Pork Loin Roast with Gravy - Slow Cooker

Boneless Pork Loin Roast is so easy and, more important, so good in the slow cooker. Not that I don’t love a fall-apart braised hunk of meat some times, but this isn’t it. This is just like a roast that comes out of the oven. You know, roast it, rest it while you make the gravy, then slice it into tidy slices.

And, with summer coming on, I will be so glad to be able to make a roast dinner without having to run the oven and heat up the place!

Sometimes I put a good sear on the roast before putting it in the slow cooker, but this time I just wanted to throw it in there and see what happened. Though it perhaps doesn’t look as pretty without that initial sear, it tastes every bit as good. 

You don’t add a lot of liquid. Just 2 teaspoons of lite soy sauce and 1/3 cup of wine. I usually use red, but this time I used a white that I’d been wanting to open. Set the slow cooker on low and go about your business for 6 hours. The roast will be perfectly tender but make neat slices.

Simple gravy. Dinner’s on the table. No muss, no fuss. And I’m cool as a cucumber.

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Slow Cooker Pork Roast with Gravy

(Serves 4 to 6)

2 pound boneless pork loin (not tenderloin) roast
1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt, divided

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1/2 medium onion, halved and separated

1 large stalk celery, cut into 4 pieces

2 carrots, cut into 4 pieces

1/3 cup drinkable dry red or white wine

2 teaspoons lite soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon marjoram

1/4 teaspoon thyme leaves

Pinch cayenne
Slurry of 2 tablespoons flour in 3 tablespoons water

1 Coat roast with mixture of flour, pepper and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Brown in oil. Or not! (Though I do love that brown crusty appearance when I have the time to do the browning.)

2 Place in slow cooker with onion, celery and carrots.

3 Pour wine and then soy sauce over the roast.

4 Sprinkle marjoram, thyme, cayenne and 1/4 teaspoon salt over the roast.
5 Set slow cooker to Low for 6 hours.

6 Remove roast to cutting board to rest, tented with foil, for 20 minutes before slicing. Remove vegetables. They’re there for flavor, not a sufficient quantity to serve, so I set them aside for a “cook’s treat.”

7 Strain sauce (there will be about 1 1/4 cups) into 1-quart saucepan. Stir in slurry to thicken the sauce; simmer for 5 minutes.

Jean

Yorkshire Pudding - Yorkies

Yorkshire Pudding is one of those things that seems to have a bit of a mystique surrounding it. There are cooks who say the batter must be made the night before, refrigerated and used cold; while just as many say it must be made right before baking.

Some say you must take care to not overmix; others insist you must whisk as much air as possible into the batter. There's a lot of controversy over proportions, especially the number of eggs. And over whether part of the liquid should be water, and how much.

I've seen experts of equal stature calling for starting temperatures anywhere from 375F/190C/Gas5 to 450F/230C/Gas8. I've made puddings at both 425F/220C/Gas7 and 450F/230C/Gas8. Both were fine. The point is that the preheated fat in the tins be blistering hot.

I've made them all sorts of ways, and they're always good. I don't think you can mess them up really. One thing few people ever mention is the puddings sticking to the tins, a problem I've had on more than one occasion with my plain aluminum muffin tins.

The solution seems to be to grease (I used butter) the cold muffin tins thoroughly before ever getting down to business. Having that extra layer of fat in place before adding the melted fat for preheating seems to take care of the problem pretty well. Any tips?

I don't know that anyone else puts dry mustard in their Yorkies, but that's something I learned from my mother. She had a million uses for dry mustard. I put in just enough to make you notice there's "something," but not enough that you know what it is!

Do you have any surefire tips for making Yorkshire Pudding? Any methods you (or your mother or grandmother) always insist(ed) upon?

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PS I'll write all about making a small roast beef another day. In the meantime, here's my Braised Brisket, perfect for Sunday Roast (also called Sunday Lunch).

Yorkshire Pudding

(Makes 12 individual puddings)

1 1/4 dip-and-sweep cups (6.25 ounces/177 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground mustard (also called dry mustard)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1/4 cup (2 fluid ounces/59 ml) water
3/4 cup (6 fluid ounces/177 ml) milk
5 tablespoons pan drippings from beef roast OR 2 1/2 tablespoons each melted unsalted butter and extra virgin olive oil, divided

1 An hour and a half before serving time, make batter. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, dry mustard and salt (to "sift"). Whisk in eggs and water; when smooth, whisk in the milk. Cover and let stand for an hour. Grease a 12-cup standard muffin pan and place it on a rimmed baking sheet.

2 Thirty minutes before serving time, take roast out to rest and turn oven up to 425F/220C/Gas7. Place muffin tin on baking sheet. Spoon 1 teaspoon of hot drippings into each muffin cup. Put baking sheet with muffin pan in oven until sizzling hot, about 5 minutes.

Note: You really must place the muffin tin on a rimmed baking sheet to prevent the fat from messing up your oven when it bubbles over during the baking of the puddings.

3 Whisk the remaining tablespoon of the melted butter/oil mixture, or drippings, into the batter. Remove pan from oven. Working quickly, using a partially filled 1/4 cup measure, pour 3 tablespoons batter into hot drippings in each cup. It should sizzle. Return pans (on baking sheet) to oven and bake 30 minutes or until puddings are puffed and golden. If they aren't crisp enough to suit you, then turn the temperature down to 325F/165C/Gas3 and bake for another 10 minutes to get them extra crispy. Serve immediately.

Note: When making a large roast, there are plenty of drippings for both gravy and Yorkies. But this day I made a small roast, 2.375 pounds, which did not supply enough fat, so I used the butter and olive oil combination. Very tasty! For both health and flavor reasons, I would never use the frequently recommended vegetable oil or shortening.

Jean

Dinner Party - A Roundup of Recipes for a Winter Menu

You are cordially invited to my winter dinner party. Once all the holiday hubbub dies down, don't you get in the mood for a nice sedate little dinner party for six to eight people?

Maybe get the party started with some Sausage Pinwheels (above), or Gougeres, and your favorite beverage. Gougeres (pronounced goo-ZHAIR) are these gorgeous little savory French puffs that are so easy to make and never fail to impress.

Then invite everyone to sit down at the table for a hearty winter meal. Start with a first course of soup, maybe Roasted Tomato Soup, and save the salad for after the main course.

It's a bit of a production, but everyone needs to make Boeuf Bourguignon once every winter.

And Boeuf Bourguignon calls for Perfect Mashed Potatoes.

Of course, you'll want some Pull-Apart Dinner Rolls with that.

Here's the perfect salad for a winter dinner party. Winter Salad. You make it, and dress it, the day before. So that's one more thing you don't have to do right before the party.

A hearty menu like this calls for a light dessert, like Angel Food Cake with Custard Sauce--Creme Anglaise, if you want to carry through on the French theme.

Hope you enjoyed the party!

Braised Brisket - Rocky Mountain Organic Meats Giveaway

Braised brisket makes the perfect Sunday Roast, that great British tradition. Sunday roast, also called Sunday lunch, is served in the afternoon (2 or 3 o'clock-ish) and traditionally consists of roasted meat (most often beef, chicken, lamb or pork--nut loaf for vegetarians), gravy, roasted or mashed potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and vegetables. The great thing about the brisket for Sunday lunch is that it is made on Friday or Saturday and just reheated on Sunday.

Of course, you can have brisket any day of the week, but the aroma of it wafting out of the kitchen into my office made me nostalgic for those Sunday Roasts of my childhood. The roast was usually beef (my father's favorite) or pork. Occasionally it would be lamb (my mother's favorite) with homemade mint sauce. Poultry was not on. Apparently my father had eaten too much chicken, to the exclusion of any other meat, during his childhood; so we never had chicken, and turkey was allowed on the menu just once a year. 

I had to get my fill of Southern-fried chicken at my grandmother's house. Grandma had never tired of fried chicken, even though she had totally burned my father out on it! So Daddy much preferred to stay home and enjoy my mother's British-style Sunday lunch. Oddly enough, we all loved vegetables, and Sunday lunch always included two or three fresh seasonal vegetables. 

This brisket is not just any old brisket. This is an organic, grass-fed brisket kindly sent to me by Rocky Mountain Organic Meats. It is 100% grass-fed, grass-finished and certified organic. No hormones. No antibiotics. No grain. No GMO feed. No irradiation. No feedlots; the animals are allowed to roam free and are treated humanely. And Rod is going to ship a brisket to one of my readers! See bottom of the post for giveaway details.

Update 02/18/17: I finally posted my Yorkshire Pudding - Yorkies that go so beautifully with this dish!

Braised Brisket

(Serves 4)

1 2-pound (32 ounces/0.9 kg) beef brisket
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
3/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper, divided
1 tablespoon (0.5 fluid ounce/15 ml) extra virgin olive oil
1 medium (8 to 12 ounces/227 to 340 grams) onion, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup (8 fluid ounces/237 ml) low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup (8 fluid ounces/237 ml) drinkable dry red wine
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Slurry of 2 tablespoons flour shaken with 1/4 cup water

1 In 12-inch skillet (I use All-Clad 5112 Stainless 12-Inch Fry Pan), heat olive oil. Pat brisket dry and salt and pepper both sides with 1/2 teaspoon each. Brown well (up to 10 minutes on each side). Place fat side up in 2.5-quart oval Corning casserole or other suitably sized baking dish.

2 Preheat oven to 300F/150C/Gas2. Add chopped onion, sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper to skillet. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened and browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and cook about 2 minutes. Stir in broth, wine, Worcestershire sauce, marjoram and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil, scraping up brown bits. Pour over brisket in baking dish.

3 Cover dish with foil and lid. Bake for 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Remove lid and foil from dish and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour. Put lid on and refrigerate until next day. You can even do this two days ahead.

4 One hour before serving time, preheat oven to 350F/180C/Gas4. Transfer cold brisket to cutting board. Remove fat from sauce. Strain sauce into 2-cup glass measure, adding water, if needed, to bring volume of sauce to 2 cups; discard onions. In 1-quart saucepan, heat sauce and stir in the slurry. Bring to boil, stirring constantly; lower heat and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasoning.

5 Slice brisket across the grain into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Keeping the slices together, place them in 1.5-quart oval Corning casserole. Pour sauce over brisket. Cover dish with foil and lid. Bake for 30 minutes. 

Rocky Mountain Organic Meats Giveaway 

One winner will receive a 2-pound grass-fed organic beef brisket from Rocky Mountain Organic Meats. All US residents who leave a comment (one entry per person) on this post before 11:59 pm Eastern time Wednesday May 23 will be put into a random drawing. Winner will be announced here in the comments before noon Eastern time on Thursday May 24. (Note: Those posting comments anonymously must include a valid email address in their comment to be eligible for the drawing.) 

Jean

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