Impulse buys – When window shopping pays off

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PorkyLoin.jpg
I know many people who go shopping for food and have a list, I’ve tried it. Yeah well, my list is usually the one blowing through the parking lot after it falls from an ill placed spot in my front pocket. I’ve given up long ago at keeping up with the routine and figure if I miss something, I can come back tomorrow.
Yeah, so I was shopping for tonight’s dinner at my local Latino market, Joya de Ceren. All I needed was a pound of Molida (ground beef), but the pork caught my eye. And because I’ve made friends with the butcher, I knew I could get other cuts, like right now. We do loin chops frequently, but what about a roast? Pork loin roast.
I made a few gestures, pigeon Spanish and Carlito was dragging out a full pork loin! I motioned about yay big. Um, that comes to 8.25 pounds in English. Did I have any plans? Nope. Do I now? Nope.
The fruit shown are all gifts from friends. The peaches are from Zoomie at Zoomie Station, large pears from from Cookie of I’m Mad and I Eat, and the cute little juicy pear rigs are from Claire of Clutter Coach.
Anyone got any idears? What you gots?
xo, Biggles
Joya de Ceren
12545 San Pablo Ave
Richmond California
(510) 235-5315

16 thoughts on “Impulse buys – When window shopping pays off”

  2. Respectfully sirs,
    If you dont cut off a roast for whatever, and take the remaining half and put it immeidiatly into a sweet pickle brine and make you some LARGE Canadian Bacon, you crazy. Respectfully……

  4. Sirs,
    So honored to comply.
    Place 4 lb hunk of that glorious loin in Gallon ziplock. Dump in 1 cup dark brown sugar, 3/4 cup non-iodized salt, 1/2 handfull of black pepper, tablespoon of Ground Cayenne. Zip and roll till evenly coated and mixed. Expell air and refrigerate.
    After first day liquid will have accumulated, slosh regularly. Time in brine can be reduced by pumping center of meat. Taste brine every day to ensure it remains salty, add salt if it gets too weak. When it is ready it will be firm throughout,rinse gently and place on a plate in the fridge for a day or so, to equalize some.
    Now smoke it as cool as you can, it should be safe to hang out at 100 deg F for up to 2 days. Put it back in the fridge to age a day or so longer. Slice thinly, hide it from the boys.
    Your humble servant,
    Salvage

  7. Too cool… been wanting to do some Canadian bacon, and now I gots a recipe… Just pulled my 2nd round of home cured bacon off the smoker yestiddy and looking forward to sum brekfasts dis am.
    As for de loin… how bout dis? Roll it in a rub (salt, peppa, …, whatever your choice is). Cook low and slow at about 220 till it hits about 150 inside. Take those pears, slice and dice and reduce in a pan w some sugar to make a nice glaze. Slice dem peaches (taking great care to do a couple of them really badly, so that you’ll have to eat the evidence), and brush em with a bit of the pear syrup, then grill em up for a side garnish for de pig. When Sir Loin is about half to two thirds done, brush the pear reduction on the meat for a glaze. At about 150, pull it, rest it and eat it.
    Never tried this, but in theory it oughta work… and it sounds good.

  9. I usually butterfly pork loin roasts. Then I stuff it with a mixture of onions sauteed in butter, fresh herbs and bread crumbs. Then I roll it and tie it off. This works best in the oven though. Because those drippings? The base for a gravy. This has been my go-to recipe for company for years. Sides? Mashed potatoes with a hint of nutmeg and homemade warm applesauce. But I could see mixing in some pears with the applesauce. Not sure if the flavors would mix but the peaches would make a nice base for a basting liquid for the pork.

  10. Roasted peaches….chop ’em up, mix with drippings and a bit of balsamic vinegar (or maple syrup if the peaches are more sour, though I doubt that) to make a salsa and serve with yer honkin’ pork roast.

  11. You guys RULE. Man, talk about quality recipes here, lordy. I am impressed.
    I ended up spending the afternoon playing with my cold smoker project. I got a few grates clean (oven cleaner and bathtubs work great). Rigged up the electric hotplate and was able to get it up to 210 degrees, cooled it down to about 127 or so. Was good!
    Biggles

  12. OK – you gots your meat suggestions but somebody needs to tell you about making a pear and peach chutney. You will need some onions, about ten bay leafs, twenty cloves, cinammon stick, about two tablespoons coriander seeds, two tablespoons cumin seeds, teaspoon cayenne, juice of three lemons, pound of them peaches, pound of them pears.
    Heat all the spices in about 1/4 cup oil until they start to turn brown. Immediately dump in about one pound onions finely chopped. Sweat down for a few minutes. Add in one pound chopped pears. Cokk a couple minutes. Add one pound chopped peaches and lemon juice and about two tablespoons salt. Cook together until fruit is cooked but still retains some character. Let cool. Put in jars. Spoon liberally onto whatever the heck you did to the pork. Give extra jars to friends with instruction to refrigerate since we did not actually can the things.
    That’s off the top of my head by the way – adjust seasonings like salt and lemon to taste as you go.

  13. OR……. you can do another version that I’ve been doing quite a bit w pork tenderloins…
    Take your home made bacon (hint hint), and lay enough pieces side by side long ways to go the length of your loin (sorry, that came out vaguely dirty…)drop the loin in the middle, and roll dat baby up.
    Tie it off w some string to hold dem bacon strips in place and cook it in whatever manner you choose. I like to fire up the grill and put in on the rotisserie for a couple hours. Last 30 minutes or so, brush on some maple syrup. If yer feelin sassy, put some syrup in a small pan and reduce it down a third or so and pour over the roast while it rests. Cut the strings, slice it up and enjoy a little hog heaven… I mean it’s pork wrapped in pork…. how much better can it get?
    The last batch of bacon I made (this weekend) has a subtle maple flavor and was smoked w applewood, so I’m prolly gonna be doing this recipe again pretty soon…

  14. Too late I know, but my favorite thing to do with pork loins is to make a roulade with sausage or chorizo in the middle. Tie it off and cook as you please. Maybe yourself a nice glazey kind of compote from the front and build it up in layers as you cook it nice and slow, then plate it with more of the compote.
    Pork and more pork. More flavor.