Bavarian-Californian Fusion Cuisine

Congratulations on our 100th post! (Not this one, the last one.) Woooo~ okay.

I consider pork to be the most mysterious of all the meats. An extremely reputable online encyclopedia has this to say:

Meat refers to animal tissue, especially that which is consumed as food. There are various kinds of meat, ranging from white meat such as (chicken or turkey) to red meat (such as beef). Some meats, such as ham and pork (both being meats of the pig) resist such strict classification.

As you can see, even creation scientists are baffled when it comes to pork. So far, pork is the most difficult meat I’ve tackled in the kitchen… Every now and then I get an urge to make something with lobster (like bisque! :q), but those recipes always begin with “dispatch the scuttling space monster by stabbing it in the brain stem, or by boiling it alive, you genocidal monster.” Yeesh!

The Pork Problem is probably well-known to all, but let me summarize: Pork sold in America has fairly low fat content, probably due to some arbitrary decree by the FDA. This means that it would be best not too cook it too much (as it dries out quickly on the stove), but! pork has also been known for centuries to harbor foodborne diseases (though less so today), so people are very wary of undercooked pork. Thus, if you want a nice juicy pork tenderloin without the whole “parasite” side effect, you really have to “cook it twice”: brown it in a pan, and then stick that pan in the oven for a while (until it has reached the federally mandated internal temperature of 150˚F).

Anyway, here is a unorthodox interpretation of a delicious pork-based meal I had while over in Germany, modified to fit the stuff in our CSA box this week + also a recipe from Gourmet that sounded yummy.

Curry-rubbed pork tenderloin with tomato-peach compôte (adapted from Gourmet 07/2009)

• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp ginger, minced
• 1 tsp curry powder
• salt and pepper
• 2 3/4 lb pork tenderloins
• olive oil for browning
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3/4 lb tomatoes, chopped into 1 inch pieces
• 1 peach, pitted and chopped (I did into eights and then those into quarters)
• 3 tsp dried thyme leaves
• 1/2 tsp brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 425˚F. Smash the garlic, ginger, and curry powder into a paste using your favorite paste-making method. The Gourmet-recommended method is using a mortar and pestle, but we have neither mortar nor pestle, so instead we used the flat part of our Ikea meat tenderizing mallet and pressed down really hard with our huge manly muscles. *flex* Anyway, once you make the paste, rub your tenderloin (lol) down with salt and pepper, and then rub it with the seasoning paste. Delish! Brown the two tenderloins in an oven-safe* pan for 5 minutes on one side, then flip over and thrust into the middle of the oven, cooking for 10-15 minutes**, or until it is done all the way through, or a meat thermometer registers something between 145 and 150˚F when inserted into the thickest part of the meat. (Hehe… meat.)

Alright! Remove the pan from the oven (the handle will be hot… I touched it with my hands because I am dumb it was not fun guys). Place the pork on a cutting board and let rest while you make the compôte. With the hot oven-pan on the range (all its pork juices intact), heat it to medium-high, then add the chopped onion and cook for 5 minutes, or until the onions are translucent and soft. Add the chopped tomato and peach, and cook until soft, 3 to 4 minutes about, depending on the kind of peach. Slice the pork against the grain, serve with compôte and also the pork-fruit-juice stuff that runs off.

* If you don’t know if your pan is oven-safe, here’s a good tip: Any pan made entirely out of metal automatically is (and up to 500˚F if it’s got Teflon). If it has plastic, it’s eitiher labeled or you shouldn’t try.

** Ours took about 30 minutes, but we had doubled the recipe. I’m still not really sure this makes any sense.

The next item on the menu is something my mother makes every Christmas. She makes it from a pre-packaged mix, though, so I thought I’d try to make it from scratch. It was pretty hard and it didn’t come out quite right the first time (still not sure why that is). Anyway… maybe you will have more luck?

Kartoffelklösse (German potato dumplings)

• 6 medium potatoes
• 1/2 c flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs

Boil the potatoes until they are cooked through but still relatively firm, I’d say 15-20 minutes, then rinse them in cold water, dry them, and refrigerate them for at least two hours. Then grate them with the fine mesh of a cheese grater into a large mixing bowl. Add the flour, the salt, and the eggs, and stir it all up until it forms a pliable dough. If it’s too sticky, add some flour, and if it isn’t sticky enough, maybe add half an egg? it’s hard to say.

If you can form it into fairly solid 1-inch diameter balls, then it should be done. Do so, and then throw in “gently boiling” water for at least 5-7 minutes, or until they float to the top. Then remove and set aside.

And finally, something with vinegar to set the other flavors off. If you don’t know what caraway seeds are, they are what makes rye bread taste funny. They are not for everyone, and they are potent little f-ers, so “to taste” is key.

Summer squash “sauerkraut”

• 2 large summer squash, sliced into long, thin strips, then crosswise diagonally into 2-3 inch length slices (whatever!)
• 1/2 c white wine vinegar
• 1/4 c apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp salt (plus more to taste)
• 1-2 tsp caraway seeds, to taste

Just toss the ingredients together, adjust salt and caraway to your taste, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Serve cold.

And this is what it all looks like when it’s done:

I actually thought it came out very well, though the dumplings were less spherical and tasty than I had anticipated (do a google image search for “german potato dumplings” to see what I mean). The pork was juicy, and I actually really liked the squash stuff. I think it might be “what I do with summer squash from now on”… since I always kind of struggle with them. =)