A Mid-Week Roast: Apple-Stuffed Pork Loin

 

I am a big fan of roasting meat because it doesn’t take much prep work and it frees you up to make other things, or not make anything. I can throw a piece of meat in the oven and then walk away. When roasting a non-bird meat, it is really easy to gauge doneness because there is no guess work when it comes to inserting a thermometer in the middle. It’s hard to mess up that one. The next recipe I want to share is for Apple-Stuffed Pork Loin.

 

Pork, to me, can be pretty boring. It is often overcooked and as a result dry. A lot of people also do not properly season their meat, meaning they do not apply the right amount of salt and pepper. When I was in school, our chef instructors’ biggest criticisms used to be that our dishes needed more seasoning. A good marinade or spice and/or herb rub can be really helpful when it comes to seasoning your meat but be sure to taste them first. On the salt side of seasoning, sodium intake should be considered for health reasons but if you are not on a special diet, you should make it your goal to season your food adequately. You will be amazed at how the flavor will be enhanced in your food. Even sweet concoctions tend to have at least a pinch of salt to help bring out the flavor. If you are on a low-sodium diet, there are some really tasty marinades and rubs that will keep sodium in check. If you need to scale back on the sodium, just be sure to overcompensate with other flavors so you don’t have boring meat.

 

I think I covered lackluster pork in the flavor department, now on to the issue of dryness. Growing up I always learned that pork had to be cooked to well-well done because of the fear of Trichinosis. I don’t know much about what happens to you when you get Trichinosis but I do know that if you cook your pork to 138 degrees, you won’t get it. When I worked for Food Arts, I used to attend a lot of food and wine events in New York City. I ate a lot of good food and I don’t think I ever had overcooked pork. In fact, I think it tended to be more on the medium-rare side in many cases. I don’t really enjoy it when it’s medium rare but I do like a little pink in the middle and it’s perfectly safe that way. For that reason, I typically cook stuffed pork loins and tenderloins until the middle is 140-145 degrees and whole loins and tenderloins until 150-155 degrees. Just be sure that your thermometer is accurate. (Technique: Place your thermometer in ice water for 5 minutes. It should read 32 degrees.) The temperature will also raise a few degrees while the meat is resting. Resting=important. I can’t stress that enough. DO NOT cut into your meat until it has been sitting at least 10 minutes out of the oven or the juice will escape the meat and it will be dry. The juices need to recede back into the meat once it has stopped cooking.

 

You can stuff your pork loin or tenderloin with anything. I usually use whatever vegetables I have on hand and in this case, I used apples since I have so many left over from a recent apple-picking excursion. The apples and sage give the dish a nice impression of fall and make the pork very tasty. There are a couple of ways to flatten out a pork loin so you can stuff it but I used the “butterfly” technique, which is explained below, since it was a smaller loin. I chose to cook it by coating the loin with all-purpose flour and sautéing it in butter, before finishing it off in the oven. The butter and flour give it a wonderful, yet light, golden-brown crust. If you want a simple pan sauce when you’re done, remove the loin from the pan and place the pan on a medium-high burner. Pour about a half cup of white wine, like a Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc, into the pan, scraping up the brown bits (called suc-pronounced “suke”), and cook for a few minutes. Strain the liquid, skim off any fat at the top, season if necessary and drizzle over the sliced meat. Enjoy!

 

Apple-Stuffed Pork Loin

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1.5 lb. pork loin

Salt

Pepper

Cinnamon

1 tablespoon chopped sage

½ shallot, sliced

½ large or ¾ small apple, sliced

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon butter 

Equipment:

Cutting board

Boning knife

Waxed paper

Meat pounder

3-12” pieces of cooking twine

Large sauté pan

Meat thermometer

 

Procedure:

-Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

-Place meat on a cutting board and butterfly the loin. (Technique: Envision an imaginary line along the longest side of the loin. Place your non-dominant hand on top of the meat and with the other hand, take a boning knife(or paring knife if you don’t have one) and cut along that imaginary line, from one end to the other, leaving one side intact. (Repeat the cutting motion as many times as necessary.)  It will look just like a hot dog bun sitting on its side. Open up the meat like you would open a book.) Place waxed paper on the meat and pound it so it flattens out. If the meat starts to tear, stop pounding that section and move on to the next so the meat is evenly flattened.

-Sprinkle 3 generous pinches each of salt and cinnamon and 2 generous pinches of pepper all over one side of the meat. Cover with sage, shallots and apples and starting at one long end, tightly roll the meat, keeping the shallots and apples inside.

-With the 3 pieces of cooking twine, tie up the loin on both ends and in the middle. (Technique: When tying the knot, loop it twice before pulling the ends for a tighter knot. Repeat.)

-Sprinkle 3 pinches of salt and 2 of pepper all over the outside of the meat (Technique: When sprinkling, keep your hand high so the salt and pepper disperse evenly and over a wide range.). Coat with flour and set aside.

-Heat the butter in a large sauté pan over medium/medium-high heat. Cook loin on all sides for 3-4 minutes per side, or until golden-brown on each side. Once the loin is turned to the final side for browning, place the pan in the oven and cook until a thermometer in the center reads 140-145 degrees, 25-30 minutes.

- Rest for 10 minutes, slice and serve.