food, reviews and of course coffee
I do quite like a pork chop now and again, though loin steaks appear to be more popular with people these days, the bone in the pork chop helps to stop the meat from drying out. Where possible I try and buy outdoor reared pork, as I have found that it has a lot more flavour than the pork you usually buy.
I cooked this pork chop by roasting in the oven, after adding some seasoning.
It was lovely and tender, delicious.
I cooked a very nice loin of pork at the weekend.
Like most times I roast a joint, for the final hour I added chopped vegetable, though this time I also added apple, well it was pork.
Those may look sausages under the joint, but they are in fact carrots. By placing carrots under the pork, it adds flavour and stops the joint “steaming” in its juices and roast more evenly. Just in case you were wondering you can eat the carrots, but I add them to the gravy.
Most of the supermarkets now have a “cook at home” food, Waitrose is no exception and they have their “Easy to Cook” range.
We recently tried the pork leg steaks with a spiced apple stuffing.
Described as “succulent English pork leg steaks with a spiced apple stuffing, topped with apple butter and wrapped in English bacon” they looked really nice and sounded delicious.
It did sound tempting.
After cooking the pork according to the instructions, I sliced the steaks and they appeared to be quite tender.
The problem was the flavour or to be more specific the lack of flavour. Now most pork you buy doesn’t have much flavour, outdoor reared or free range generally does. These steaks lacked any depth of flavour. Not a problem, the spiced apple should enhance the pork as should the apple butter. Hmmm, well they didn’t the apple flavour was also missing and the spice though there, was so subtle you quite easily missed it.
It was a pity as this did some a really nice dish, but the lack of flavour and general blandness of the finished dish was very disappointing. Next time I think I will make it myself.
I really do like a nice piece of pork belly, especially when roasted in the oven.
I use to be only be able to buy pork belly in slices, but more recently it has become much easier to buy pork belly in one piece. This makes it much easier to roast whole in the oven, not that it isn’t nice to roast small cubes of pork belly.
I use kitchen towel to dry the pork belly before cooking. Then when cooking, to start in a very hot oven (to ensure you get nice crispy crackling) before turning down to a much lower temperature , say 160℃ for a couple of hours. This way you get a wonderfully crisp crackling, tender moist meat and great flavour.
Now in terms of flavour, I do much prefer using “proper” pork as opposed to the mass produced stuff you can buy. The pork pictured was “outdoor reared” and tasted really good.
The griddle is a nice way of cooking medallions of pork.
It chargrills the surface, adding flavour, whilst keeping the meat moist and tender.
Very nice.
This pork dish was a throw together type of dish and alas the pork was not as tender as I hoped. Though I think that was more down to the pork I used. I had some diced pork and I think it would have been better with medallions of pork fillet, or possibly cooked for a lot longer.
In a large frying pan I browned off some diced pork. Once this was browned it was removed from the pan and I cooked off some diced onions and mixed peppers.
To this I added Sainsbury’s Boeuf Bourguignonne paste from their new Ingredients for Cooks range. I then added some water, on the assumption that the concentrated paste would have sufficient flavour and salt already added.
This I then let simmer for about thirty minutes, before adding a small tin of cooked borlotti beans.
I served this with some plain boiled rice.
The traditional way of cooking pork belly is to slow roast it in the oven for a couple of hours.
I placed the belly pork on the root vegetables and seasoned it. I then placed this in the really hot oven, turning the temperature right down to 160. I then left the pork to roast for about two hours. This may not seem long, but it wasn’t a huge piece of pork like a leg joint.
Sometimes though you don’t have the time…
Another method I use is to score the skin on the belly and then cut the pork belly into one inch cubes (3cm). Place the cubes of pork on a roasting tray, and cook for about 30-40 minutes in a hot oven. Ensure that the pork belly is really dry before putting it in the oven. I seasoned mine with black pepper. You don’t need to add salt, but it does help to remove some of the moisture.
The end result is tender pieces of tasty pork with a crispy crackling.
I served mine with salad and crusty bread.
This is my simple and quick way of cooking a wonderful French peasant style dish of chicken, pork, sausage and lentils.
Place some chicken thighs and drumsticks in a roasting pan, add some chunks of pork belly. You could use a jointed chicken if you wanted. Drizzle with olive oil and place in a hot oven and roast for about 25-30 minutes.
Cook some large pork sausages in the oven, as these take less time, put them in a little later.
In a large pan, soften some pancetta, diced onions and peppers. Once soft, add a knob of butter and some flour, stir well. Now add herbs, wine and stock. Cook for about ten minutes.
In a hot frying pan, cook some chopped mushrooms.
Prepare the dish.
Take the cooked liquid, add the roast chicken and pork. Slice the sauages and add them and the mushrooms to the pan. I used tinned Puy Lentils, but you could use cooked lentils or a tin of another kind. Mix well and heat through.
Serve with crusty bread.
Cooked and enjoyed Marks and Spencers’ Pork Medallions with a cider and shallot sauce last night
I normally prefer to cook my own sauces than use shop ones, but this Marks and Spencers isn’t too bad.
Whatever you fancy for dinner and whatever the occasion, M&S’s NEW The Cook Menu has something to offer. You’ll find a variety of exciting dishes, inspired by flavours from around the world, which all use the very best ingredients: fresh vegetables, sustainable fish and quality cuts of meat from M&S-approved farms. The preparation work has been done for you, so you can concentrate on the enjoyment of cooking and add an individual touch.
So what do you get?
Well you get some pork fillet sliced and a sachet of sauce, not enough sauce really, more would have been nice.
So you pan fry the pork and then remove from the pan and heat through the sauce.
I served mine with some fresh pasta and steamed vegetables.
It wasn’t that bad actually, quite good really.
Yes you could do this all yourself, however I didn’t have a huge amount of time, and nor did I have the ingredients for the sauce and that’s the real time and money saver with these.
Would I buy it again, yes I would.
You don’t always have to use expensive cuts of meat to make a wonderful meal, sometimes the cheapest cuts cooked really slowly can have fantastic flavour and texture.
Turn on your oven to its highest temperature.
I chopped some root vegetable, onion and carrot, added some mushrooms and potatoes and placed it in a roasting pan.
I placed the belly pork on the root vegetables and seasoned it. I then placed this in the really hot oven, turning the temperature right down to 160. I then left the pork to roast for about two hours. This may not seem long, but it wasn’t a huge piece of pork like a leg joint.
As it cooked I did add some wine and water now and again to the bottom of the roasting pan, so it didn’t dry out.
The result was a fantastic moist, tender wonderfully flavoured piece of pork. Which I sliced and served with vegetables.
Overall very tasty and a well received on the table.