Coffee Brined Pork Loin Chops

What?  Coffee in a brine.  Absolutely.  It brings smokey bitter notes to a naturally sweet meat like pork.  Grill it over sweet mesquite and omg...its terrific.

The coffee you use will make a difference. I prefer bold roasts for the rounded bitterness.  A medium roast will work in a pinch.  Skip right over the light "breakfast blend" roasts as they are too light to work well with this brine.

Costco sells pork loins, whole strips about 2-3 feet long on the cheap.  This lack of butchering on their part is a bonus for me in that I can cut it into thick loin chops or modest sides loin roasts.  All at a fraction of the cost the local groc charges.  Wrap it up in good freezer paper and its good to go for a couple of months before use.

I use the Thai red chili in this.  I like the heat and flavor.  If you can find it your groc is challenged and you need to tell them to get on the ball and stock them.  If that doesn't work you can substitute a red jalapeno pepper.

Coffee Brined Pork Loin Chops

• 4 large 1 1/2" thick pork loin chops
• 1 1/2 c water
• 1 heaping T coffee
• 1" piece of ginger sliced
• 4-5 cloves garlic - smashed
• 2 Thai red chili - sliced horizontally
• 1 T dried thyme 
• 1 t kosher salt

In sauce pot add ginger and coffee grounds.  Bring to a boil.  Then remove from heat and cover, let steep for 5-10 minutes.  Strain the mixture tossing coffee grounds but reserving the ginger slices.  Add smashed garlic, sliced Thai chili , salt and thyme.  Put the pork loin chops into a large food storage bag, pour in coffee mixture with the veggies and herbs.  Seal bag, place in a large bowl to catch potential leaks, and refrigerate for 6-8 hours.

1 hour prior to grilling pull the pork loin chops from the fridge and allow it to sit on counter to come to room temperature.  This ensures even cooking.  Remove chops from bag, pat dry with towel and grill 5-6 minutes per side until cooked through. (FDA recommends 165f, I' go with 150 so its still juicy but no longer pink).

Pork Potstickers - with a Thai bent

This is such an easy recipe.  Rather than try to mince so much of it by hand...run it all through a meat grinder with the fine grind disk and you are done pronto.  Either the grinder that attaches to your stand mixer or a hand operated works fine.  It yields the perfect texture.

Not quite sure where this Thai bent has come from...but I do like the Thai flavors as they have a pretty awesome blend of sweet-savory-hot-acid going that just dances in your mouth.  A happy dance if you will.

This recipe is also an example of how to repurpose a left over rather than just reheat as is the next day.  For this I used the Thai Pork Roast from the other day, but you can use any other chunk of left over cooked pork roast just as easily.

Of course I cheat...am a better flavor maker than a dough maker.  I pick up a package of potsticker wrappers already made at the local Asian market.  Voila for a buck forty nine I'm in business and no aggravated swearing as I can't get the dough right.

The last tip I offer up is that I use a non-stick skillet.  Makes it easier to release the dumplings when they are seared on one side without tearing them up in the process of flipping to brown the other side.  A good, heavy non-stick skillet with a lid can be had for under $50 and worth the investment.

Pork Potstickers

• 1 lb left over cooked pork roast
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1" finger of ginger
• 1/2 c loose packed cilantro leaves and stems
• 2 green onions thinly sliced
• 1 T lemongrass puree
• 1 T fish sauce
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1 T sesame oil

Assemble meat grinder according to your manufacturers instructions.  Cut pork into chunks that will fit into the feed tube.  Place ginger, garlic and cilantro into feed tube and top with some of the pork.  Grind through fine disc.  Repeat with remainging pork until it is all ground.

Mix together lemongrass puree, fish and soy sauce with the sesame oil.  Pour over the ground meat mixture.  Add thinkly sliced green onions.  Toss with fork until all ingredients well blended.

In palm of hand place 1 potsticker wrapper.  Weet edges with water.  Place scant tablepoon of filling into center of wrapper.  Fold edges over and  press to seal the edges.  Place on tray and cover with plastic wrap so they don't dry out while assembling the rest of them.  (This makes about 4 dozen pot stickers).

In non-stick skillet over medium heat spray with cooking oil.  Arrange potstickers in pan so edges don't touch.  Add 1/3 c water and cover.  Steam 5-7 minutes until water just about evaporated.  Remove cover, drizzle with 1-2 teaspoons sesame oil and turn the potstickers over and brown on other side.  Repeat until all pot stickers are cooked.

Potsticker wrapper with edges wet ready for filling

filling placed in wrapper ready to fold and seal edges

Assembled potstickers waiting cooking

Potstickers steamed and one side seared ready to turn over

Add bonus...pays to scroll to the end.  Half the fun of potstickers is dipping them in a flavorful dipping sauce.  Here's my go to recipe for potstickers...doesn't matter what kind, its still uber delicious.

Dipping Sauce

• 1/2 C orange marmalade
• 1/2 c reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1  clove garlic
• 1/2" finger of ginger
• 1 t red pepper flakes

Place marmalade and soy sauce in small sauce pan over low heat.  Using a microplane grate in the ginger and garlic.  Add pepper flakes.  Stir until marmalade melts and its all combined. Cool to room temp.  Store leftovers in fridge for up to a week.

Asian Spiced Pork Tenderloin

I am a fan of spicy food.  Living in the San Gabriel Valley of L.A. I am exposed to a lot of great Asian restaurants and more than a few dishes are uber spicy.

Yesterday I opted to go Asian flavors with the Pork Tenderloin and the results were pretty awesome if you like heat in your Asian food.  Garlic/Ginger/Soy round out the flavor profile.  Of course I cheated a bit and used "Chinese Chicken Salad" dressing for the base and got the heat from what we call "Korean Ketchup"...Sriracha. (Yes, I know its Thai in origin but Korean Ketchup as that whole alliteration thingy going for it).

Asian Spiced Pork Tenderloin

• 2lbs pork tenderloin
• 1/2 c Chinese chicken salad dressing
• 2 T Sriracha Sauce
• 1 T minced garlic
• 1 T grated ginger
• 3T soy sauce

Combine salad dressing, Sriracha, garlic, ginger and soy sauce.  In large leak proof zip-lock bag add the pork and then the marinade.  Allow to sit in refrigerator for 3 hours.  Rotate the bag occasionally to ensure even distribution of the marinade.


Heat oven to 350F.  Put pork in roasting pan and roast about 35-45 minutes until it is 170F on an instant read thermometer.  Reserve marinade.


Take the reserved marinade, should measure about 1 cup.  Put in small sauce pan and simmer over medium heat until reduced about 1/2.  Use the resulting sauce to pour over the sliced tenderloin when serving.

Drunken Pulled Pork Sandwiches

I got the idea for this one from, you guessed, a few different sources. One was some new cooking show on FoodTV and the other from the Top Chef series. Pulled Pork was a big deal back in MO growing up and the appearance of it on TV made me suddenly crave the stuff. So when the boys said it looked good and wanted me to make them some I was all over that project.

The key is a long braise to make a cheap cut of meat fork tender to pull apart. The pork barely cost me 8 bucks and I only used about half of it for the 4 of us for dinner tonight. A pretty frugal meal too it turns out.

Drunken Pulled Pork

• 3.5 lbs pork shoulder
• 1 T smoked paprika
• Salt and pepper
• evoo
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 large carrot sliced
• 1/2 c chopped celery
• 2 T dry BBQ Rub
• 1/4 c Worcestershire
• 1 bottle beer
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 can beef broth

Cut pork shoulder into 3 inch cubes. Season well with salt and pepper. Coat well with smoked paprika. Brown over medium high heat until all sides have a good sear. Remove from pan and reserve.

Add onion, carrot and celery. Cook until onion becomes translucent and begins to brown. Add BBQ Rub and stir well. Add liquids. Return meat to the pan, include any drippings that accumulated while resting. Bring to boil then cover.

Simmer in 325F oven for 2 hours or until fork tender. When done remove pieces of pork from the braising liquid and shred with a fork for making sandwiches or eating as is.

The difference between braising and stewing is pretty nominal. A braise doesn't have the meat covered completely, rather it goes up about 3/4 to the top of your meat. In this case you add enough of the beef broth to get yourself to the right depth without submerging the meat!

Roasted Loin of Pork

Thank gawd for Costco and their mass quantities of stuff.  I don't know which is worse, keeping the kitchen stocked or finding something everyone wants to eat.  At least at Costco I can get the quantities cheap enough to keep them fed so half my daily battle is under control.  Finding things they will all eat is enough to send me to a corner and just babble away to myself.  Pass the meds?

If you've followed me here long enough you will get the idea that I'm not afraid to try something new.  The better half decided she wanted loin of pork and dropped more than a few hints.  The pre-marinated stuff at the store is way to expensive for feeding a family.  The other down side is the stuff is waaaayyyy over salted.  Which is fine if you are a camel and don't mind hauling an extra gallon of water around.  Costco came to my rescue this week with nice loin of pork at $2.01/lb...damn close to FREE!

Ah, but what to do with it.  I waded through Ina, Julia, Dean & Doluca even Mags and thing just didn't jell with a single recipe.  I did notice the common herbage and spice in the search included apple cider/juice instead of lemon in a lot of the recipes.  The wheels got to turning and I remembered the Thanksgiving Turkey we did this year had an interesting marinade from Ina that I figured could be adapted to fit a loin of pork.  

I sometimes scare myself on how often something tasty comes out of the oven first crack.  Of course good tools like a mini-food processor is perfect for whizzing up little bits of stuff better than the regular size processor or a blender.  Programmable convection ovens help too as it does such a good job of even browning and the probe shuts down at the right temp so over cooking is pretty hard to do. 

Roasted Loin of Pork

3 - 3 1/2 lb Pork Loin

• 1/4c butter
  
• 1/4c extra virgin olive oil
  
• 2 T dijon style mustard
• 1 T chopped garlic
  
• 2 t salt (I used sea salt)
  
• 2 T fresh sage (1T dried)
  
• 2 T parsley (1 T dried)
  
• 1 t fennel seed
  
• 1 t thyme
  
• 1/2 t rosemary
  
• 1/2 t cracked black pepper
  
• 1 cup apple juice or cider.
  

Score the fat on the pork loin with each score about 1/2 - 3/4" inch apart making a grid pattern.  Set aside.

Combine butter, olive oil, mustard, spice, herbs salt and pepper in a mini-prep.  Whiz until herbs are finely chopped but not pureed.  Reserve 3T of the mixture in sealed jar.  Rub remainder on roast and marinade in zip seal freezer bag and squeeze marinade evenly around the roast.  Allow to rest at least 2 hours in the fridge.  

About 30 minutes prior to roasting bring the bagged loin out and let it rest on counter to warm up closer to room temperature.  At end of rest place in roaster, fat side up.  Spread 1/2 of the reserved marinade on top of the loin.  Add apple juice to pan.

Roast in 325 oven 1 3/4-2 hours until 170F.  Half way through roasting slather the remaining marinade on top of the roast.  Monitor the liquid around the roast, add additional water to keep it from burning and drying out.  When the loin is at 170 remove from oven and tent with aluminum foil for 10 minutes.   

The mini-prep from braun is a life saver for these little projects.  Perfect for small quantities and and easy clean up.  The heavy duty freezer zip-lock bags work best for marinades.

All set and ready to roast.  Monitor the juice and add water when it starts to get too dry otherwise you run the risk of it caramelizing to the point of being an ash.  Not pretty nor is it tasty.