Tomorrow is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, and the last day of Christmas. So this weekend I am going to start un-decorating, little by little.
Beware — be very ware — next week we are going to Keep House. Yes, your pleas will be heard, and we will plumb the mysteries of getting things cleaned up while raising a numerous family on one income with no servant. While homeschooling.
By the way, my New Year's resolutions are as follows, in case you are interested or want to blackmail me later:
1. pray more
2. exercise, bleah
3. learn to knit something useful, like socks
4. learn to make –and make –candles in time for Candlemas
5. learn to play the bodhran
Okay, in preparation for Keeping House we are going to think about whether we have the whole food/laundry thing worked out yet. If not, go back! Read the sidebar Laundry and Menu posts! (Read from the bottom up.)
Here is an example of how to make your menus work for you. Maybe you buy those whole pork loins when they are $1.79/lb., cut them in two or three smaller roasts, and freeze them?
If you want to make Roast Pork Loin for dinner for tomorrow's feast, take one out of the freezer today and let it thaw slowly. It will be lovely. If you try to thaw it quickly, roast it frozen, or otherwise mishandle it, it will have the taste and texture of cardboard.
Of course this kind of thing is best wrapped in bacon, as what is not? But failing such a treatment (because people have been eating nothing BUT bacon for three weeks and you just simply can't face it), here is how you make that sucker just as moist and flavorful as possible:
Take your carefully saved bacon grease (always pour your bacon grease, and only bacon grease, into a clean jar and store in the fridge. I use Teddy's peanut butter jars, as they have straight sides and I have plenty of them).
Into about 3 tablespoons of bacon grease, mix about 3 tablespoons of flour, about 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper, 1/4 tsp. rosemary, 1/2 tsp. dried rubbed sage, and 1/2 tsp. dried ground mustard or 1 tsp. prepared mustard. Mix well and rub or spread evenly, using a rubber spatula, on the top and sides of your roast. I'm sorry I don't have pictures of this portion of the process.
Trust me, though. It's going to make a huge difference in the succulence of the final product.
Now find some liquid. Water will do in a pinch. White wine would be fabulous, as would chicken stock.
Perhaps some inconsiderate fool opened a bottle of beer at your party and then left it, practically untouched, lying about? Store it in the fridge for just such an emergency.
Using about 1/2 cup of liquid, pour around your roast, being careful not to disturb the coating on the meat. Roast for about an hour, adding liquid as necessary to allow caramelization, but not burning, of your drippings. Too much liquid, and you won't get a nice deep base for your gravy. Too little, and the bits will burn.
I roast at 325* convection roast, and my pork loins are done in about an hour and a half, sometimes an hour. Use a meat thermometer and take it out when it registers about 160-165*. Poke the thermometer (instant read) in through the side to the middle (rather than going through the top, like I used to do, which results in juices bubbling up and messing with your lovely crust).
Now when the roast is done, remove it from the dish to a cutting board to rest.
What's in the dish will become your fabulous gravy. Don't be a wimp — don't roast in tin foil so that you can more easily throw this sticky “mess” away.
What this actually is, is the basis for everything that makes life worth living, roast-wise. And once you know what to do, it will be easy and you can do it in your sleep.
So first step, de-glaze. You can spoon excess fat, without taking any nice browned bits (as Julia calls them), right off. Then, using your spatula and a little hot water, get whatever you can out into a saucepan.
Pour the rest of the beer or wine or what-have-you, about a cup, in what's left in your roasting pan and swish everything around. Try to dislodge the sticky part (which is actually the caramlized sugars and denatured proteins from the meat, containing oodles of flavor) using a spatula or whatever curved metal object fits in the pan.
At first this will seem like a hopeless task, but keep at it, warming the liquid on the stovetop (using hot liquid to start with is a help).
Keep scraping and moving the liquid over the stubborn parts, and soon you will have this:
Now to the contents of the saucepan (which will be mainly fat and a few bits), add enough flour (a couple of tablespoons, probably) to make a roux:
Let this cook for a few minutes while you whisk. Then add what you've worked on from the roasting pan, and whisk well on moderately high heat.
As it all heats up, any lumps from the flour will whisk out, although you will still have lumps from the roast and seasonings, since we're not making a fancy strained French gravy but a good old-fashioned American pan-gravy.
At this point, when it smooths out and boils for a few minutes, you should taste it. If it seems a little bitter or lacking in deep gravy flavor, add salt and you will be amazed at how it comes together. The more you cook a gravy thickened with flour, the thicker it will get and the deeper the flavor. You can thin it with water or stock, and, of course…
…a little cream will also be most welcome.
Whisk that in and you are ready to go! You could put this in a gravy boat or you could exhaustedly summon up every ounce of strength you have to put a gravy ladle in the saucepan and serve it just like that.
For this roast, which we had on Twelfth Night, we had broccoli (make more than enough, boiling it in salted water until it's just bright green and tender — the roast is so rich, your broccoli doesn't need any butter.)
Also some spinach with feta cheese that was leftover from a different meal.
And rice, which I make in the microwave. I don't need no stinkin' rice cooker. I put one part rice and two parts water into my favorite Corningware dish. Add about 1 tablespoon of coconut oil, which lends a beautiful fragrance to the rice, and some salt.
I can make up to 6 cups of rice this way. If you need more, maybe you do need a rice cooker…I just don't have the counter space.
I use Carolina regular or jasmine rice — it's very delicate and tasty– or Japanese sushi rice, which is short-grained, risotto-style rice that cooks up sticky and with a wonderful texture. And is much cheaper than Arborio. Either way this method prevents sticking and breaking and mushing.
However, my new fancy beautiful microwave overheats if I take the necessary 20 minutes (oh! the irony!), so I now start the boil on the stovetop (you can do that in the Corningware). Then microwave without the cover until the water is almost, but not quite, absorbed, about 7-8 minutes if the water has already boiled:
Stir gently and microwave with the lid for 4-5 minutes or until the rice is fully cooked and no water is left. After you gently fluff it up, it will hold with the lid on for 1/2 an hour!
Now, and here comes the happy menu thought, a few nights later you can have pork fried rice with hardly any effort at all!
Simply put some coconut oil in a big skillet. Fry up whatever veggies you wish — in my case, onions, garlic, carrots, and peppers — with some ginger (can be dried). Add the leftover rice and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes.
Add soy sauce and the cut up leftover roast, and let heat through.
Stir in 2-4 eggs, scrambled, until the eggs are cooked –I need to perfect my egg lumping skills so that bits of egg show. Finish off with some sesame oil if you have it, and serve with leftover broccoli, which will be just as tasty and nutritious even several days later!
Veggies keep well when cooked, not so well when fresh, so go ahead and cook it all up.
If you've gotten this far and aren't dying of boredom, remember to come back next week for this year's resolution: Keeping house, moderately well.
If I can do that, so can you!
Mab says
That looks absolutely delicious (as does everything that you post). I love how you make it look so easy. Making a roast scares me for some reason (I know – it's stupid) but no more!
Anonymous says
Leila, you are making my mouth water!!Looks sooooo…. good. Great idea to use the bacon grease. I never do anything with it.We usually cut up our pork loins smaller for two of us and I like to add an apple somewhere. Nice to see you writing more again. You are so faithful. God Bless, Aleta
Jan says
Oh you have made my day! I buy pork roast like you do but never made gravy. Now with words and pictures I will try it. And the pork fried rice as well.Thanks so much!
Lindsey in AL says
I will have to look at the pork roasts more closely next time I go to the grocery- this looks so yummy!A tip for the egg "lumps"- I gave up on my wok and use a HUGE straight sided cast iron skillet. Once everything else is done, push it all to the sides of the pan, leaving a big open space in the center. Pour the eggs (already beaten) into the center and use your spatula to keep them there as they cook. Once they're mostly cooked start mixing in the rest of the rice. This should give you nice egg bits that don't just glom onto the rice and hide.I also highly recommend a bit of the dark sesame oil at the beginning with the coconut oil. Such a lovely subtle flavor!Now I need to go make some fried rice!!
messy bessy says
My favorite kind of blog post! I rarely make pork loin roast since we are on so tight a budget, but I do happen to have one planned for Monday's dinner, and the idea of pork fried rice with the leftovers just about knocked me flat with its sheer appropriateness.One question: coconut oil? Do you mail-order yours? Hydrogenated? Non? I'm a neophyte. Please feel free to educate me.
Betsy says
Oh, what inspiration for my pork roasts in the freezer. Yours looks wonderful – I may have to try that tomorrow night. I feel bad for the farmers, but the price of pork has been so cheap here (in South Dakota) so we have been eating it allot! Yum.
Mama Kitty says
That's it.I'm coming to your house for dinner.Thanks for the bacon grease tip. I will try that on a future roast.
Mrs. Reverend Doctor says
Bacon grease, cream in the gravy…I'm starving now!
Anonymous says
Bacon grease? Fabulous!I've been known to (desperately) squeeze a juice box of apple juice over my roast. And my favorite thing for cooking hunks of meat in the oven? A $20 thermometer with a probe and a timer outside of the oven. I set it for 5 degrees below the desired temp and set the alert. Woohoo!But gravy with my pork roast? Inspired!
Cheryl (Copper' says
Well, yum. Just yum!! No other words will do.
scmom (Barbara) says
Makes me really wish I had a pork roast in my freezer! Alas, we'll have French Onion Burgers because lean ground beef was on sale. Happy feast day, Leila.
Anonymous says
The pork looked good. But I am excited that we might be talking about laundry again. Am I weird or what.I make a great pork roast with a can of generic cola added. Yum, but the pan gravy makes me want to try your way.Amy
Margo says
I love this post! And I adore planned leftovers :)I've never made a pork loin this way. The bacon grease was new to me, but I totally get how that could be good. I like your clear instructions for pan gravy.I usually use my bacon grease to fry our breakfast eggs.My mic is so old that I know it can't make rice your fast way. My rice shortcut is to bake it in the oven if the oven's on for something else. I do NOT have a rice cooker -counter space is all!
Anonymous says
Oh Leila. Can you give us a little lecture 🙂 on coconut oil? I have some. Quite a bit, actually — but I am a little clueless about what to DO with it. So…why is it good for us, can you cook with it without ruining its essential goodness-for-you? And what is it good in besides a little dab in your hot drinks?THANK YOU!! Susan (your friend in DE)
Leila says
So the bacon grease is in lieu of the bacon, right? It has a different effect from a liquid such as juice or soda (tsk, no soda, people), which would add flavor but actually serve to remove fat rather than keep the roast sort of moist and crispy. The flour added to the grease makes a crust that just works magic. I've developed this over many years and you might not think a little fat and some flour would make such a difference to the meat itself, but try it and see!Coconut oil: I will do a little mini-post on that just now.Anonymous dear, you couldn't have mentioned the thermometer BEFORE Christmas?? Ah well, take note, ye daughters, for my birthday!!
Katherine says
In regards to New Year's resolution #4, I highly recommend getting a metal candle mold. I ordered mine from Glory Bee Foods (along with the wick and beeswax). Candle dipping is interesting from a historical perspective, but it takes soooo long. If you really want to use you your own candles on a regular basis, go for eficiency.Thank you for posting the pork roast recipe. I'm inordinately attached to my crockpot. I'm terrible at cooking meat well and always looking for step-by-step directions.
Nil Zed says
the microwave in the apartment we first moved into in California had a rice setting. Glorious! You told it how many cups of rice, it set the time. No boiling over, no fussing. we've since moved into our very own house, but alas, the built in microwave lacks the 'rice' button. My husband, who only knows how to cook stir-fry dishes, has worked out a 5 minutes on, 5 minutes off system that he fusses with while chopping everything and stir frying, I've just gone back to the double-boiler method my mom taught me. I went looking for a new microwave with rice button so I'd know where to get one should something dire befall this microwave. I only found countertop models, however, I also found kimchee refrigerators. refrigerators pre-set to optimum kimchee making temp, fitted out with special tubs and bins. who ever knew such a thing existed?
Anonymous says
"Yes, your pleas will be heard, and we will plumb the mysteries of getting things cleaned up while raising a numerous family on one income with no servant. While homeschooling."Sweet relief! The eighth chick in my nest just turned five months and i am drowning in…well, everything!(Posting anon. out of shame *ahem*)
Anonymous says
Because I am happy to give a little back to you, Leila, after all of the great tips you've given us:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019R4HQQ/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00004RC4R&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=182MVV74GXT341A2QD8E-Thermo Wife
Tamara says
As always, Leila, I absolutely love reading your posts. Inspired! And I can't wait to read what you have in store for us this coming week. As a young mom with my firstborn crawling EVERYWHERE and in EVERYTHING, I am in desperate need of time-tested wisdom and insight! If you can do it, there's hope for me yet!
Crafty P says
you are my hero.i have never thought to use bacon grease that way! and I ALWAYS save my bacon grease- in the fridge. Just pan fried some leftover baked potatoes in it yesterday for the 7 yr old. it is so yummy!will remember this!
Pippajo says
This is near and dear to my heart as pork loin and planned leftover pork fried rice are the foundations of my repertoire! I was going to do it this week, in fact, but decided against it when I saw roast beef on sale. So it's braised beef with planned leftover cottage pie this week!Also, I have never even considered coconut oil before but will have to after reading this. A few weeks ago, I was making rice to accompany Tandoori Chicken and, spotting the half-can of coconut milk leftover from the chicken recipe, dumped it into the rice pot. It created quite a stir and I'm sure cooking with coconut oil would have a similar effect! Thanks for the tip! I'm so filated (your word verification requirement at this moment)!
Barb says
Woohoo! Homekeeping Leila's Way!Love the pork roast explanation, too. My dh, the foodie/chef, does the pork roasts around here, but I may just surprise him with your version and see what he says. He might think I've been taking cooking classes behind his back. Not that I'm that bad, just haven't tried as much as I could and should.
Leila says
Thermo-wife aka anonymous, I need that, it's awesome. I read about it in Cooks Illustrated — I remember them saying it's not reliable. Then I realized that my instant-read wasn't reliable and got a new one. But if that works I think it's great.
Leila says
Lindsey in AL — I will try the eggs your way next time! Sounds like it will work!
Mama Kitty says
Leila,
Just wanted to let you know I tried this pork roast last night. It WAS a tasty roast. The gravy was awesome! My MIL was over for dinner and she likes gravy (DH and DD do not) – nice to have some one to share it with.
I ran into a couple of issues:
1) Your instructions say that the meat cooks to 160-165. Two cookbooks I have pegged it at 170, and 185. Any thoughts?
2) What size roast did you use? My roast was five pound and I ran out of bacon grease spread… how thick is the layer supposed to be, and does it go over the fat part on top of the roast?
Any guidance you can give would be much appreciated!
Leila says
Dear Mama Kitty,
1) The roast must reach an internal temp of around 170* (I think it’s fine at about 168*), but it will do so after removal from the oven. All my cookbooks admonish you to take it– or any roast, for that matter — out before the desired temp is reached! That’s what I always do! This way you don’t overcook.
2)Yes, mine was smaller than that (does it look smaller in the pictures?) I put the flour/grease layer all over the top and sides, including the layer of fat, but I do usually trim that fat a bit, because I like to eat it and if it’s too much that’s a little gross.
You just need coverage, not any kind of thickness. I find it’s hard to get it to stay put if it’s thick — it sort of rolls around…
Methinks you need to eat more bacon!! 🙂
Mama Kitty says
Thank you Leila!
I went to my cookbooks and they don’t seem to say anything about taking the roast out before it reaches temperature. . . although that may explain why my roast was a little dry. (I also am wondering if I should check my meat thermometer.) I think I’ll try it on the next one.
We did feel like we were buttering the roast, Miss Kitty and I.
We had roast & potato reruns last night and Miss Kitty has decided she likes gravy. Woo-hoo!
And tonight. . . fried rice. 🙂
BFhelp@gmail.com says
THE fastest and easiest rice recipe that I just started using about two weeks ago is as follows; oil in the pan, heat, add spices if wanted (I use spices that compliment whatever the main dish is going to be; tonight for taco night I added garlic, cumin) and stir in rice, saute until rice is starting to get shiny. Add two parts water. Bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer, cover and set timer for 17 minutes. Voila! I added lemon juice (I didn't have lime) and some fresh chopped cilantro. Delicious! Mixed it with my chopped meat, beans, tomatoes and avocado and it was like I was at Chipotle. Ole!I can never make rice in the mic because it always boils over and leaves me with more of a mess than the time savings was worth. This stovetop method is a lifesaver as the rice usually makes it to the table at the halfway mark of dinner because I never start it early enough for it to be cooked WITH dinner.
Christina A says
Thank you so much for this recipe! I’m usually pretty boring with my pork loins, just sprinkling with Keg Seasoning (from this great restaurant in Alberta) and serving with barbecue sauce. I only had water around for my liquid (well, I did add a splash of vermouth), and the gravy still turned out phenomenally delicious. I did have some trouble getting the bacon grease to stick to the roast at first, but I had taken it directly out of the packaging and tried spreading it without rinsing the meat or patting it dry; once I did that, it was smooth sailing (or spreading, rather). I’m so enjoying working my way through your archives; not sure how I’ll handle it whenever I finally catch up to present day. I’ll have to wait for new posts like the peasants. 😉