Tonight We're Meat

I love it when the musical and culinary worlds collide.  Tim Midyett (aka Tim Midgett) of the extraordinary bands Silkworm (pictured above, that's Tim on the left) and Bottomless Pit got some pub in Bon Appetit this week for a meat rub that he invented.  It's a mixture of sea salt, black pepper, coffee, garlic powder, cocoa powder and - the special ingredient - sumac.  I first read about this rub on mariobatalivoice, the food blog run by musician recording engineer Steve Albini (which is worth a read itself), though I've yet to try it.  Maybe I'll grab some steaks next payday and fire them up with Midyett rub before the grill goes away for the winter.

For your enjoyment, some other non-food Tim Midyett creations:

The Bard of Back

First thing's first: let's clear up a misconception.  Pork loin roast and pork tenderloin are not the same cut.  Pork tenderloin is the psoas major muscle, the same muscle that yields the filet mignon from a cow.  Like that steak, the pork tenderloin trades fatty flavor for lean, tender meat.  That's why you often find pre-marinated tenderloins in your grocery butcher case for $4/lb.  But we're not here to talk about tenderloins, we're talking about loins...

The loin is a collection of muscles in the back which yield several cuts including pork chops, back ribs, top loin roast, sirloin roast and center roast (which can be turned into a crown roast by "Frenching" the bones).  The top loin and sirloin roasts are usually very lean and can be very flavorful, especially for a price nearly half that of the tenderloin.

The tenderloin, because it is so tender, is a somewhat forgiving cut of pork for the inexperienced cook, but  loin roasts have a tendency to dry out if cooked incorrectly.  There's nothing more embarrassing than serving a dried out, tough crown roast; believe me, I've suffered that misfortune.  Luckily, there are many tactics you can employ to help your loin roast keep its moisture and flavor.

First off, I highly recommend brining a pork loin roast.  Not only does this add flavor to the meat, but the salt breaks down muscle fibers to tenderize them while at the same time encourages the protein cells to retain water.  Brine is simple to make - about 3/4 cup of kosher salt per gallon of water - and you can add whatever flavoring agents you like to the salt solution.  For pork, I love brown sugar and apple cider vinegar.  The salt will carry those flavors into the deepest parts of the meat if given enough time.  Science!

Traditionally, this would be the perfect application for basting.  Now, I didn't go to culinary school so maybe I'm missing out on some trick, but I hate basting and I'm pretty sure that it doesn't actually work.  You pull the juices out and spritz the top of the roast, where they just run back down to the bottom of the pan.  Whatever's left gets put back into the hot oven where it evaporates and dries the meat out further.  Not to mention that opening and closing your oven over and over to baste affects the cooking temperature and time.  Someone give me one reason why basting works.  I dare you.

For fatty roast like shoulder, you can use the old "low and slow" technique in which fat collagen melts into gelatin and moistens the pork.  That's a long process though, and doesn't work well with lean loin cuts.  So what if there were a way to artificially marble the roast with fat?  Oh, that's called larding and it's ridiculously difficult even with the proper equipment.  There is another method of fat addition that basically bastes a roast automatically while it cooks.  It's called barding, but you probably know it better as bacon-wrapping.

Technically, you can bard with any kind of fat.  Fatback is the most traditional barding fat, but bacon is more readily available (unless you are on a first name basis with your butcher, which you probably should be if you're reading cooking blogs) and does an adequate job.  Plus, if you tell somebody that you wrapped it in bacon, they'll probably salivate.  If you tell them it's wrapped in fatback, they'll probably skip dinner and head to the gym.

So we're going to make a barded back roast (bacon-wrapped pork loin).  Start with a 4-5 pound roast and brine it in your fridge for a day or two.  Yeah, you need to plan ahead: you plan to fail when you fail to plan.  On the day you're going to cook, pull the roast out and let it sit at room temperature for a bit while you're warming up the oven to 450 and prepping the accoutrement.  If you've got a roasting rack for your pan, set it up, but if you don't you can make a natural rack by lining the bottom of the pan with carrots and onions.

Pork loin needs some help in the flavor department, so it's usually a good idea to coat the outside of it with herbs.  I used fresh rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil.  Sage is nice with pork too.  If you've got a mortar and pestle, mash it all up into a paste and slather it on there.  If you don't, crush it with a spoon to release the essences from the fresh herbs before applying to the roast.

Now for the bard.  Apply enough bacon to cover the whole roast from end to end.  Overlap the slices a little bit since they'll shrink up in the oven.

You want the oven to be at 450 when the roast goes in because you want to hit the bacon hard so it'll get crispy and release its fat into the roast below.  However, you should only cook at 450 for about 15 minutes - 20 tops - until the bacon just starts to crisp up at the edges.  Any longer than that and you run the risk of drying out the loin: even with brining and barding you still can't abuse it with temperature.  Drop that heat to 350 and let it go until it reaches an internal temperature of 140, which should only take another 50-60 minutes.  It should look beautiful and you will want to tear right into it.

DON'T!!!  Let it rest on a cutting board for about 20 minutes.  The carryover cooking will bring it up to a safe temperature of 145 degrees (thanks USDA) and the resting will allow all the juices - remember how hard we worked to keep those? - to settle throughout the roast instead of spilling out.  While you're waiting, rescue the carrots and onions from the bottom of the roasting pan.  Maybe chop up some red potatoes and roast those in the oven.  Just don't cut the meat until it's done resting.  Your patience will be greatly rewarded.

Science!

If you're not reading The Salt regularly, you should.  That blog alone justifies the pennies of tax money you spend to support public broadcasting.  Anyway, they have an interesting article up about today being the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the Maillard reaction, or, the scientific basis for why that steak up there tastes better than an uncooked steak.  Thanks science!

Quick Pitch #1: Calfornia Dog

Most of my posts are about food that takes a pretty fair time commitment to make.  But who really has that kind of time, especially for a lunch break or a fast meal before heading out on the town?  With that in mind, I'm starting the Quick Pitch series, some helpful suggestions for tasty meals that can be thrown together in no time.

First up: The California Hot Dog

This dish was borne out of two main elements: 1) October is an extremely busy month in my line of work, and 2) I am currently out of every kind of mustard (we usually keep prepared yellow, dijon, whole grain/creole, and brown stadium mustard in the fridge).  Not having much time and needing some dog toppings, I rummaged through the kitchen and found an avocado, some diced onion, and American cheese.

Very basic prep: heat up a skillet with just a few drops of cooking oil and throw in your diced onions with the hot dogs.  While those things are browning, peel the avocado, cut it in half, and then slice the half into thin strips.  Line your hot dog bun with cheese, then when the dogs are done and the onions have softened a bit, plop a dog directly over the cheese.  Top with the onions and avocado slices.  Season with the salt of your choice: flake salt would make it look pretty, celery salt or a seasoned salt would add an additional flavor dimension, table salt works in a pinch.  Voila: California Hot Dog.  Much better than a California Cheeseburger.

The only boring breasts in the world

Martin Yan does this instructional parlor trick where he butchers a chicken in 18 seconds.  At the end of it, he nips the skin off of the breast, flops the meat onto his cleaver, shows it to his audience and says "$4.95."

The boneless, skinless chicken breast is the Seth MacFarlane of the culinary world: boring, derivative, ubiquitous and overrated.  It's supposed to be better and healthier than other meats, but in reality it's just a slab of bland protein that somehow got a gig hosting the Oscars.

It takes a lot of concerted effort to make a boneless, skinless chicken breast palatable, though it would take a lot more to do the same for American Dad.  Tonight I tried a method that works really well for skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts (The Simpsons of chicken breasts): pan searing and oven roasting.

Start off with the marinade of your choice; if you have some really good free-range, farm-raised chicken, you can skip it.  Lightly coat the breasts with olive oil, then slap on some seasoning.  I usually coordinate flavors with whatever my sides are: tonight we were having garlic and leek mashed potatoes, so I hit the chicken with a mix of thyme, black and red pepper and salt.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and get out a good heavy bottom skillet that's oven-safe (no plastic handles).  Once the oven is up to temp, warm your skillet over medium-high heat and then drop your chicken breasts in there (skin side down if you've got an option).  Don't move them around at this point: it's OK if they stick a little bit, though the oil should mitigate that.  After about 4 minutes, you should have a nice brown sear on one side (it'll look especially beautiful if it's a skin-on breast).  Flip the breasts over and then put the whole skillet in the oven.

In about 15-20 minutes, the chicken should be cooked through to 165 degrees (it never hurts to check with a probe thermometer if you can't tell by feel).  Pull the skillet from the oven and remove the breasts to set aside and rest.  While that's happening, put the skillet back on the heat on the stove top and drop a pat of butter in it.  Crack in some fresh black pepper an a little bit of salt, then grab your wooden spoon and deglaze the pan with some white wine, bourbon or vodka.  Not only will this make cleaning your skillet easier, but the reduced sauce is the perfect complement to your chicken.

A relatively simple, yet elegant treatment of the boneless, skinless chicken breast that yields a tender, juicy, flavorful experience that transcends the tasteless, tired source material from whence it came.  In other words, way better than The Cleveland Show.