Wednesday, September 16, 2009

I made beer braised pork loin



So yesterday I got it into my head that I wanted to make some kind of slow-roasted meat. I looked around online today and settled on this recipe: http://www.porkroastrecipe.net/PorkRoast/BeerBraisedPorkRoast.htm

It was the simplest recipe of all the ones I looked at, and involved cooking with beer, which I've never done before. So I bought a 2.5 lb pork loin at the grocery store, which was the largest they had (and more than enough for 2 people. I have leftovers for 2 days).

This is how I did it:
1 (2-3 pound) Pork Loin Roast
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
2 medium Onions, diced
Salt
Pepper
2 (15 ounce) cans or bottles Guinness Stout or Dark Beer

I seasoned the pork with salt and pepper, then browned it on the stove in the vegetable oil. Once that was browned on all four sides (took about 15 minutes) I set it aside on a plate. Then I threw two small diced onions into the pot and sauteed them til they were soft, about 10 minutes. Then I put the loin back in the pot with the onions, poured two 15 ounce cans of Guinness around it, covered it, and brought it to a boil. Once it began to boil I turned it down to low and simmered it for about an hour. In the end I overcooked the pork slightly. By the time I checked the temperature it was 160 degrees. I read in my "Cooking Meat" cookbook that I should have taken it out of the pot at about 145-147 degrees as the meat will raise to about 155 once its resting. It was a tad on the dry side, but still very good.

I also made mashed potatoes and oven roasted carrots and turnips. After I took the loin out of the pot, I put it on a cutting board and tented it with aluminum foil. As I cooked the vegetables I brought the beer and onion broth up to a boil and let it slowly cook down. I didn't have the patience to make an actual reduction sauce or gravy at this point (I'd been in the kitchen for about 2 hours), but the broth and onions was still tasty spooned over the potatoes and meat.

The carrots and turnips I coated in oil and salt and pepper and baked on a baking sheet at 400 degrees for about 20-25 minutes. For the mashed potatoes I used 6 while potatoes, a healthy amount of butter, and hot milk. There's nothing worse than luke warm mashed potatoes.

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