Eat Arkansas

Joel,

I'm not usually a fan of pork (save a few small pieces of bacon on the weekends in homemade breakfast burritos), but what you did looks great. I think the red sauce makes it more appealing.

And just a side note, I don't think I'm capable of cooking anything without garlic or onions. I eat that sh*t like it's my job. When a recipe calls for 2 cloves of garlic, I usually triple it. What's not to like? It's so good for you.

The only time I really do pork is when I'm too poor (which is always) to buy veal and make pork picatta instead.

BUT--I did try a great recipe a few years ago. Take a pork loin, cut the sucker down the middle and stuff it with canned peaches, garlic, and tarragon and tie it up with some twine. I made a little sauce with the left over peach juice and some white wine--awesome!!

I've failed to repeat the recipe bc I never keep white wine, twine, and tarragon in my house at any give time.

JenJens - I've really taken to pork in the last few years and found some amazing things to do. I have pictures in the bag of the calzone I made with teh leftover red sauce and a quick fake-sausage from the pork loin, a beautiful zucchini based dish that was easy and fast, and an oriental inspired pork and bean soup from that week. I'll send more to Max soon for posting purposes. Garlic and Onions just seem so elemental to my cooking, not unlike salt, that I feel the absolute need to purchase them. Garlic is so cheap, how can people not buy it and use it? I think I spent 25 cents on about a quarter pound of it last shopping trip.

Basil - I prefer to use apples in that sort of a stuffed pork recipe, but I am fond of Granny Smith tartness. (See also my liquor preference for Gin). As we are about to hit peak peach season, though, that may be a perfect evening or cookout meal. Now, we take some unused peaches, puree them to add to my Prosecco and we have Bellinis, the Italian cousin of the Mimosa. Oh, and I am catching up to a picatta story as well ....

If you watch the Kroger ad, you can find pork tenderloin for a VERY reasonable price. Mr. EY and I are very fond of salt and pepper, searing in olive oil, finish it in a 350 degree oven and serving with some sauteed greens that we hit with chili oil and sesame seeds at the end.

I like to make a marinade of bourbon,soy sauce, ginger and olive oil. Put the pork loin in overnight and then put it on the grill.

Wonderful!

I know I left something out but theses are the guts of a good marinade for pork loin.

We also got the big cheap pork tenderloins from the Kroger this last weekend. We marinated them in half orange juice, half soy sauce, with some grated ginger and brown suger and slow-cooked the whole thing on the rotisserie grill. It was wonderful by itself, and even better with the recipe for peach salsa that came out in last week's Ark-Times. Peaches, onion, jalepeno, lime and cilantro, basically. Got very reviews from the dinner guests!

Oh, yeah. I am glad to see that the pork lovers have come out of the woodwork. I was walking through Kroger that day and saw a deal on the Pork Loin and decided to see what I could do. I'll send more info soon, but I love a good red wine soak overnight and onto a nice hot grill.

Just remember to give them the rest time they need before serving when cooking them whole. That was my biggest secret about keeping the pork moist and delectable ... the rest saved the internal juices .

I am over the Bourbon marinades. A bunch of friends went through a serious period of those and I may have just had too many. Now, using some of that bottle of Jim Beam on the bar as part of a glaze with some honey sounds promising ....

To each their own. I love that marinade. And a little boy who used to hang around here loved it too. Called it "Bop's steak." I guess anything not between 2 pieces of bread is steak to a little kid.

If they ever come up with a gin marinade they will have to commit me.

Hmmmm...time for a quick google.

I don't have a recipe for one yet. I am pondering it in my head and have some ideas. I may have to make my own to find the right balance. I use it instead of vodka in some tomato sauces to liberate the entrapped flavors. It just boils down to which gin to use in which preparation ....

I did a quick search last night before going out and there are all kinds of gin marinades for chicken and pork.

I have mixed emotions about this. On the one hand, some of the recipes look really good. On the other hand, another excuse to utilize gin in my normal diet might put me in the Bridgeway.