[midwestmom]

My son's graduation is this next weekend.  I am having someone make the meat to save time, mess and stress!  She brought over a sample of the meat (Pork Loin End Roasts) and I don't like it!  There is little seasoning (I've asked her to add more), the meat is both white and dark meat?? and I'm afraid I won't want to serve this to my guests.    My questions are:

1)  Pork Loin End Roasts are acceptable, yes? My butcher said they'd be great.  I also purchased pork shoulder after the fact as I didn't think 65 pounds of Pork Loin was enough. 

2)  This is not BBQ meat; just want a good seasoned meat that people can add BBQ sauce, Horseradish or yes, even Ketchup too, if they want.  What are some "last minute' seasonings I can add if need be?

Any input/advice is much appreciated.  I usually do all of my own cooking and turning this over to someone else is driving me nuts, sort of!

 

[koukouvagia]

Wow what a dilemma!  I too have a hard time asking for help on the food front, exactly for this reason.  Unfortunately imo pork loin does not make for very good bbq.  Can you back out of your friend helping and tell her/him that you've decided to do it yourself instead?  

You need pork shoulder (also called pork butts) for this sort of thing.  I'm imagining you like pulled pork right?  I don't even know if loin can be pulled.  Ask your friend if she can lend her oven to you, that way she's still "helping" but you've got the flavors covered.  You'll need to rub those shoulders with the spice mixture of your liking and then cover with foil in a deep roasting pan and put it in the oven over night at 225, or even 200.  Put it in before you go to sleep and by morning it will be ready to be pulled after a good resting period.  In the meantime have your sauce ready and then once you pull it toss it with the sauce.  For a big party this really don't get any easier, it cooks while you sleep.  The biggest job will be the pulling itself and you can certainly ask for help there.  

If you make a good sauce to toss it in you won't need additional bbq sauce, perhaps just some store bought sauce as a topping and some tobasco sauce too.  The only question is, what kind of bbq are you looking for?  Red based or vinegar/mustard based?  There's lots of recipes for both.

 

[brianshaw]

In addition to KKs good advise, you can cook and pull shoulders ahead of time. Sauce and reheat on day of event.

 

[midwestmom]

Yes, pork loin will "pull" ok.  Usually, I prefer Pork Butt/Shoulder but my meat locker had a truckload sale and got the meat for $1.70/lb.  I made a small roast myself with it and it turned out great.  I'm either going to have to insist that she (who is a caterer that I'm paying and not so much a close friend, by the way) use more seasonings or ask that I get the meat back and do it myself.  Would it be any more insulting if I gave her the spice mix that I use and my family likes?  The sauce that we like is vinegar based. I also like to add onion, a little garlic and a bay leaf, along with the usual S/P mix while roasting the meat.  I should've known that I'd have "issues."    I work full time and just thought paying the extra $ would alleviate some stress this week.  Not so much.  What do you think about adding anything "last minute" to help it out if need be? 

 

[midwestmom]

I think you're right.  I'll schedule the day off at work and do these myself.

 

[kuan]

You don't even have to schedule a day off.  Just do it in a big roaster and then spread it all out on sheets to cool.  Put it in gallon bags with sauce and freeze.  Reheat it in the same roaster when the day comes.

 

[koukouvagia]

You're paying this person to do some work for you.  You are entitled to use your own recipe if that's what you want.  You need her help, you have no obligation to showcase her recipes.  Just explain to her that time is an issue but that your friends and family are really looking forward to your bbq.  I don't know how caterers would feel about this but this is not a restaurant situation, this is a service and unless she doesn't want to then there shouldn't be a problem with using your flavor profiles.  

The only thing I can think of to add to it "last minute" is to make your own vinegar based sauce for it.  As long as the caterer cooks it right and you put your sauce on it then you'll be good.  Just make sure you have good toppings and then forget about it, you can't control everything.

This is a problem I often have with my mil.  She makes spinach pies for one of my annual parties.  They taste pretty good but she has a very heavy hand with these delicate phyllo wrapped pastries.  Her habit is to manipulate them too much with her hands after they're cooked and you can't do that because cooked phyllo dough is very fragile.  She takes all of them and piles them high on the platter carefully squishing each pie one by one.  The result is truly a mess lol, aesthetically they're unappealing but what the heck, I don't have time to make them myself, they taste fine, people eat them and she goes around making sure she gets the credit for them anyway so I don't mind, c'est la vie. I just make sure that when I make my own pies they are beautifully wrapped with no cracks and tears and arranged so that they don't pile up and destroy each other

 

[midwestmom]

Thanks for all of your input!  I am going to meet with the caterer early tomorrow and give her my recipe.  Yes, I probably could've planned this differently so that I could've made the whole menu but like I mentioned, working full-time while making other menu items and desserts are going to occupy my free nights this week.  Throw in Baccalaureate, Sr. Awards Night, and two golf meets and I'll be lucky to show up for the event myself! 

Am making my sauces today, will do a sweet garlic, mustard dip for the vegetable platter tomorrow along with my grocery run and should be prepared to complete the rest in a timely manner.  And you're right, I need to remember that I'm not the General Manager of the Universe!  Life will go on if I have to jazz up the pork!! 

And don't even get me started with MIL's!   I prepared Thanksgiving dinner and when my MIL asked what she could bring, I said, "How about a side dish? Maybe a vegetable?"  She brought Tuna Noodle Casserole!    And.....life did go on! 

I'm going to love this group!

 

[koukouvagia]

Hmmm, nothing says Thanksgiving like.... tuna casserole haha!

 

[maryb]

If a caterer refuse to satisfy a customer they will not be in business long! I catered BBQ for 7 years(until my back gave out) and often used a customers recipe and seasoning preferences. It is their party not mine! I have to satisfy them and not my ego! More than once I was asked to do pork loin and it CAN be done. Low heat smoke for a few hours, when it reaches 145 I foiled and added liquid and back onto the pit. it will pull but not like a shoulder. It is not as moist as a shoulder but was okay with sauce. I have made their bean recipe, slaw recipe(hey I even added one of their slaw recipes to my folder), potato salad recipes... People want the same food they are used to eating!

 

[midwestmom]

Exactly, MaryB!  My son sampled the first roast she made and he even commented that it wasn't what he was hoping for.  She told us that she didn't think we should go too spicy(we didn't ask for spicy, just seasoned)  because old people can't handle it.  My son said,  Hey - I'm 18 and it's for me!    I'm sure it will all work out fine.  I too, like pork shoulder better but have had good luck with pork loin as well.  To my knowledge, pork loin end roasts do NOT have dark meat.  Is that correct?  If so, I think she used a different roast than the ones I provided her with? 

I have my sauces made but am contemplating making a Maple Bourbon Sauce as well.  I also have frozen broth from roasts that I've done over the last couple months that I could add for both moisture and flavor.

Thanks for the "go ahead" to voice concerns with our caterer.  I'm NOT a confrontational person!! But like you said, we want something that's familiar.

 

[maryb]

Depending on how it is cut one end of the loin ends at the shoulder so it could contain some of the darker meat. But I have never seen that cut here. Not in the mass produced cryovacced loins you see in the store anyway. Could maybe get it from a butcher.

 

[joannanyc]

Perhaps she used a smoker and that is why the meat had both dark and light?

 

[flipflopgirl]

Perhaps she used a smoker and that is why the meat had both dark and light?

Pork like poultry has both dark as well as light meat colors.

Depending on how it is cut one end of the loin ends at the shoulder so it could contain some of the darker meat. But I have never seen that cut here. Not in the mass produced cryovacced loins you see in the store anyway. Could maybe get it from a butcher.

MaryB was just taking a dig at assembly line butchering vs at home or professional butcher shops.

mimi

IMO the darker parts have more flavor as well as a moister texture.

I s'pose if it offends it could be trimmed out.

Otherwise just mix it in with the rest.

mimi

 

[maryb]

One end of the loin is up against the shoulder so it can have the darker shoulder meat.