Sunday's cook

[BigOrson]

I overestimated my freezer space last week when shopping. Ended up with a 6 lb. pork loin that was on sale and a 10 lb. bag of chicken leg quarters that I couldn't freeze. Good temps and weather and some time on my hands, so we'll cook for the week. I've had luck with a recipe for stuffed glazed pork loin that I got from Cook's Illustrated, but I'm going to make a few modifications as I walk you through it.

Take a 5 oz. package of dried apples, 5 oz. of dried cranberries, dice a medium onion, add 1/2 C sugar, 1/2 C cider vinegar, 1 C water and 2 T mustard seeds and combine them in a saucepan. Simmer until the fruit is re-hydrated and the liquid is absorbed:



Note: picture is at the beginning of simmering. This takes about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

In the meantime, remove all of the silver skin and fat from a pork loin. This recipe is for a 6 pounder, so adjust it up or down depending on the size of your loin. A sharp fillet knife is the best way to do this:



The loin trimmed.

Now comes the hardest part of the whole dish. Using your chef's knife (be sure to steel it so it is well-honed), make a cut through the bottom one inch of the loin towards the end with short, straight strokes. when you've reached the end, the remaining two inches of meat should fold over. Make another cut halving the remaining meat until the whole loin rolls out into a somewhat flat piece. Use your meat hammer to pound it to a somewhat uniform thickness. This takes some practice to do without cutting through, but even if you do make a few cuts too deep, don't worry about it, as the dish is forgiving of that:



The meat platform.

Season the meat with Kosher salt and cracked black pepper. This is an important step that is easy to forget in the process.

Spread the fruit filling on the loin meat. Leave an inch of space on all sides and make it as even as possible. That space will help minimize the amount of filling that squeezes out in the rolling process:



Now, un-case about a pound and a half of hot Italian sausage. Pinch the sausage and apply it on top of the fruit in an even layer. Only do this over about 3/4 of the loin, as the rolling process is going to squeeze it out and you don't want to waste any of the sausage:



Roll the pork back up and tie it off with butcher's twine. Don't worry that some of the filling is going to squeeze out the ends and at the seam. This is to be expected. If any of the filling containing the sausage escapes, discard it, as it will be contaminated. Don't trim the knots too far back, as those are going to help you locate the strings after the roast is grill-roasted and glazed to remove them later:



Build a fire for indirect, two-sided grilling. I accomplish this with my Weber Performer by using the applied charcoal baskets and slip a half-sheet aluminum baking pan between them to catch the drippings. You're looking for a temp of between 300-325 degrees. While the roast is grill-roasting, prepare the glaze:

In a blender, dump the following:

14 oz. can jellied cranberry sauce
3/4 C apple butter
1/2 C prepared yellow mustard
2 t onion powder
1 t garlic powder
Apple juice to thin to desired consistency
Tabasco sauce (or your favorite hot sauce) to taste

Blend until combined.

When the roast reaches an internal temp in the center of 135, begin to glaze the roast. Repeat every 15 minutes until the roast reaches an internal center temp of 150 degrees. Remove from heat and rest for 15 minutes before removing strings and slicing with an electric knife into 1" slices.

The roast resting:



The plated roast with twice-baked potatoes with caramelized onions and bacon and cheddar (blue cheese is even better, but I didn't have any on hand...I ran the potato innards, sour cream, bacon, caramelized onion (in the rendered bacon fat) and cheese through a food mill before re-stuffing the potato skins with the mixture and baking them again at 350 for 30 minutes, topping them with some Hungarian paprika and serving them) and broccoli with cheese sauce:



I cut the backbones out of the chicken leg quarters (froze the trimmings for stock later) and grill-roasted them on the leftover coals for cook's treats for the week. Seasoned with Kosher salt and butcher's pepper, I glazed them with a mixture of Bullseye, cider vinegar, and Sri Racha sauce for heat. Those are some good eats all their own, and for $4.90 for a 10 lb. bag, cheap eats too:



On the whole, I'd much rather have had jeepdad's ribs, but the family is happy, the budget is happy, and I have BBQ to satisfy my craving for the week.

Thanks for looking.

[KulinaryKila]

That all looks good to me BigOrson. I love the color on the quarters.

[Canadian Bacon]

Nice work on that loin BigO,I bet it tasted great with that fruit stuffing,legs have some nice color,thanks for sharing with us.
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[jeepdad]

Fantastic...bravo BO! Looks outstanding!

--Dan

[smokin'gal]

Orson,

That meal looks simply delicious

[Rare Breed]

Looks good.

[Cranky Buzzard]

Big O, this is terrible! You should NOT tease us like this!

If one cannot smell, taste, and EAT something like you posted it should NOT be shared!

Looks like you have ONCE AGAIN produced a killer cook!

I'd bet a buck and a quarter that the mustard seed rocked this meal!


Charlie
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[patruns]

Awesome Orson! I was drooling all over my keyboard. Great cook!
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Pat

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[ChuckieD]

BO,
Awesome loin and quarters!
It's bookmarked!
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Chuckie D.

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[Toga]

That is some killer looking chow Big O. Thanks for sharing. Your stuffed loin recipe looks like a keeper.
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[coyote]

Great looking spread BigOrson. Bet it tasted just as good as it looks.
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