Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Do you have strong food memories?

I remember creating this dish when I discovered my husband and I were going to have a fourth child!

It was the straw that broke the camel's back . . . or the beer that keeps the cooler open.

I'm trying to go cross-cultural here!

The entrance of Nathanael in our lives convinced me that I needed to learn how to use my crock pot for something other than beans. So one of my first recipes that worked was this pork roast. So when I found out my neighbor had a BABY! I took advantage of the occasion and made them a meal. A meal with something hanging out in the freezer.

Of course I didn't make her 10 lbs of pork roast! My butcher cut up my 10 lb. roast into 4 nice little roasts. We've discussed the care and nurture of your butcher before haven't we?

Pork loins are wonderfully lean and have no bone. You can grill them, BBQ them, saute them, stew them, and pot roast them. We're going to pot roast ours in the pot of greatness!

The pot of greatness is your crock pot of course. This roast has a very thin layer of fat on it. You want to keep that on! It's got a little silverskin and other things that will cook down and make your gravy smooth and rich and delicious! I've actually got my crock pot preheating right now. I even sprayed a little oil in it to keep cleanup easy.

Now for some pot roasting liquid! Crock pots don't allow any liquid to steam off so we're going to be miserly with all the moisture we add to this. A little dry vermouth will be perfect! The wine will make the baby sleep really good . . .

Pour it in a quart size container. We're going to be doing a little mixing in here.

Now for some sliced garlic. This was only 2 large cloves . . . well and a little bitty one that fell off the head. What was I supposed to do with it? It wanted to be included! Garlic is good for your heart anyway. I'm trying to keep it toned down though.

It looks like an art print . . . Allium On Bamboo . . .

Throw it in the wine. It'll start to give up its garlic goodness right away!

My buddy thyme! I used dried thyme because I think the dry herbs hold up better in the crock pot. For the kiddos sake I probably should of used whole thyme stems and picked them out.

My kids are used to there being little specks and flakes in their food. I tell them it's pepper . . .

A little allspice joins the party because it belongs there! You thought it was only for cookies! Seriously, the first time I tasted allspice with pork I went WHOA! That is good. That is a secret ingredient that nobody will EVER be able to guess!

You'll keep my secret won't you? Good, thank you!

Now for some pepper! I always add pepper, it gives me plausible deniability with the children . . .

Now for my secret weapon . . . can't I have two secrets in my dish? This is the easiest way to add a little salt, thickening, and color to your liquid. Besides I'm worried that my hydrolyzed soy protein intake is too low. Listen I was getting ready to have my FOURTH child here. We're talking three boys and one extremely "active" girl . . . have mercy!

Throw it all in and give it a stir!

Now since we're cooking for others I'm just going to drip a little bit of this on my finger and see if it needs any salt.

Okay, just a little tad. It was the sixth ingredient on the gravy packet . . . and I have over two lbs of pork to season.

Now we slice up an onion and separate the rings. I want the kids to feel like they can pick it off.

Today I feel like stirring it all up together in the bowl. That way the salt gets all over the onion and starts to break it down a little. A great portion of our cooking liquid is going to come from that onion cooking!

Pour all parties over the roast.

Now I went ahead and moved the roast on top of the onions so it could pressure them into giving up their liquid. The heat will make the roast give up its liquid too. Cover and cook for 5 hours on high or 8 on low. Or be like me and have it on high when you're at home and turn it down to low when you leave!

We've discussed my need to meddle haven't we?

WAIT! I forgot the bay leaf!

Look! An hour later it's produced a whole bunch of water. I flipped the roast over because I have issues. It really doesn't need it.

Here it is ready to go to the neighbors! See all the lovely gravy you end up with? I didn't have the nerve to slice a piece off, take a picture of it and then put it back in. I don't know them THAT well. I mean, it's bad enough they have to live next to us! I sent over some cork screw pasta and green beans to go with. Oh and a bottle of Pinot Grigio because they just had a BABY!

You can't see but this roast will break right apart if you stick a fork in it. Hardly a speck of grease anywhere! The pork is mild and tender. The gravy has a lovely rich texture and a pleasing saltiness to it. The herbs and spices compliment the roast and gravy making them taste . . . well . . . more . . . porkalicious!

Pork Loin Pot Roast

2 lb pork loin roast
3/4 cup dry white wine
1 whole onion, sliced
1 pork gravy packet (the type you add 1 cup of water to)
2 cloves garlic, sliced or crushed
1 bay leaf
 1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp ground allspice
pepper and salt to taste

Mix all ingredients in crock pot and cook 5 hours on high or 8 on low.

A Pot Full of Pot Roast

Meat . . . it's so . . . so . . . primal . . . so . . . meaty!

Can your believe I grew up never experiencing the joys of pot roast?

I'm still recovering. Part of my recovery is making pot roast almost every time an appropriate piece of meat comes into my possession.

Oh my precious . . .

My pretty . . .

I happened to have this gorgeous bit o' beef brisket waiting for me in my freezer.  Here in Mizzou brisket is always available and frankly it's usually a great deal. It has a great deal of lean meat in it for a reasonable price. I like to buy a whole one and cut it in half for twice the family happiness!

I'm betting the butcher would slice it for me though.  He slices my pork loins. He wraps them up into little individual packages. It warms my heart. But I've never asked him to cut my brisket. I should. It's job security. I don't know what I'd do without a butcher behind the meat case. I've lived that way before and I've put those evil days behind me. Have you told your butcher you love him lately? What? You don't even speak to him? You buy everything out of the meat case? Nothing from the meat counter? Be brave, be bold. He will lead you in all ways good and meaty.  But be polite. He has knives . . .

You need to season the meat a little. I put a teaspoon of salt and fresh ground pepper in a bowl all ready to go.

I put it in the bowl so I could just grab,rub and flip the meat around and not have to worry about getting meat juice on my shaker and grinder. I seriously should of doubled both amounts but it doesn't matter. I just added a little extra salt to the cooking liquid. 

Put a nice Dutch Oven on some high heat. My dutch oven broke . . . it was a sad, sad, day for me. So I'm just using a nice super heavy stockpot I own.  I put a little bit of oil in the bottom so I could judge how hot the pan was. When it starts to emit a tad bit of smoke it's ready.

I put the fatty side down first.  Within 30 seconds smoke alarms were going off all over the house. It's how the family knows I'm cooking. I appreciate the benefits of high heat and searing you see. 

Three minutes later I flipped it and got a new explosion of smoke.  Mmmm, that's pure flavor! Brown that side to crusty golden deliciousness and start your flavor hunt.

We've already got umami(meatiness) taken care of in spades with that brisket. I added salt already so we're really looking to add some sour, some sweet and some bitter.

I give you bitterness. I added a nicely sliced onion, some whole parsley stems, some garlic, bay leaf, and . . .

. . . a teaspoon of thyme leaves. 

Tuck them all in, safe and sound. Ready for their bath/sauna! 

Now for a cup of nice red wine. It was an unfamiliar wine so I had to make sure it was nice dry and tasty, didn't I? There's no sacrifice I won't make for pot roast. 

This will add that touch of sour or acidity you really need.

Hmm, the sweet? Well I couldn't find a sweet that floated my boat today. If I had sauteed my onions first they would of added sweetness. One of my favorite ways to add sweetness to a pot roast is with PRUNES! Can you imagine? I don't even like prunes and I tried a recipe once with saurkraut and prunes in it and it was MAGNIFICENT! It's not my recipe to share though so you'll just have to come over and I'll make it for you sometime!  Okey dokey? Okey dokey!

So, I decided I'd serve my pot roast with some nice sweet carrots!  The balance doesn't have to be within just one portion of the meal. It can be spread out on the plate after all is said and done.  So we proceed without adding any sweet to the roast.

One cup of wine isn't enough liquid for a good pot roast so . . .

I went digging around and found some frozen leftover canned beef broth in the freezer. It was about 3/4 of a cup of it. So I threw it in. A whole can of beef or chicken broth would of been fine. Water and a little bullion would of been good too.

Then I added enough water to almost cover the roast.  I want it in a nice steamy environment. My roast filled the pan up almost entirely so I was worried about having enough gravy at the end you see. If I had a pot with more room surrounding the roast I might of only filled it to half way up the meat. Turn up the heat now. You want to get things heated up.

Bring all the goodness to a boil. Then stick a lid on it and turn the heat to simmer. You can cook your roast this way for the rest of the way but there's other options.  You could transfer this whole boiling mass to a crockpot and cook it at this point. If you did I would recommend only add the water to the half way point though. You get so little evaporation in crockpots you see.  The other option is the oven.

Preheat your oven to a toasty 300 deg F.  Then you stick the whole pot in the oven! This is what I prefer to do. So after putting the lid on I stuck it in the oven and checked it every hour.

After the first hour I noticed my roast was really boiling in there! I was losing a lot of moisture too. So I flipped it over, turned the heat down to 250 deg F, and added a layer of foil to the pot lid. This pot's lid isn't as tight as some of my others so I thought there was too much evaporation going on.

An hour later the roast was cooked through and had become a giant somewhat shrunken glob of tough meat. This is what brisket and other meats like it do. They have a ton of "collagen" and it seizes up around the fibers. The secret is to just close it up again and let it cook for another hour. An hour at the boiling point, 212 deg F, causes the collagen to melt and make a roast become all fabulous and gelatinous.

Ahh! The fork slides in and out like butter now!  It's done! But we're not ready to eat. If I want to make nice slices in this brisket it's gotta rest.  If I tried to cut into it right now it would shred up into it's natural fibers and you'd have a tender beef spaghetti! Besides it's only 3:00 in the afternoon. So I let it cool down for a couple of hours. You could put it in the fridge if you're the safe sort. But I live on the edge. So I just sat it on the stove top with the lid on. (We do have a cat!) I knew when it was cool enough because I could handle it with tongs and it didn't break apart.

It's a beauty isn't it?

I strained all the aromatics from the gravy. There was very little grease. Brisket's fat is so visible, yet it seems to want to stay on the meat.  You'll want to taste this gravy and add salt or pepper or a teaspoon of cider vinegar or a dollop of ketchup to it.  Whatever it needs. If it's a little bland you can put it back in the pot and boil it down to strengthen the flavor. You could even cook some carrots in it!

Now for the brisket.  It should be cool enough that you can peel any visible fat off of it. Mine was the "point cut." So it had a layer of fat on top and a layer of fat in the middle. I just scraped it all off and threw it in the trash. Though the little birdies probably would of appreciated it. Maybe next time I'll throw it in the freezer and make them a suet pack?

It's super tender yet I can slice it if I stick to big slices. If I had refridgerated it I could of made little, neater slices.  Take all your slices and . . .

Put them back in your gravy. You could put these in a nice freezable serving dish and throw it in the freezer for a dinner party you're having next week if you wanted! Or you could just put it in the fridge for the dinner you're having after a busy day tomorrow.  Regardless you will have to reheat the meat gently. Either in the oven or on a stove top depending on what your pan likes. 

Oh sweet mystery of life at last I've found you . . .

Plain Pot Roast

4 lb beef brisket
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 onion, peeled and sliced
4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
8 stems of parsley, washed
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1 cup dry red wine
1 can low sodium broth, beef, chicken or vegetable

Season roast with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 300 deg F. Heat large dutch oven over high heat and put oil in it.  When oil starts to smoke place roast in pan and brown for approximately 3 minutes. Turn heat down if it smokes too much.  Brown other side of roast and then turn heat off until other ingredients are ready to go in.  Put remaining ingredients in pot. Add water until roast is almost covered. Turn up heat again and bring to a good simmer. Cover pot and place into oven.  Check roast every hour.  Flipping it at that time. If it looks like it's boiling rather than simmering in there turn the heat down. You can add a little more water if necessary.  Roast should be done in approximately 3-4 hours. A meat fork should slide into the meat easily.  Allow roast to cool in it's juices, usually at least 2 hours.  Strain sauce. Taste the sauce and add salt if necessary. Slice roast and reheat in the sauce.

Smothered Pork Chops

Don't you just LOVE IT when they put those center cut pork loins on sale? I always have the butcher cut mine up into four 2.5 lb roasts. I use the whole roast when I've planned ahead about dinner and want something for the crockpot. But it's also great when I haven't given dinner a thought until 2 or 3 in the afternoon!  That's when I thaw it out and slice that puppy up into pork chops! (Please excuse my violent puppy slicing rhetoric.)

Smothered Pork Chops (Who knew there was so much violence in cooking?)

They're called "smothered" because they are covered in GRAVY! Who doesn't like gravy?

So I wish I had taken pictures of all the steps and ingredients but I was trying to fix dinner for my family for goodness sake! Please lower your expectations. Thank you.

Brown the pork chops in a little vegetable oil. Around 3 minutes a side should do the trick if you have the heat up nice and high. By nice and high I mean the browning of the meat may cause your smoke alarms go off for just a little while. Maybe I should of paid for the professional stove hood? Take the chops out of the pan and set them on a plate to the side.  It's time to make GRAVY!

That is pure goodness in the bottom of the pan! Add a tablespoon or so of vegetable oil and some . . .

sliced onions! Cook them up until they're all brown and yummy! If you find you're not getting any really good browning and softening you can add a little salt and . . .

a small chunk of butter. You've got to have some fat in the pan to make a truly yummy gravy! Butter DOES make everything better.  Stir that all around and then add the garlic and flour.

Stir that flour around and cook it for a minute or so till it's clinging to the onions and you don't see any dry floury spots anywhere.  Then you'll add some flavor . . .

Mmmmm, I like a teaspoon of dried thyme, a bay leaf and some freshly grated nutmeg!  After you stir those in you'll add . . .

The vermouth and chicken broth. Now turn the heat up and start stirring! It'll be gravy in a few minutes.  You might want to taste it right now and see how the salt is. Add more if you like. If you don't like wine in your food then well I don't like you either . . . excuse me, I mean feel free to not add it. You might want to add a tsp of  wine or cider vinegar just for the bit of pop a little acid gives a good rich dish.

Add the pork chops back to the pan. Make sure you add all those juices that dripped out of them onto the plate!  Now in a few minutes the chops are going to be warm and cooked through and if you're in a hurry you can go ahead and eat it.  But if you want to go for the gusto put a lid on your pan and turn the heat down to a simmer. Flip them every 10 minutes so the gravy goodness can get soaked into all sides and wait an hour or more (depends on how thick your chops are!). Those chops will start to break down and get all tender and melty!

After you've worked so hard on that delicious gravy feel free to . . .

prepare the side dish of your choice!

Oh and only children who have shoveled the walk get to eat dinner! See 2 Thessalonians 3:10

Smothered Pork Chops

6 pork chops, lightly seasoned with salt and pepper
2-4 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp butter
2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
3 Tbsp all purpose flour
1 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
freshly grated nutmeg
1 can of low sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup dry vermouth

Heat 1 Tbsp vegetable oil in large frying pan over medium high heat. Brown the pork in the skillet and remove from the pan. Brown onion in pan adding butter and extra oil if necessary. Add minced garlic and cook until you can smell it.  Add 3 Tbsp flour to onion and mix in. Cook for 1 minute.  Add herbs and spices to pan.  Stir in vermouth and broth. Bring to a simmer.  Add pork chops back to pan. Cover and simmer for an hour.