52 New Recipes | You might be cooking your pork all wrong. I was!
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This part isn't exactly a recipe, but I roasted some pork tenderloins, and YOU GUYS!!! I discovered that I've been unnecessarily overcooking my pork tenderloins.
According to the USDA (and Cook's Illustrated), it is considered safe to cook pork to only 145 ° F, rather than 160 °F.
(Read more about the reasons behind that here.)
Anyway. I'd always wondered why my pork tenderloins were decidedly un-tender, even though I was following the package directions to cook to 160 °F.
And now I know why. This week I browned mine in a cast iron pan and then roasted them at 400 °F until they reached 145 and oh my goodness, they were so much better than before.
So juicy. And so tender.
If you've been cooking your pork to 160, do it no more! Try it this way and you will never go back.
On the night I roasted the pork, I also tried a new-to-me Cook's Illustrated recipe for crispy roasted potatoes.
I had the bag of mixed potatoes from my Hungry Harvest box, so I thumbed through my big Cook's Illustrated cookbook and came across this roasted potato recipe.
It called for Yukon Golds, but I figured it would be fine to use the combo I had, since red potatoes are often roasted.
To make these, you slice up the potatoes, par-cook them on the stove, then toss them with salt and oil (I used bacon grease because, hello, delicious) to rough up the outsides and get them coated with the starchy bits from the now-softened potatoes.
And then you roast 'em in a hot oven, flipping them once.
This made super tasty roasted potatoes, and I will most definitely do this again when I have potatoes to use.
Par-cooking potatoes is a really awesome way to avoid burnt outsides and undercooked insides. I do this when I make potato cubes or wedges, and I will now do this with roasted potatoes as well.
Cook's Illustrated rocks my socks off.
What new thing did you make this week?
P.S. Sonia's got a new knitting post up. 😉
I made fish chowder last night. My husband bought a pound of "chowder mix" from the fish counter when we were in the, ahem, big city (a city of about 20,000 people, but it's big to us), which appeared to just be tail ends of haddock or cod fillets. I used my standard method of looking at a few random recipes online and then just winging it. I don't actually much like fish or chowder, so I was a little apprehensive about making something when I wasn't sure how it was supposed to taste and I didn't want to eat it.
All the chowder aficionados were enthusiastic, however. Hard to go wrong if you're using bacon from a family member's pig, leeks from the garden, stock made from an excess but tasty rooster, and real heavy cream. Plus butter.
I say a lot to people that if you start with really good ingredients, all you have to do is not mess them up when cooking. This probably sounds pretentious and irritating, but it is true.
I say that all the time. "All I had to do is not get in the way." It's harder than it sounds sometimes and the better quality the food, the truer it is.
Your potato method sounds similar to The Pioneer Woman's Crash Hot Potatoes, which I love! So crispy. Plus, it's the perfect recipe to make with a 2 year old who loves to use the potato smasher, ha!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/crash-hot-potatoes/
I started brining my pork chops before cooking them and HOLY COW!! What a difference than makes? Similar to your discovery of only cooking to 145 degrees, it has completely changed my outlook on pork chops. Here's the recipe I follow - http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-cook-perfect-pork-chops-in-the-oven-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-194257
Brining or salting is life-changing, isn't it??
We recently discovered brining pork chops too. I'll never look back!
So yummy! Thank you for the tip! I think I've been cooking pork all wrong too. My MIL often stir-fries pork with some veggies Chinese style. I've been having some stomach issues after eating pork lately, so I'm taking a great from it.
Thanks for sharing your recipe!
We barbecue a lot, like in competitions and such even (hubs hobby), and I can attest that properly cooked pork is both hard and delicious! It’s super easy to dry out, but amazing when done right! This looks super yummy and now I want the hubs to smoke this weekend
In the UK we eat roast potatoes once a week on a Sunday, just like you made them...I'm no imagining a delicious Sunday roast, although we put gravy on them too (which is not the same as US gravy I think).
I always cook my cubed potatoes for 3 minutes in the microwave before I cook them in the pan, so that they are cooked in the middle.
Do you measure the temperature of everything you cook? I've always just gone by time and aspect. You are so very organised Ms Frugal!!
*now not no, sorry!
It depends. For baked goods, not generally. But for larger cuts of meat, I do.
I don't take the temp of things that get cooked low and slow...like a beef chuck roast. But for stuff that can get easily overcook, like pork tenderloin, using an instant-read thermometer has vastly improved my cooking!
Katy, can you tell more about the gravy vs. USA gravy?
UK here too and very rarely take the temp of anything I'm cooking. Possibly beef wellington since it's impossible to see the meat itself. A little nerve racking to only rely on time when you can't see the meat!
Proper gravy in the UK is made by removing the roast meat from the pan and putting it to rest. Then putting the roasting pan on the hob, scraping up all the stuck bits of meat and juice and adding cornflour whilst stirring over the heat to thicken. Cheat gravy is made by adding boiling water to gravy granules Bad gravy is watery and/or oily or lumpy. Good gravy pours smoothly a bit like single cream.
This is different in the north of England where gravy is very thick and served over chips (fries to you). This is clearly wrong and we don't accept people who do that
Is US gravy really thick?
It depends on who is making it and why. "Gravy" covers a wide range of thicknesses.
Oh. Those. Potatoes. Yum! I cook my tenderloins and pork roasts in the crock pot. Always tender and delish!
This looks mighty tasty! I admit I've never had a taste for pork myself. My mom used to make pork chops and had NO IDEA how to cook them. She burned them until the edges peeled up. They were so tough and horrible. So I'm not a fan of pork now, hahaha.
Last night we made a PHENOMENAL beef and broccoli ramen dish. Here's the recipe if you're interested: https://www.chelseasmessyapron.com/skillet-beef-broccoli-ramen/
Oh, you should try pork again! It's so good when cooked correctly. Pork loin chops can be cooked just like a steak - salt & pepper on a hot grill or skillet to 145*F... SO good!
This week's new recipe was a miss for me. I made the slow cooker sesame beef recipe from the Budgetbytes website. It is OK but not a keeper for me.
We made a roasted cauliflower soup the other day, and it was SO good. It had been a long time since either of us had made a veggie soup, so we had forgotten how filling and delicious they can be even though it is quite simple. The recipe link is below:
https://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/creamy-roasted-cauliflower-chowder/
Just printed this up -- Thanks!
I made a pizza using Kristen's pizza crust recipe. I cheated -- it's been so hot outside, I didn't cook it as hot as I should, nor do I have a pizza stone or peel -- but you know what, it was still a good crust! So, that's good to know. In winter, I'll try it the correct way.
Somewhere I just saw about cooking to 145 for pork, too, amazing. After all these years.... Even my old meat thermometer temp markings said to cook pork to 160. I used my grill pan instead of the charcoal grill to cook chops this past week, because the mosquitoes are so bad now, and my husband didn't want to coat in repellent after already taking his shower. I used my instant read and got 'em off the stove at 145, and yes, they were much more tender and juicy. I will say that when I fry them, I almost always manage to get them out before they get overdone, and always have, even though I wasn't using a thermometer. I have no idea how I did it before, but I'm going to use that thermometer from now on. Now I'm going to try the potato idea.
I found that using a thermometer helps me when baking bread. The directions always say bread is done "when the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom." Well, by that time you've taken it out of the oven and removed it from the pan already, so what if it isn't done yet, and I've never detected anything that sounded "hollow" to me in my life. Maybe my hearing is not tuned to that sound. I now use my instant read thermometer and if the loaf is between 190 and 200, out it comes. It hasn't failed me yet.
I'm with you, the hollow sound test has never worked for me, either! My thermometer has made all the difference---there were times in the past when the loaf was still gummy inside and we had to make toast in order to force ourselves to eat it rather than waste it.
You know what's funny is that I always eyeball my bread, with great success. And other readers have said the same about their meat-cooking abilities...but I guess I just must be better at eyeballing bread than meat! I can often get close to eyeballing meat, but I've had enough failures to make me love my thermometer.
We have been cooking our pork to 145* for years now, and it does make a difference. I smiled at your post because my MIL continues to think we will all get food poisoning with pork cooked to that temperature--every time we visit, they make a pork loin, and we have the same discussion about cooking temperatures every time.
The first time I tried to cook pork, it turned out as what my husband called, "pork crackers." We tossed it and ordered pizza! Just today I made a salad out of greens I could not identify. They were from the neighbor's garden. I was too embarrassed to ask what they were, but I'm up for tasting new things. I used them to make a spicy-tasting, small-leafed, prickly, DELICIOUS salad!
Thank you for sharing, this is very helpful.
I finally gave in and invested in an instant pot last weekend. However, I didn't start out with the recommended test dish of boiled water, but dove right in with beef stew, then cooked a whole chicken with gravy, made chicken bone broth, cooked a half dozen perfectly hard-boiled eggs and steamed spaghetti squash. The results were amazing. One pot does it all and, in one afternoon, I actually won back my love for cooking real food.
I made the honey mustard chicken from my Dinnerly box and roasted the carrots beside it. I had never roasted carrots (yes, I am not an adventurous cook). Both were so good! I would have never thought to use the thick grainy mustard and mix honey with it, but it made a great marinade for the chicken and the carrots were just tossed in oil, salt/pepper and roasted. So yummy!
I grew up on pork chops so I actually know how to cook those pretty good. I don't mind mine a little crisp, but I do make them juicy for my family in the oven. I never use a temp. gauge...I just can tell by the look of them when they are right.
Yay! I'm so glad your Dinnerly meal was good.
I bought a thermometer to use when making yogurt in the crockpot. For the first time in my life I am now using it on my meats and it is amazing. I can't believe I have lived my whole without one. Makes me wonder what else I am missing in the kitchen.
Who knew this about pork?! Must Buy Meat Thermometer . . .
Had OJ to use up and 6 marked down organic drumsticks so typed in "Chicken orange juice recipes" and found a winner. Had all the ingredients except brown sugar.
Recipe called for OJ concentrate so I cooked down the juice before adding other sauce ingredients. It was good although husband requests less rosemary and less (or no) brown sugar since OJ is mighty sweet. Also, added garlic cloves because they improve everything. With steamed broccoli, carrots and simple cuke/tomato salad, it was $6.00 total with one serving leftover.
Must keep trying new stuff!!
Woohoo! That sounds like a win on multiple levels.
Yes, I did the same with overcooking pork until I read that it was safe to use 140 rather than 160-165! We LOFE pork, anything pork especially ribs! So very pleased that you have discovered this for a more tender and delicious tenderloin.
Suz V.
When I cook those 1 pound pork tenderloins I take them off the heat at 130-135 degrees, then cover with foil for a 5-10 min before cutting- during that time temp continues to go up to 140-145. Friends are always wondering why they are so good and I always advise to cook less! Learned this from Alton Brown years ago!