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While I prefer my beef medium-rare, pork should always be cooked just barely well done. Even if modern pork is safe from parasites, it still tastes better that way.
a small boneless pork roast (e.g., top loin or sirloin), about 1.5-4 pounds
fresh herbs:
olive oil
Let the roast stand on a plate for an hour or more, to bring it near room temperature.
Rinse the fresh herbs. Tear the sage leaf into 4-6 pieces. Bend the bay leaves along their midribs; tear out and discard the midribs. Tear the bay leaves into 4-6 pieces each. Strip enough leaves from the sprigs of thyme to make about 1 tablespoonful. Strip the leaves from the rosemary branch, discarding the branch. Put all the herbs into a blender or mini-processor.
Peel and dice the garlic. Add it to the herbs.
Pour about 1 teaspoonful of olive oil into the herbs. Blend. Add more oil. Blend some more. Repeat until the garlic is finely chopped and you have a thin — not runny — paste.
Rub the paste all over the roast. Let stand for several minutes.
Preheat the barbecue for about 3 minutes with the highest flame.
When the barbecue is hot, cook the roast for 5 minutes. Turn and cook 5 more minutes. Reduce the fire to medium-low. Close the cover and cook for 15 minutes. Turn the roast. Close the cover and cook for 15 more minutes.
Remove the roast from the barbecue. Let it sit for 5 minutes before carving.
Yes, this is similar to barbecuing a tri-tip beef roast. However, I don't use barbecue sauce on this pork roast; and the cooking time is 10 minutes longer.
It is important that the roast be at room temperature before cooking. Otherwise, it might be underdone in the center. For a thick roast, the cooking time with the cover closed might have to be extended to as much as 20 minutes on each side.
Alternatively, you can roast the seasoned pork in an oven, per the temperature and time given in most cookbooks.
My wife and I really like garlic. For us, I use 3 cloves of garlic.
13 October 2006
Updated 30 April 2009
4 thin-cut boneless pork chops
1 egg
bread crumbs
flour
water
olive oil
wax paper
mallet, gavel, or other pounder
Lay a doubled sheet of wax paper on a kitchen counter. Place a pork chop on it, off center. Fold the wax paper over it. You now have two layers of wax paper under the chop and two layers over it. Gently pound the chop with a wooden mallet until the chop is about 1½-2 times its original size. Do this with all four chops before going to the next step.
Place a generous amount of flour on a dinner plate or wide shallow bowl. Place a generous amount of bread crumbs on another dinner plate or wide shallow bowl.
Break an egg into a wide shallow bowl. Using half an egg shell as a measure, add one measure of water to the egg. Beat the egg thoroughly.
Thoroughly flour a chop on both sides. Place on a plate. Do this with all four chops before going to the next step. If you must stack the chops, separate the layers with a sheet of wax paper.
Starting with the chop that was floured first, dip a chop into the egg, coating all sides. Hold the chop over the bowl to allow excess egg to drip back into the bowl. Place the chop on the bread crumbs and press down. Turn the chop and press the other side into the crumbs. The chop should have a complete coating of bread crumbs. Place the chop on a plate. Repeat with the other chops in the sequence they were floured. Again, if you must stack the chops, separate the layers with a sheet of wax paper (possibly the same sheet as used when flouring).
Allow the breaded chops to stand at least 15 minutes.
Pour oil into a large frying pan over a high fire. The pan is hot enough when a crumb of fresh bread (not a dry bread crumb) dropped into the pan sizzles. Do not crowd the frying pan; instead, fry a few chops at a time. Fry the chops on one side until the breading becomes golden brown (about 2 minutes). Turn the chops and fry on the other side, again until the breading becomes golden brown. Add oil as needed. Remove the chops to a serving plate.
This serves two. If you wish to season your serving, try a few drops of lemon juice.
Before starting, make sure you have enough bread crumbs. You will be surprised at how many bread crumbs are used.
Putting the chops through the egg and bread crumbs in the same order as they were floured means the flour will stick to the chops and not rinse off in the egg. Allowing the chops to stand after they are breaded means that the breading will not come off in the frying pan.
Do not over-cook the chops. As they are quite thin, they cook rapidly. Over-cooking will leave them dry.
Adapted from a recipe in the Los Angeles Times 15 April 2009
21 May 2009
Did you ever eat barbecued back ribs in a restaurant and notice how tender they are? The meat almost falls off the bones. Most restaurants parboil ribs — placing them in simmering or lightly boiling water — for an hour or more before barbecuing them. Not only does this make them tender; it also removes most of the flavor. To compensate, the restaurants then drown the ribs in sauce. Yes, such ribs do taste good; but you would get the same taste drinking the sauce directly from the bottle.
Here, there is no parboiling. These ribs are only cooked by placing them over a flame.
pork back ribs
sauce
If you have a whole rack of ribs, use a sharp meat knife and cut in half, cutting between two ribs.
Prepare the sauce. For a whole rack of ribs, I use about 3 Tbs of a commercial barbecue sauce. To that, I add various seasonings that go well with pork: ground cloves, ground coriander, powdered ginger, powdered garlic. Just use 1/4 tsp each of some or all of these. Today, I omitted the ginger but added 1 Tbs of orange marmalade. Sometimes, I add 1 Tbs mustard.
Preheat the barbecue with the flame at its highest. When the barbecue is ready, sear the ribs for 2 minutes on each side. Reduce the flame almost to its lowest. With the bony side of the ribs down (towards the flame), brush the sauce on the meaty side of the ribs. Close the cover of the barbecue. Cook for 45-50 minutes, turning the ribs every 15-20 minutes.
Note that the sauce is on only one side of the ribs. Apply a coat of sauce just after the ribs are seared. The coat should be thin enough that you still see meat through the sauce. Pork has a flavor that should be enhanced by the sauce, not hidden by the sauce.
3 August 2009
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