Hey guys. Whole boneless pork loin probably doesn't show up in your grocery
list that often. But, I'm here to tell you why it should in this episode sponsored
by 'The Pork Board' I'll be showing you how to break down, prep, store and make
delicious meals out of these humongous hunks of hog let's get down to basics.
Alright guys, the first thing we got to do is negotiate this full-size boneless
pork loin that I acquired from Sam's Club. We want to look for a roast that
has a good healthy fat cap on top and once we've gotten it out of the
packaging and patted it dry we can start breaking it down into our desired pieces.
Now I'm gonna go for a center cut loin roast and a couple different kinds of
pork chops so I'm going to cut out you guessed it, the center. This is where the
fat cap is going to be the largest and give us the most even coverage so we're
cutting that guy out now let's give these guys a flip so you can see how the
meat changes as we go down the length of the loin. As you can see over here on the
blade side we've got a lot of darker, fattier meat whereas over on the sirloin
side we have much less. This probably the more challenging part of the fork to
cook so we're gonna cut it into ultra thick pork chops that we're gonna
sous-vide. Over on the blade side these guys are better suited for traditional
cooking methods like pan frying and grilling as you can see the chop on the
right has a lot more fat connective tissue they're gonna help us stand up to
the heat whereas the other end of the loin is much leaner. But, for the meantime
we're going to deal with the center cut pork roast that we are going to
butterfly. Basically we're placing a large cut down the bottom third of the
roast opening it up like a book, until we reach the other end the roast at which
point we're going to make another cut opening up the roast yet again, more like
a pamphlet or a travel brochure. By doing so we've essentially tripled the surface
area of this roast and tripled our potential to make it delicious. First we
need to cover it with plastic wrap and pound it out flat we want this nice and
even. If you can't seem to find your meat mallet a heavy bottomed frying pan will
sometimes do the trick. We're not trying to tenderize it or anything we're just
trying to even it out so it will more effectively turn into a pork roll as we
utilize a method from America's Test Kitchen one that starts by making an
ultra flavorful paste out of a few tablespoons of freshly chopped rosemary,
and about eight cloves of minced garlic. Both of which we're going to place into
a cold stainless steel frying pan. We're starting this off in a cold pan so more
gently cooks the garlic and we're left with a more sort of sweet and savory
mixture than anything acrid or bitter. To this we are adding one third of one
cup of high-quality olive oil, which is fine because we're gonna be cooking this
at a lower temperature than usual, and the zest of one lemon
careful nuts to grate down to the white pith. Once we got all that junk in there
let's crank on the heat on medium low and slowly over the course of about
three minutes bring this guy up to a gentle simmer at which point we're gonna
let it cook for two minutes, allow ourselves to be dazzled by the
smells that have filled our apartment, and then strain through a fine mesh sieve into
a heatproof container reserving the oil which we are going to use later. For now
though, we're focusing on that garlic herb paste we want to press it into the
sieve to make sure to extract all of that flavorful oil, and then allow it to
cool entirely while we pensively process some pancetta. I say pensively not only
for the sake of alliteration, but also because we're just pulsing it a few
times before adding our herb mixture that we're then going to process into a
smooth paste. About 60 seconds we want it so smooth that we can spread it because,
well, guess what we're gonna do. Once we've got that mixture all set and ready
to go it's time to bust out our waiting pork roast which we are going to lightly
seasoned all over with salt and freshly ground pepper. Butterflying this roast
has blessed us with the ability to season it throughout making sure that no
bite of pork is bland or boring. Then we're gonna flip it back over fat cap
side down and begin a smearing. We want to spread this mixture out as evenly as
possible while leaving about a two inch gap on one side of the roast. The side to
which we are going to roll towards. This is gonna leave us a nice gap at the
bottom of the roast so our beautiful flavor paste it doesn't leak out on us
once we've got our roll rolled up into a nice, roll, place it gaap side down and
then it's time to tie it up tight. Place a length of butchers twine about every
inch or so underneath the roast, tie up top, using a- I can't remember what it's
called it's been a long time since I was in Boy Scouts- knot. Basically it's a
square knot with an extra turn on the first twist... I don't know dude... just tie
it up it's not gonna explode. Especially because we're gonna be cooking this
guy's slow and low. 275 degrees Fahrenheit for about two hours or until
the reads 135 degrees Fahrenheit in the thickest part of the roast. In the
meantime you can see that I'm simply seasoning all my chops with salt and
pepper, both sides of course, because whether we are sous vide these or not
we're vacuum sealing them all for storage in the freezer but the chops
that we are going to sous-vide we're gonna drop a single clove of garlic in
there, a sprig of thyme on one side of both of the growths and a sprig of
rosemary on the other, we're treating these guys the way we might treat filet
mignon because there very very lean and they're going to
require gentle cooking so as to remain flavorful and moist. We're dropping this
guy into a 144 degrees Fahrenheit bath for precisely 60 minutes- 90 minutes if
you're doing this fresh out of the freezer. Once one hour has elapsed and we
have removed our pork from the bags and patted them, dry we're going to place
them into a smoking hot skillet hot as you can get it because we're just doing
this for a little bit of color and texture on the outside of our chops.
They're cooked to a perfect 144 degrees Fahrenheit on the inside and we don't
want that raising a single degree. So try to cook them as quickly as possible,
sous-vide meat also has a kind of gray nasty palate appearance so try to make
sure that no facet of your chops go untouched by the heat. Once those have
been sufficiently seared we're going to remove them from the heat, place them on
a plate, cover them with foil, and make one of my favorite things in the world a
simple pan sauce. We got that nice fond on the bottom of the pot that we're going
to deglaze with a good glug of chicken stock, as well as a smaller glug of dry
sherry and for flavor extra credit we're also going to throw in a couple sprigs
of fresh thyme, scraped up all that good stuff off the bottom of the pot and
we're also gonna add a little squeeze of lemon, because between the chicken stock
and the sherry and the eventual butter that we're gonna add to this sauce this
is turning into a very rich affair and we need a little acidity to cut through
it all. Once the liquid has reduced by about 1/2, we're going to remove the
thyme sprigs, kill the heat and add about two tablespoons worth of butter. Whisk
constantly make sure that your pan isn't too hot or the sauce could break. Once
you've got everything nice and incorporated it's time to plate up. Over
at the plate station we've got our pork chops which as you can see have been
cooked to a blush-pink perfection. Remember the old saying 145 your pork
will thrive! Dry and white, ya ain't doing it right. We all grew up hearing those
sayings every day for a reason because they're true. Properly cooked pork chops
are a revelation and they can be achieved easily and economically by
buying whole pork loins and breaking them down into your desired bits.
Speaking of which what about our Tuscan style pork roast? How's that doin'? Well it
just hit 135, 136 if you want to be a (bleep) about it, so we are removing it from
the oven and preparing to sear, because well it picked up some semi-decent color
from roasting, we want to see some deep browning especially on that fat cap.
So into a ripping hot skillet it goes along with that lemon that we zested cut
in half- watch out for hot oil..OW!- I'll place those cut side down until they're nice
and brown and once the pork has formed a crust on its first side and pulls away
freely, go ahead and give it a flip take the lemons off when they're nice and
brown, and continue browning the pork all over until it is beautiful and well,
brown. Give it a nice shake to get some of them restaurant style flames up in
your pan and then we're going to make a simple vinaigrette out of the pan-seared
lemons and the reserved oil that we cooked the rosemary and garlic in. And we're
also gonna add just a little handful of freshly chopped parsley for some color
and brightness, add that in there and then whisk the whole affair together
with a fork until emulsified. Sorry I didn't use tiny whisk he is in the
dishwasher. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper and then once our roast
has been thoroughly seared on all sides it's time to carve and serve. First we
got to snip off our butchers twine that we tied with what I'm gonna call the
half double square knot and then it's time to cut it into this baby and see if
we got a good swirl.... moment of truth and mission accomplished!
Crispy, fat, tendered, juicy pork. Super flavorful filling, and a bright
herbaceous vinaigrette. This has got to be one of the pinnacles of pork that's
right I think this thing can go toe-to-toe with bacon any day of the
week. Mainly because it is stuffed with pancetta which is a type of bacon. I
really hope you guys try this one for yourselves but I also hope that you try
buying and breaking down your own primals. It's a good learning experience,
it's economical, and as you can see it often can yield delicious results. Just
want to say thank you again to the pork board for sponsoring this episode I will
see you guys next week when we'll be taking a look at quick weeknight meals.