A unified theory of roast pork and pork casserole and etc ... or, a meditation on loin

 63. Loin of pork with pineapple

Pork loin bonne femme all over again, only scratch the potatoes and onions. The pineapple (and apple) comes in at the last minute--not actually present during cooking, more a sweet and acidic side than something that co-habitates the cooking vessel, exchanging flavours and aromas.


A problem: the pork was dry again. I never used to buy loin. This is why. It's just too lean. Yeah, I got the butcher to keep a layer of fat on top, but even so: it's not marbled nicely like neck, not a fat-meat-fat-meat sandwich like belly. It's a bastard of a cut. I get why you'd use it. Rolled up with a piece of crackling wrapped around it, it presents well. It's easy to carve. It's not as confrontingly fatty as belly. I get that. I do. And after eating 75% of a duck the day before I was okay with that.


But this has to stop. I used a lower temperature than the recipe said. I shave 30 minutes off the 90 minute cooking time. I ensured the pork was covered well with foil. And it was still dry as all get out. I felt like an arsehole serving this to a guest. I don't like eating shit food and I sure as hell don't feel good about serving it up.


I'm wondering what my options are. I could abandon the cut altogether and use belly or neck in all future roast and casserole recipes--shoulder too, maybe--but that'd be giving up. I want to master pork loin. I'm weighing up a few options at the moment. Larousse Gastronomique describes a few techniques that may be useful. I'm considering larding the meat--using needles to stick lumps of pork back fat all through the meat. I'm also thinking of sitting the meat in a brine for 24 hours or so. Just to see if it makes any difference to the end product. I'll let you know how it goes.

64. Mushroom salad

A very basic salad of sliced mushrooms dressed with a lemon and parsley vinaigrette. Nothing to write home about. Forgive the shitty knife work, please. By the time I got around to making the salad I'd had a couple of beers and didn't trust myself enough to finely slice anything. I find that even the smallest amount of alcohol and a just-sharpened cook's knife are the worst bedfellows in history.


Potato notes: revising my position

I remember, a few weeks ago, first trying Larousse Gastronomique's method for roasting potatoes. You peel them, chop them and roast them. They come out okay. Before that, I'd always, always, always boiled my potatoes to the point of near-falling-apart before putting them in the oven. Last night I reverted to my old method and the results were far superior to the straight roasting method. Oh Mighty Patron Saint of Duck Fat Potatoes, I repent for the last few weeks of silliness. Forgive my sins. I shall not stray from the true path of awesome roast potatoes again.