Adobo seco - Dry marinade, a Pinedo recipe

I had a boneless pork loin just asking for a Pinedo recipe.  I liked the challenge of this one, on page 4, which was "cook enough red chiles."  Hmmm.  How much was enough?  For my redaction, I needed to balance the heat of the chiles (not too many!) with the flavor of the chiles (not too few!).  I have a bag of costeño chiles, which I was cautioned to be careful with because I am not as experienced a chile-eater as the person who gave it to me.  I'm getting better, but I heed the caution.

Her Recipe

My Translation

My Redaction

3 pounds, 14 ounces boneless pork loin

0.8 ounces costeño chiles (dry)

1 pound tomatoes

1 tablespoon garlic

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

3 tablespoons olive oil for frying

And the olive oil.

Remove the stems, seeds, and cores of the chiles.  Cover them with boiling water and let them soak for 10 minutes to soften them.

Core and coarsely chop the tomatoes.  Grind them in a large mortar (or pulse them in the blender) until the mixture is wet and not as chunky as they were after they were chopped.

Grind the cumin seeds.

Drain the chiles.  Grind them with the tomatoes.  

Add the garlic and cumin.  Grind them more.

Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven.  Add the chile/tomato mixture and the vinegar.  Mix well and bring to a boil.  Add the meat and turn it over to get the sauce on both sides.  Then ladle sauce over the top of the meat.  

Bring the sauce back to a boil.  Turn the heat down so the sauce is simmering.  Leave the Dutch oven uncovered.

Cook the meat for about 2 hours, turning over occasionally and spooning sauce over the top.  This is how long it took for the sauce to reduce to very thick.  Adjust the heat as needed to maintain the simmer.  Turning over the meat will slow the simmer for a short time.

When done, turn off the heat and let the meat rest in the sauce for a while.

Serve slices with the sauce spooned over the top.

Chiles soaking

Coarsely chopped tomatoes

Grinding in my mortar.

Sauce in the pan and the pork loin on top.

Spoon that sauce on top!

All done.  Notice how little liquid is left in the pan.

My Notes

I used my large (ish) mortar to grind everything.  I ground half the tomatoes and put the result in a big bowl.  Then I ground the other half with the chiles.  After that was done, I added the garlic and ground it some more.  Then I repeated that with the ground cumin seeds.  Then it all went into the bowl and I mixed them together.  If I were to do this again, I would use my blender and make it more of a puree.

Since I didn't know how long it would take to cook the meat, I turned it every 20 minutes, spooning sauce over the top each time.  I think 30 minutes is better.  Since the Dutch oven is uncovered, the top of the meat seemed to be colder than the rest, so it stopped the simmer when I turned the loin.  I adjusted the heat to bring it back to a simmer.  

The sauce started getting thick but it appeared the meat juices and fat made it runny again.  Then it got thick again with more cooking.  Be careful not to scorch the sauce.  Turning the meat helped keep the bottom of it from being scorched, too.

After two hours, the internal temperature read about 150 degrees F.  

The Verdict

I was hoping that the meat wasn't overcooked, i.e., dry.  It was very mildly pink in the middle and appeared moist.

I served it as a simple dinner with green beans and wine.  

Put a little sauce over the top.

My concern was that the tomato skins and/or the chile skins would be tough and noticeable if they were bigger than what a blender would make.  That is what I was looking for when I tasted it.  I really wanted to know what my guest tasters thought of the chiles' heat levels.

One guest taster, the one who is not really into spicy foods, thought the chile heat level was just right.  He enjoyed the flavor of the sauce and thought it was good with the meat.

The other guest taster, who loves spicy food and strong flavors, thought it was not chile-hot enough and that the sauce was "sweet" from the tomatoes.  He did not really detect the costeño's much at all; he wondered if it had any chiles in it.  He also did not think the sauce had much flavor.  He compared it to some rosemary-flavored crackers which he thought did have a flavor punch and said those had flavor but the sauce did not.  Does that make sense?  

As for me, I liked the flavor, although I would agree that it was not strongly flavored.  I thought the sauce was important to moisten the meat and keep it from being "just a slice of pork loin."  So if I were to do this again, I would bump up the amount of chiles (if my first guest taster were not involved) and definitely bump up the garlic and cumin content.  Even my first guest taster would like more garlic and cumin.

One guest taster noted that the skins from the chiles and tomatoes were annoying to eat.  I agree, that was my worry, and though I didn't experience that with this dish, I have previously.  So definitely use a blender to make the sauce.  Perhaps using a mano and metate would have broken up the skins better than a mortar and pestle.  I don't know.  

Also, everyone agreed that the meat was cooked to perfection.  It was cooked enough but not dry.  I think the slow cooking and the regular turning helped that along.

The green beans with a variation on a Pinedo pipian sauce were a good accompaniment!  You can see that recipe here:  Ejotes en pipian.  I used red wine as the liquid and cinnamon and cloves as the spices.  

Success!

Albóndigas de frailes - Friar's Meatballs, a Pinedo recipe

I had two bone-in, large porkchops that needed to be cooked, and this Pinedo recipe looked very inviting.  I've had success with her meatball recipes before, so I felt confident that I could tackle this one.  I didn't make a large quantity, but I can see how this recipe would extend to do that.

Her Recipe

My Translation

My Redaction

1 pound pork, weighed after bones and gristle are removed
4 ounces onion
1 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme and some more
1/2 Tablespoon fresh mint and some more
1/2 Tablespoon fresh Italian oregano and some more
1 Tablespoon fresh parsley and some more
3/4 cup dried breadcrumbs
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons butter, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 cup flour

Fresh herbs!

Note that the herbs measurements are approximate, just to give a target for your cooking.

Start heating a large saucepan with water that is at least three inches deep.

Coarsely chop the onion, garlic, and herbs.

Grind the pork, onions, garlic, and herbs once through a meat grinder.  Then mix in the breadcrumbs and grind the whole mix again.

Add one beaten egg and mix well.  Melt one tablespoon of butter and mix it well into the meat mixture.

Form meatballs about two inches in diameter.  If the mixture is not sticking together well, consider adding more breadcrumbs if too wet or more liquid (an egg or butter or water) if too dry.

Put the meatballs, however many that can fit comfortably in the pan without being crowded, into the boiling water.  You will probably have to cook them in several batches.  Turn the heat down to a gentle simmer.  Gently stir them a few times while cooking.  After 10 to 12 minutes, remove the first batch with a slotted spoon; place in serving bowl.  Cook the next batch.  Keep cooking until all the meatballs are done.

While the meatballs are cooking, put flour, one egg yolk, and 1/2 cup cold water into a bowl and stir well.  If the bowl has a lid, shake it, too, to mix it.  

Once the meatballs are done, take 1 cup of broth that the meatballs were cooked in and put it in a small saucepan.  Bring it to a boil.  Turn the heat down to medium, then, while whisking the broth briskly, start pouring in the water/flour/yolk mixture.  Keep the broth moving!  

The broth mixture should simmer now.  Add 1 tablespoon butter and a tablespoon or so of finely chopped herbs (a mixture).  Simmer for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, until the broth thickens.  Add salt to taste.  

To serve, pour some of the thickened broth over the top of the meatballs.  Put the rest of the broth into a pitcher and place on the table.

The first grind with the breadcrumbs sprinkled on top.

Breadcrumbs mixed in.  Ready for the second grind.

Second grind with butter and egg mixed in.

Meatballs achieved!

A gentle simmer, so they don't break apart.

About that much mixed, chopped herbs for the sauce.

Simmering the sauce to get it thick.  

Cooked meatballs.

Meatballs with sauce.

My Notes

I have a grinding attachment for my mixer, so this is convenient for me.  I suppose you could start with ground pork, finely chop the onions and garlic by hand or using a food processor, then mix in the rest.  The point is to have the meat so fine that everything sticks together well after being mixed.

The eleven meatballs I got were cooked in two batches (of five and of six).  I wasn't sure how long to cook them, especially because they first sank then rose to the surface after about four minutes.  But I checked their interior temperature with an instant read thermometer, and they were still pretty cold.  So I kept simmering them until the interior temp was about 160 degrees F, which took 10 to 12 minutes.  I think it would be hard to overcook them.

The amount of water I used to cook the meatballs was a lot, and I realized that I didn't want that much sauce for the meatballs and that the flavor would probably be weak if I used it all.  So I decided to use one cup of the broth.  That still made about 1 1/2 cups of sauce, which was a lot.  

My goal for the sauce was to make it thick and have an herbal taste.  Pinedo did not call for salt but I felt it needed it, so I mixed in 1/2 teaspoon and that was just right.

The Verdict

We wanted a light dinner so our meatballs and sauce went into our bowls along with some whipped sweet potatoes mixed with cardamom, mace, and a splash of cream.  And wine!  Don't forget the wine!

I was pleased to see that the meatballs were fully cooked into the middle.  They also stayed firm enough to hold their shape, even when being removed from the serving bowl into our eating bowls.

The amount of sauce on them for serving looked nice, but my guest taster and I both wanted more sauce while we were eating the meatballs.  We poured in small amounts from the pitcher of sauce as we ate.

The meatballs themselves were very tender, almost delicate.  They had a soft pork flavor enhanced by the herbs, onion, and garlic.  No one flavor was dominant.  I thought I could taste the herbs more than anything else and my guest taster thought the onion was stronger than the rest.  

The sauce was thick enough to stick to the meatballs (hooray!).  It had a stronger herbal flavor than the meatballs, which I wanted because I thought it should emphasize the herbal aspect of the meatballs.  Fortunately, it wasn't too strong.  I thought the balance was just right.

So, success!  Whew!  We had four meatballs each, so there were some leftover as well as sauce.  I think they would make a good evening snack when a full dinner wasn't wanted.

Cormary - Roast Loin of Pork with Red Wine

I decided to use one of those pork loins I bought on an incredible sale.  I wanted something medieval and different to serve to company (who know that I experiment with cooking on them!).

I found an intriguing recipe in The Medieval Kitchen:  Recipes from France and Italy by Odile Redon, Francoise Sabban, and Silvano Serventi.  

ISBN 0226706850

On page 107-8 they offer "Cormary," which they took from The Forme of Cury, where it was spelled "Cormarye."  The Cury book is a collection of 14th century English recipes that was republished in the 1800s.

Their translated version says this:

Take finely ground coriander and caraway, pepper powder, and ground garlic, in red wine; mix all this together and salt it.  Take raw pork loins, skin them, and prick it well with a knife, and lay it in the sauce.  Roast it when you wish, and save what falls from the meat as it roasts and boil it in a pot with good broth, and then serve it with the roast.

They also provide their redacted recipe, which I mostly followed.  I'll provide my version.

Cormary

1 pork loin, about 3 pounds (mine was boneless)

1 cup good red wine

4 large cloves garlic (mine were already chopped)

1 teaspoon whole coriander

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

1/4 teaspoon salt

scant 1/2 cup chicken broth

The baking dish asked to join the picture.

Mix the coriander, caraway, peppercorns, and salt in a mortar.  Grind well.  Add chopped garlic and grind some more.  Grind it to a paste.

Put the paste into a glass baking dish; add wine and mix well.

Poke the meat all over with a knife.  

Put the meat into the dish, turning it several times to coat it with the marinade.  Cover the meat and dish, and refrigerate for at least several hours, up to overnight.  Turn occasionally.

Once the marinating time is almost done, preheat oven to 350 degree F.  Pour off the marinade into a cup.

Bake the meat, uncovered, basting every 15 minutes with the marinade.  Stop when the meat is done to your taste, roughly 60 to 90 minutes for a 3-pound roast.

Pour the drippings off the meat and let the meat rest.  Put the drippings and the broth into a pan and boil to reduce.

After 10 minutes of resting, slice the meat and serve with some of the gravy poured over the top.

Spices and salt

All ground up

Adding the chopped garlic

Resulting paste.

Stabbing the meat

Meat in the marinade

Ready to roast!

My Notes

The spices smelled wonderful while they were being ground!  It was an interesting combination of scents.  

I turned the meat three or four times during the about 7 hours it was marinating.  

I put the meat in the pan fat side up for roasting.

I basted mostly by pouring the marinade over the top.  I only did a little bit of brushing.

It helped to have a timer set to remind me to baste.

I think 1/2 cup broth was too much.  I would use at most that much, depending on how much pan juices you end up with.  I probably could have used less than 1/4 cup.

I sliced the meat to about 1/4-inch thick pieces for serving.

Done!

Too much liquid.

The Verdict

I served it with green beans and stuffing.

It smelled lovely.  The spice mix scent along with the wine which, combined, didn't smell like any one singular scent, just mouthwateringly-tempting: spicy and sweet.  (I have to add that the leftovers, when reheated, still smelled that way!)

My guest tasters noted that the basted top had a nice, almost crunchy layer.  

We all enjoyed eating it.  Several of us thought perhaps I could have cooked it less, say 15 to 30 minutes less because while it wasn't dry, there wasn't any pink and it wasn't as moist as we would have liked it to be.  We can have pink in the center because we are confident the pork supply in my area is clean.

I thought the marinade flavor had intruded into the meat somewhat, and not too much.  I liked the idea of poking it with a knife to allow the marinade in; it seemed to work well.  

So, success!  We had enough for four people at dinner to have what they wanted and some left over.  Reheated tasted just as good, because I saved the extra drippings/broth and poured a little over the meat before putting into the microwave.

That being said, I think I am torn between the feeling that 1/2 cup broth was too much for the first time it was served and was just right for putting over the leftovers.  So judge your table guests:  Will there be leftovers?  Then may don't add as much broth so the flavor of the drippings is not diluted.  

Also, I wish I had defatted the drippings before heating them with the broth.  They were pretty greasy, which didn't seem to impact my guests' enjoyment at all.  I did defat the leftover broth with ice cubes before storing it in the refrigerator.  (I know, I could have done that after the broth chilled in the 'fridge, but that is what I did.)

I would do this again.  

Adobo para lomos, Marinade for loins -- a Pinedo recipe

The grocery store had an incredible sale on pork loins the other day, so I partook with the idea of finding a Pinedo recipe for it.  And I did.  On page 4 is a "Marinade for loins" that looked intriguing.  I had some questions with the instructions, so I experimented a little bit which you will see in the notes.

Here it is, "Adobo para lomos":

My Translation

My Redaction

3.4 pound boneless pork loin

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1 cup water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon pepper

1 tablespoon cumin seed

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

2 fresh bay leaves

8-inch long piece of fresh rosemary

1 tablespoon loosely packed fresh oregano leaves

<The usual picture with all the ingredients disappeared!>

Day 1

Slice the loin into 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick pieces

Strip the leaves off the rosemary stem; discard the stem.  Mix marinade in plastic tub with a lid.  Whisk the ingredients well together.

Immerse the meat in the tub.

Refrigerate.

Shake the container once in the evening.

Day 2

Shake the container 2 (or more) times during the day.

Day 3

Shake the container in the morning.

Heat up a little olive oil in a Dutch oven or fry pan, then reduce the heat to low (2 of 10 or so).

Fry the meat slowly over that low heat until it looks done about 2/3 of the way up the sides.  Flip the meat and continue to cook slowly.

Serve hot.

A lot of meat.

Herbs and spices of the marinade

Altogether now!

My Notes

I wasn't sure if I should cut the meat or not, but since she indicated "frying," I decided to cut the loin into individual servings.  It is possible she meant to fry the entire loin, keeping in mind that "frying" doesn't always mean to fast cook it in hot oil.

I had to guess on the spice quantities, and I know marinades are supposed to be strong in flavor.  I kept in mind that cloves "tend to be full of themselves," so I kept their quantity low in relation to the rest of the ingredients.  I had fresh bay leaves because of a cute little dwarf bay bush called "Little Ragu" that is now growing in my yard.  (It helps to find a foodie who works at the local nursery!)

When removing the meat from the marinade to cook, I pulled all the leaves off before putting the meat in the pan.  I didn't worry about the spices.  

For the first batch, I considered her directions to "add broth," which seemed to be another ingredient and not the liquid from the marinade.  I tried that, adding a little beef broth to the pan, just enough to bring the liquid level up to about 1/4 inch.  Then I realized that it would take a long, long time to get the food "almost dry."  I risked overcooking the meat.

So for the second batch I used just olive oil to slowly cook the meat.  When it appeared done, I noticed the pan was almost dry but, of course, the oil did not evaporate.  Perhaps I could have used less oil.

I had 16 slices of meat, so I cooked two batches of four in the Dutch oven and four in a skillet.  I didn't see any cooking time or result differences between the two pans.

I noticed that the meat released a lot of liquid into the pan while cooking, making the addition of broth unnecessary.

Done marinating

The Verdict

We weren't very hungry, so we split a piece of meat.  It was ... interesting.

We both noticed the fruity flavor right away.  I attribute that to the apple cider vinegar.  The spices were dominant, and I felt they were on the edge of being too strong.  It wasn't off-putting, but my guest taster asked, "What kind of meat is this?"

In other words, the spices and fruit flavors dominated each mouthful, and we couldn't really enjoy the taste of the pork.  He felt the meat was just a touch chewy; I thought it was fine.

My conclusion was that either I should not have cut the meat into slices or I should have marinated the slices for a shorter amount of time, perhaps just overnight.  I suspect that having the whole loin cooking in the Dutch oven for a long time (over low heat) would probably have allowed the food to be almost dry.  

There were no issues with the meat getting a chalky texture after three days in the marinade.  

So I will declare it a success, although I wasn't entirely thrilled with it.  

The leftovers were consumed in a variety of ways, and I think the strong flavor, while still there, was mellowed with time.  Sometimes I served the pork with a sauce. (Try making a passionfruit coulis and add some broth, or something similar with mulberry molasses.  Fruit with pork is always a winner with me.)  Sometimes I served it as it was but with butternut squash soup and toast.  Reheating the meat made it a little drier, but the sauce helped.  My guest taster would dunk the meat in the soup.  More success!

Costillas de puerco fresco con setas - Fresh pork ribs with mushrooms (a Pinedo recipe)

I found some pork baby back ribs on sale, so I took advantage of the deal and tried a Pinedo recipe that had been on my radar for a while.  I love pork and especially ribs!

The recipe is on page 88, Costillas de puerco fresco con setas.  

My Translation

Fresh pork ribs with mushrooms.

            Prepare the ribs as to grill them; but these are fried in unsalted fat or olive oil. They are put to fry in a frying pan, turning them several times and seasoning them with salt and pepper on both sides.

            They are removed from the pan when they are well browned; immediately these are put to fry in the same juice that has remained in the pan: a few mushrooms cut into rounds, with onion, parsley and well-chopped basil, a glass of white wine and half of hot water.

            The ribs are placed in the same dish and covered with the sauce.

My Redaction

3 pounds pork baby back ribs, cut into pieces that fit the Dutch oven

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

less than 1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 of a large onion

8 small portabella mushrooms, cleaned

1/8 cup finely minced fresh parsley

1/8 cup finely minced fresh basil

8 ounces white wine

4 ounces hot water

Preheat over medium low a Dutch oven that is big enough to fit the ribs.  Lightly sprinkle the ribs with the salt and pepper.  You may use more or less seasoning according to the ribs and your preferences.

Drizzle the oil in the pan and let heat a little.  Add the ribs to the pan and cook them slowly, turning them "several times" as needed to cook them through.  Don't rush this.

In the meantime, chop the onion into small pieces, but not finely chopped.  Remove the stems of the mushrooms and discard.  Slice the mushrooms into rounds if possible.  

When the ribs are cooked and browned, remove them from the Dutch oven and place on the serving dish.  To the juices and fat in the pan, add the onion, mushrooms, and herbs, and the water and the wine.  

Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer until the onions are transparent and the liquid is reduced.  Spoon the sauce over the ribs just before serving.

Ribs sprinkled with salt and pepper; beginning to cook.

Nearly done.

About this much of everything.  Or as you want!

What was leftover in the pan.

Beginning to sauté. 

Done!

My Notes

To "prepare the ribs as to grill them," Pinedo suggested on page 89 to remove the fat.  A person I knew whose father was butcher also recommended that you tear the membrane encasing the ribs (or sometimes on just one side) away from the meat.  The ribs I had did not need either technique.

I cut the ribs into three big chunks.  Afterwards I thought that I should have cut them into serving-sized portions, which I now recommend.

The Verdict

The ribs browned beautifully, and I checked their internal temperature before declaring them done.

I thought, while simmering the sauce, that I had added too much liquid.  I could have simmered it longer to reduce it, but I didn't, so there was more liquid than what I felt was "right."  When I spooned it over the ribs, most of the liquid rolled off the meat and onto the platter, but the important flavors stayed on top.

Ready to serve.  Note the liquid on the platter.

The dish made a lovely presentation: the steaming ribs and the sauce with its bits over the top.  I served it with steamed green beans dressed with a little butter, liquamen, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper; and a soft dinner roll.  And wine.  Don't forget the wine!

Served.  Yum.

My guest taster and I enjoyed the meal very much.  The ribs were tasty, and the sauce added flavors and texture that we don't normally associate with eating ribs.  Those flavors of onion, mushroom, and herbs complemented the meat quite well!

My only negative feedback is that I wanted the flavors to be stronger.  It could be that adding so much liquid diluted the flavors, and if I had reduced it more, they would have been better.  Or I could have added more herbs to really bump it up.  Perhaps use 6 ounces of wine and 3 ounces of water?

I also wanted more mushrooms.  I was tempted to put in a lot more at the beginning, but she indicated just a few.  I held back.

It wouldn't hurt to have a lot more sauce to put on the ribs.  I would have enjoyed some of the bits with each bite of meat.  

But still, I declare it a success.  We enjoyed the reheated leftovers later, without the extra liquid.  They were fine.  I still wanted more flavors, though!