smear it with pesto and then re-roll the entire thing back into the original shape. I did a quick oregano/pepper rub as well. Pulled it out of the oven at what the termometer said was 120, but I think it was way over that -- I swear next time I'm going to undercook by about 10 minutes -- it must have carried over to 170 or more because it was well and fully white on the inside.
Made some basic spaztle and fried them in butter. A simple brown sauce made of white wine, oxtail, chicken stock and some roux, which I then used to deglaze the pork cooking pan.
I sliced the pork fairly thin and used three of the spirally-looking slices on the plate. I prepared and ate this while watching CQ a movie that was both better and very different than I thought it would be.
Posted by dowdy at May 18, 2003 05:15 AM