Excellent pork tenderloin, amazing sauce, and the bacon wrapping just makes it that much more awesome.

This isn’t even the first time we have made bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin. The now-elusive Kyle made this a couple years ago. His was great, but I have to say that mine significantly ups the flavors by adding mushrooms, cream, and whiskey. (Maybe now he’ll have to one-up me…)

This dish is great served with rice or potatoes to soak up the leftover sauce. I even wiped the skillet with a piece of bread to get every last bit of sauce into my belly–It’s that good.

For a cream sauce, it’s lighter than you would think. That may have something to do with the addition of whiskey :) The mushrooms give it a more robust flavor without compromising the consistency. I’m tempted to make this sauce with chicken now… I may even make a simplified version to serve with fish.

Those are little packets of flavor wrapped in a bacon strip.

Bacon wrapped pork tenderloin with a whiskey cream sauce

Ingredients
1 to 1.5 inch medallions from a single tenderloin
1 slice bacon per medallion (at least 8, I used more because I doubled up on some and not all the slices were usable)
salt
pepper
1 pint mushrooms, sliced
1 shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup whiskey
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup half and half (or cream)
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp thyme
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
vegetable or canola oil

Directions
1. Place the bacon in a large microwave safe bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Cook in the microwave for 1-4 minutes without letting them crisp. This is to render some fat from the bacon. You should have at least 1/2 cup of fat that you can pour off. Once cooled slightly, wrap each medallion with bacon, using kitchen twine or toothpicks run through it to hold the bacon onto the pork. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Place about 2 tsps of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the medallions to the skillet being careful not to crowd the pan. Sear the medallions on all sides, including turning them on edge to sear the bacon. You may find it easier to work in two batches rather than doing it all at once. Remove from the pan and reserve on a plate covered in foil.
3. Reduce the heat to medium, add the mushrooms, shallot, garlic, and spices to the pan. Cook on medium stirring occasionally, for about 5-7 minutes, until the mushrooms have given up their liquid and have started to reduce in size.
4. Add the whiskey and allow to simmer for about a minute. Then add the stock and return to a simmer for about a minute. Add the cream and mustard and return to a simmer. Finally add the reserved medallions and any juice that drained onto the plate. Allow to simmer for a few minutes to reheat the medallions, then serve.

Bolognese with tagliatelle

There are a few key ingredients and methods that are overlooked by many when attempting a bolognese sauce. It’s not quite as simple as mixing ground beef and tomato suace together–that may make a good meat sauce, but it’s not a bolognese.

The two most often overlooked ingredients in a bolognese are white wine, and milk. Yes, white whine, and milk. Sounds odd to many people. The BBC segment even has reaction shots of people discovering their their beloved dish should be made with (gasp) milk!

A quick search online reveals many variations on the classic meat sauce recipe. Some recipes look nothing like the original with the additions of peppers, mushrooms, red wine, even cheeses directly into the sauce. I’ve attempted to keep my recipe basic without making any alarming changes. One difference I did adopt was instead of just beef and pancetta (or bacon), I use a mixture of beef, veal, and sausage to provide a complex base of meaty flavor.

Oh, and one thing the video points out is that is should be served with tagliatelle, not spaghetti. Italian chefs can be quick to point out that each shape and style of pasta is best suited for different kinds of sauce. The wide, semi-rough ribbons of tagliatelle make it ideal for thicker meatier sauces to cling to. Spaghetti can work, but it’s not ideal. The thin, round, slick strands make it difficult to hold the meat with the pasta. If you can’t find it in the store, go with fettuccine.

Pasta Bolognese

This recipe is time consuming, but most of the cooking time is passive. You just let it simmer away on the stove. To make the time spent more worthwhile, this recipe makes a very large batch, about 12 cups. I normally make the large batch and freeze it in about 3 cup quantities that are ideal for a pound of pasta. I also needed about 6 cups for something else… stay tuned next week to find out.

It’s adapted from many different sources, but looking at it now, it seems heavily influenced by Cooks Illustrated and Epicurious. But traditional is traditional and shouldn’t change much anyway. You can also put in a pinch of nutmeg when adding the milk. I just as often remember to add it as forget it. Either way, keep it to a small pinch.

Classic Bolognese
Makes 10-12 cups, recipe can be halved. 3 cups is good for 1 lb of pasta.
1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions (1lb), minced fine
2 medium carrots (1/2 lb), minced fine
2 medium celery stalks (1/2 lb), minced find
4 cloves garlic, minced or mashed
1 lb beef, ground
1 lb veal, ground
1 lb pork, ground
1 tbsp salt
1/2 tbsp pepper (1 1/2 tsp)
1 1/2 c milk
pinch freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
1 1/2 c white wine
2 28-oz cans crusted tomatoes

Directions
1. Heat a large pot over medium heat with a tablespoon of olive oil. When hot, add the vegetables and garlic. Cook for about 12 minutes, until the vegetables are tender, but not browned. Reduce the heat if necessary.
2. Add the meats, salt and sugar and mix thoroughly. Cool just until it looses the raw color, but not yet fully cooked.
3. Add the milk and bring to a slow simmer until most of the liquid evaporates, about 25 minutes. If using nutmeg, add a pinch now.
4. Add the wine and continue the slow simmer until most of that liquid evaporates, another 25 minutes.
5. Add the tomatoes with the juices from the cans. Continue the slow simmer for about three hours. (I leave it uncovered, but put a spatter screen over the top to catch any spatter.)

I love the idea of a cool, tart cranberry compote (or sauce) to go along with the turkey but I find many versions too sweet or too odd (I’ve seen one with marshmallows!). I feel that a good, tart sauce should cut through the heavier flavors that are piled on the plate. Traditional cranberry sauces just don’t do it.

As I looked around for recipes, a friend finally found this one from Bon Appetite. This implementation veered from the standard by adding pears, cardamom and five-spice. I instantly liked where the authors were trying to take this. This would allow it to be a tarter, more bitter, and unusually spiced, almost closer in spirit to an Indian chutney than to the sticky, sweet sauce usually found on most American’s Thanksgiving dining tables. I knew that not everyone would like the changes, but I didn’t care (arn’t I just the rebel~). This was my small protest hidden among the contrite condensed soup casseroles.

I eventually made a few changes from the Bon Appétit version to increase the tartness and boost the flavors.

No matter how hard I tried, I could not get this to look good on camera. It just looked like a red, slightly chunky mess, which I suppose is accurate, but doesn’t look appetizing when shot and put on a webpage alone. So no pictures. You’ll have to take my word that this was really good. Different. But good.

Spiced Cranberry Compote, with Pears
Altered slightly from Bon Appétit, Nov 1998
Ingredients
2 cups frozen cranberry juice concentrate, thawed
1/2 cup sugar
4-5 cups chopped, peeled Bartlett pears (1/3-inch pieces)
1 12-ounce package cranberries
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder

Directions
1. In a large sauce pan, combine cranberry juice concentrate and sugar. Bring to a boil while stirring over medium-high heat until dissolved.
2. Add the pears, cranberries, cardamom, and five-spice. Reduce heat to a simmer and stirr occasionally until reduced slightly and cranberries burst (about 10 minutes).
3. Allow to cool, then refrigerate until read to serve.

Oh, this is awesome over vanilla ice cream as well.

Chicken Adobo. So tasty.

With that in mind, I looked at the ingredients I had on hand and saw that I had everything I needed to make Filipino-style adobo. This style uses a handful of common ingredients that are probably already found in many fridges and pantries. Apart from the chicken, you can expect to see most recipes calling for a combination of soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, bay leaf, and black peppercorns.

The chicken is braised (basically, simmered gently) in this sauce for about half an hour–this is the adobo process referred to by the eponymous dish. The sauce is then reduced slightly while the chicken is removed to be finished on a grill, under a broiler, or in a pan (to crisp up the skin, Mmmmmm).

I am always very pleased by a dish like this, it is exceedingly simple to prepare, yet has a fantastic and distinctive flavor. Not only that, but it can also be largely prepared ahead. Adobo dishes typically yield a great sauce that is poured over the chicken and served over a bed of rice to soak up the flavors.

Chicken Adobo.

Chicken Adobo
Makes enough for 4 servings. Serve with rice.

Ingredients
1 whole (4-5 lb) cut-up chicken (or about 3-4 lbs chicken parts, thighs and legs preferred, breast meat is fine)
3 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
2-3 bay leaves
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup white distilled vinegar
1 cup water, plus more if needed

Directions
1. Combine the garlic, bay leaves, black pepper, soy sauce, and vinegar into a large pot and bring to a boil.
2. Add the chicken in one layer. The liquid should almost cover the chicken. If needed add water to reach about 3/4 of the way up most of the pieces. Cover and reduce heat to med-low to maintain a simmer. Cook for 30 minutes, turning the chicken over after 15 minutes.
3. Remove the chicken from the pot and pat dry. Place the chicken on a broiler pan and broil for about 5 minutes to crisp the skin (watch carefully, depending on the chicken, it can be finished in 2 minutes or less. Meanwhile, bring the liquid to a boil to reduce the liquid slightly.

Note: This dish can be easily prepared a day ahead of time, leaving only the broiling to do before serving. To prepare ahead, refrigerate the chicken after step 2 and pour the liquid into a tall container (like a pint glass). Cover both and refrigerate. Fat will rise to the top of the liquid and solidify, this can be easily removed with a spoon before continuing with step 3.

It might not look like the most attractive dish in the world, but it was eaten pretty quickly.

Why add the vodka? It comes down to the solubility of different compounds in foods. Solubility just means that one thing is able to dissolve into another. Just because something dissolves in water doesn’t mean that it will dissolve in everything else (try adding salt to oil and stir as much as you want, it won’t dissolve like it does in water). This is not just true for solids, but liquids too; fats and oils will dissolve in alcohol, but not in water (think about what happens when you add olive oil to water). In short, both water and fats are soluble in alcohol so it helps spread more flavors more evenly throughout the dish. Wine can be used, but a neutral spirit, vodka, was chosen to avoid the additional flavors found in wine.

Penne with salmon vodka cream sauce.

Directions

1. Bring the tomato sauce just to a simmer over medium to med-high heat in a large skillet. Add the vodka and stir until it is absorbed. Let simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes or until the sauce has thickened slightly.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the penne and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes (check the pasta packet). It should still be firm, but cooked through. Drain.
3. About 6-7 minutes into the cooking time of the pasta, add the cream to the sauce and stir to combine. Then sprinkle evenly with parmesan and stir until it is melted and well incorporated. Add the drained salmon, trying not to break it into too many tiny peices.
4. Combine the drained pasta with the sauce and toss to coat.

This simple, straightforward sauce can be enjoyed on its own or adapted in any number of ways. Add some broth or water to make a thin sauce, add large amounts of vegtables to make a refreshing spring/summer pasta, add some meats, spices, herbs, whatever you have–don’t be afraid to experiment.

A pot of basic marinara sauce.

I typically use canned crushed tomatoes to cut down on the amount of processing I have to do. The small chunks that remain make the sauce appear more rustic and traditional than if it is blended smooth.

For a simpler sauce, omit the carrots and celery, use only one onion, and add a few tablespoons of some herbs like thyme, basil, and parsley. (I usually avoid oregano as it’s more Greek than Italian and quickly overpowers the other ingredients of the dish.)

This recipe makes plenty of sauce (about 6 cups, 48 ounces) but I sometimes double it if I am making a batch to freeze.

The sauce is also vegetarian/vegan friendly.

Basic Marinara Sauce:
You get extra points if you replace the crushed tomatoes with whole canned Italian tomatoes, remove the seeds, and crush them with the back of a spoon.
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 small onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 (32-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
4 to 6 basil leaves
2 dried bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (optional)

Directions

1. In a large pot or dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add the onion and garlic and saute until the onion softens (2-4 minutes).
3. Add the carrot, celery, salt, and pepper to the party. Stir occasionally and saute until everything softens (5-7 minutes).
4. Next add the tomatoes, basil and bay leaves. Cover and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for about an hour to thicken. (If it doesn’t thicken after an hour, continue simmering with the lid off.)
5. Fish out the bay leaf and taste. Some canned tomatoes are more acidic than others, so tasting is crucial. If the sauce is acidic, add 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter, mix in and taste again. Repeat if needed. (Alternatively, I’ve also seen other recipes call for a pinch of sugar–sugar will keep it vegetarian/vegan.)
6. I typically leave as is, but if a smoother sauces is needed, blend in batches in either a food processor or blender.

Sauce can be frozen in portions in plastic freezer bags. To thaw, place the bag if the fridge overnight, or if in a hurry, soak the bag in warm water.

Close up of sauce.

Time is essential because barbecue is slow cooked to dissolve and soften the connective tissues and fats in the tougher cuts of meat traditionally used (like pork butt). Smoke from hardwood trees like hickory, mesquite, oak, apple, and maple are used to impart flavor to the meat.

Pulled Pork Barbecue

About a week ago we looked at how to smoke in a charcoal grill. This is possible for cuts of meat, like ribs, that do not require many hours of cooking time. For a cut like pork butt, it’s best to use a smoker. The smoker will allow for a longer cooking time, better heat control, and  good smoke penetration.
For this smoking session, I bought a 7 pound pork butt, borrowed a smoker, made some North Carolina style vinegar-based sauces, and had a selection of Sticky Fingers sauces available.

There are a few different strategies when it comes to smoking a pork butt. I wanted to use the simplest method possible to let my friends compare the sauces so I just put the pork in the smoker and didn’t touch it for 14 hours. What did I get as a result of using the easiest, least intensive method of cooking? Fantastic pulled pork and a group of happy, well-fed friends.

Variations on the cooking method include brining, using a dry rub, and basting. I skipped all these optional steps to keep the preparation simple and the flavors consistent. A brine would have altered the texture, a dry-rub would have altered the flavor, and opening the smoker to baste the pork would have let the smoke out. The purpose was to compare the sauces, not to experiment with different preparation and cooking styles.

The most popular sauces were the eastern North Carolina ketchup and vinegar sauce, the Sticky Fingers Carolina Sweet and the Sticky Fingers Habanero Hot. If you haven’t tried the vinegar-based sauces before, it’s worth making a batch. I have included two NC styles of barbecue sauce after the pork recipe.

Basic Barbecue Pulled Pork
Makes about 10 servings
Special equipment needed for this recipe: a smoker.
Almost any hard wood can be used. Wood from fruit trees, like apple or cherry, is popular as it lends sweetness to the meat. Hard woods, like hickory or mesquite, will result in a strong wood flavor. I used all hickory.

Ingredients
1 6-8 pound pork butt (either bone-in or boneless is fine, mine was bone in)
This is also commonly called a Boston butt, shoulder blade roast, or pork shoulder.

Directions

1. Rinse the pork and pat it dry. Remove most of the fat cap from the top –don’t worry, there will still be plenty of fat within the meat to keep it moist as it cooks. You don’t have to be very thorough removing the fat, much of it will render out of the meat.
2. Load the smoker with wood chips, wood chunks, or natural lump charcoal as directed by the manufacture’s instructions. If your smoker has a water tray, fill this with water, beer, or soda to impart extra flavor to the meat. I used about 1/3 beer and 2/3 water.
   

   Barbecue Pork Butt

3. Put the meat in the smoker with the fat cap facing up. Adjust the heat so that the smoker stays in the 225-250F range (internal meat temperature should peak at 190F). Cook the meat at least 8 hours. I let mine cook for 14 hours. I’ve seen some people smoke their pork for almost 24 hours. The key here is to cook the meat until it is tender, not just until it is cooked through. The extended cooking time ensures that the connective tissue softens and dissolves.   
   

   Get some friends to do the work pulling the pork.

4. Once you are satisfied with your cooking time, remove the meat from the smoker and let it rest on a plate tented with foil for 15-30 minutes. If it looks dark brown and crusty around the outside, you’ve done all well. That “outside brown”, as it’s called, is arguably the best part of the barbecue and should be well mixed in to allow everybody to get some.
5. To pull the pork, use forks or tongs to separate the meat. For chopped pork, pull it loosely and chop with a large knife.
6. Apply barbecue sauce and serve. Or leave the meat ‘dry’ and provide a selection of sauces to try.

Trays of Pulled Pork. They dissappeared quickly.

Eastern North Carolina Barbecue Sauce
This thin, liquid sauce made with vinegar and ketchup is representative of eastern North Carolina. This one was preferred of the two NC sauces.

Ingredients
2 cups white vinegar
2 cups apple cider vinegar
2 cups water
1/3 cup ketchup
1/8 cup hot sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons salt

Directions

1. Combine everything in a medium saucepan.
2. Bring to a simmer over low heat and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Western North Carolina Barbecue Sauce
This thin, liquid sauce made with primarily vinegar is representative of western North Carolina.

Ingredients
1 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Directions

1. Combine everything in a small bowl.
2. Mix well and allow ingredients to blend for about 4 to 8 hours.

You just went to the trouble of making pizza dough. If you wanted the easy way out, just order a pizza. Show this dough some respect and put something a little better than processed, bland pizza sauce on it.

Quick and easy pizza sauce.

I’m not going to ask you to oven-roast your tomatoes, or even use fresh tomatoes, but by all means go ahead. This recipe is about getting the best possible flavor for the least possible effort. We are going to stick with canned tomatoes. The quality is consistent year-round and probably better than what you can get in the off season.

Canned tomatoes.

This sauce will be more vibrant and will taste fresher – nothing like the dull paste of whatever is put into the prepared, preserved pizza sauces. So pick up a can of crushed tomatoes, some olive oil and a few herbs and spices that you probably already have in your panty. Mix, heat, and spread on your pizza.

Fans of simple recipes will like this one. There is all of one step.

Ingredients

1 (28-oz) can Muir Glen Organic Crushed Tomatoes (with basil)
3.5 tbsp olive oil
3-4 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 3/4 tsp dried oregano
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp fresh black pepper

1. Combine everything into a large skillet and bring to a simmer over medium to medium low heat. Let simmer, uncovered, for about 15-25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has reduced slightly and looks thicker.

To save some time and to get the process moving quickly you can follow these steps:

1. Everything but the garlic and tomatoes goes in a pan on med-low heat. The spices will infuse their flavors into the olive oil.

2. Mince the garlic, add it to the pan. Let cook 30-45 seconds (just the time it takes to do the next step!).

3. Open the can of crushed tomatoes and stir into the skillet.

4. The sauce will thicken after about 20 minutes.

If you like a less chunky sauce, blend all (or just half) in a blender after it has cooled. I like my sauce to have small bits of tomato, so I skip this step. I also don’t want to clean a blender. Anyone want to buy me a stick blender?

One teaspoon of red pepper flakes doesn’t make for a particularly hot sauce, but if you really don’t like heat, reduce this to about 1/2 teaspoon. Don’t eliminate the red pepper completely though, as there is just something about red pepper flakes that completes a pizza sauce.

If you have a splatter screen, use it. Otherwise you will end up with red splashes all over your stove top from the bubbling tomato sauce. If you don’t have a splatter screen, you can make the sauce in a large pot. Most of the bubbling will splash onto the walls of the pot instead of your stove top.

This recipe will make enough for several pizzas. I make the full amount and freeze the rest until I need it.

Two Birds, One Stone: I’ve also used this as a pasta sauce in a pinch…