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Help me with my pork roast

2K views 40 replies 19 participants last post by  teamfat 
#1 ·
I love roasting pork whether it is a pork butt or a standing rib roast and even tenderloins are great.  I have never had success with pork loin, last time I did it must have been 4-5 years ago.  So I'm ready!

My idea is to butterfly it and stuff it with spinach and mortadella.  Any tips and good videos on how to butterfly would be helpful since I've never tried it myself.  I know how to open it like a book but I'd rather have a spiral.

Temperature wise, what am I looking for internal, and does the stuffing affect this at all?

What to do about the spinach?  Use fresh raw baby spinach or frozen spinach?  Or do I have to cook the spinach first anyway?  Should I season the spinach with onion/garlic?

What kind of gravy/sauce do you think would go with this roast?
 
#2 ·
Hey K-Girl! Good to "see" you. This nice Jewish girl will try and answer at least part of your question.

From the sound of it you're going to cook a boneless pork loin. If you're bound and determined to stuff it, I guess you really have to. But if you want to give roasting one more try, there's still a chance. If you buy one on the bone and buy the end of the loin that has more of the dark meat (sorry, I don't know the butcher's term for that portion), ask the butcher to leave on a fat cap. Or, buy some fat and lard it on yourself. (I've even  used chopped fat mixed with herbs to do this with cheesecloth to hold it in place.) Put it on a rack and roast in the middle or lower middle of the oven no higher than 325F until the meat reads 155. Remove it from the oven, cover loosely and let it rest 15 minutes before cutting. The last one I did, and it was from a supermarket, came out tender and juicy.

If you want to stuff it I'm not your source. I only know how to either do the three-cut book thing or the hole-in-the-middle (stuffed with prunes, etc.) method.

I'll be eager to read the other responses. 

Mezz
 
#3 ·
Stuff with spinach, ricotta, goat cheese, a bit of bread crumbs, Mortadella sounds good, sundried tomatoes & roasted garlic will be good too.
Cook and season your spinach, squeeze all the water out.
Just lay your pork out on the board , make a slit from end to end about a 1/4-1/2" from the bottom, roll the loin as you work along the slit until you finish unrolling.
Stuff and tie, season with s& p, fresh rosemary.
 
#4 ·
@Mezzaluna , there are better cuts for roasting imo, I'm only doing the loin because I want to learn to butterfly it and stuff it /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

@chefbuba I'll pass on the creamy cheeses but maybe something that would compliment the mortadella like fontina or provolone? That would be nice. What's the purpose of the bread crumb, won't that soak up juices and make the loin dry? That's what I'm picturing anyway.

What kind of knife should I use for this?
 
#5 ·
A good chefs knife works well, a slicer can work but harder to control. Do not overcook pork loin. 145 internal then let it rest. Best to use a smaller roast under 10 inches for your first try at butterflying. As mentioned lay it on your board in whatever direction is comfortable for you to work and start about 3/4 inch up off the board making a cut lengthwise about an inch or two into the roast. Roll it away from your blade as you work into it, don't worry if the inside looks a little ragged because nobody will see it!
 
#6 ·
I use my trusty old ( 35 - 40 years? ) Chicago Cutlery boning knife:


And as Chefbuba said, I lay the roast on my board, fat cap down. Cut down to about 1/4 inch, then work the knife 90 degrees and start slicing and rolling. There's probably a video somewhere showing how to do it. I thought I had saved some pictures of the last one, can't find them at the moment. Once you have both halves of the roast sliced, you may want to pound out some of the lumpy spots. If you don't have any lumpy spots, you are a better person than I.

Spread out the filling, roll up and tie, roast. Depending on the filling you probably want it cooked before stuffing it into the pork. Raw stuff may not get cooked enough without turning the pork into leather.

mjb.
 
#9 ·
Choose a stuffing that is DONE at 145 so you don't overcook the loin. I recommend brining the loin and somewhat undersalting the stuffing. The salty juices will bring the stuffing up to the proper salt level.

When I do a pork loin, I've taken to injecting it and roasting. Faster than brining, more flavors to work with and you get deep penetration of the flavors.

If you want to do the spiral thing, my recommendation is to practice with something you can braise. Braciole, Rouladen Chicken thighs
 
#10 ·
One of my typical stuffings is minced mushrooms, bell pepper, shallots and something like bacon bits or bratwurst crumbles.

And a favorite gravy is made from the pan drippings added to some roux, a bit of broth and a few crushed ginger snap cookies for flavor and thickening.

mjb.
 
#11 ·
This one looks good, @Koukouvagia

My mom made this for a dinner party and it was a HUGE hit! Butterflying may not look very elegant with all those slash marks, but in the end it will look amazing, and is a bit easier than the pro method. Other than that - as always - the recipe sound great. I'm looking forward to the weekend to try it. Wrapping that lean meat in a lovely sheath of caul fat. Brilliant. I would guess that would also improve a pork tenderloin as well.
 
#16 · (Edited)
I like to roll-cut the loin into a semi-rectangular shape and put a light layer of seasonings on the inside..

I then lay a layer of several slices of Meunster or Gouda, carmelized white onion, red pepper, and monterey mushrooms, and some wilted, seasoned kale or spinach.

Roll it up, wiping away the stuffing that falls out, and tie. Wipe again. Season the outside with your choice of seasonings. Lawry's is not out of the question.

You can brown on all four sides in a saute pan for a deeper color and flavor.

375F convection for an hour.

Remove and rest, under foil tent, for 15 minutes.

Slice.

Revel in the expressions on the faces of your guests.
 
#20 ·
So far so good. The butterflying didn't take long and it wasn't hard. It is a small roast, under 3lbs and it's tapered so that's why it didn't come out to a perfect square when rolled out. Stuffed with mortadella and spinach (olive oil, salt, pepper, parmesan)


Me in my frumpy housewife mode, rolling it into the caulfat, then the roast will be placed on a bed of onions and herbs (and garlic of course)


 
#23 ·
It's done. I'm quite proud of it and I'm already scheming up ideas to do it again. Next time I'm going to butterfly it and stuff it with a thin layer of compound butter.




There were some complications though. The caulfat was from lamb, perhaps not the best choice for pork, it gave it a bit of a heavy flavor. I left it at 450 for nearly a half hour and the caulfat wouldn't brown and then it didn't cook long enough for the fat to cook as much as I wanted it to. Through all this I overcooked the pork a little up to 150 trying to get the caul fat to brown more. But it was still very tender. The jus was not useable, it was pure fat so next time if I use the caul fat or even if I don't I will have to add stock and make real gravy or jus.

The potatoes were perfect on the other hand, inspired by another thread here about roasties and so I tried the Jamie Oliver method and they came out perfect. My oven doesn't seem to do a great job of browning enough though.
 
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#26 ·
Looks good enuf to eat lol.
A compound butter sounds seductive what herbs will you use?
About your potatos... I made some last nite as well and had the same problem.
Got frustrated and did this : browned half with the broiler and the other half got smashed ( think potato crowns) and browned in a hot cast iron skillet.
The skillet won out.... the potatos were perfectly buttery/browned/crunchy.
Will try the dusting of flour next time and see what happens.

mimi
 
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