Recipe #319 - Pork, Taters, and 'Sparagus

I had been waiting all winter to wrap up a nice pork loin and barbecue it - to-day was the day. I had some Aldi asparagus to go with our favorite mashed potatoes; I wanted to have dinner ready right before the MSU -Kansas second round NCAA game.

The pork slept overnight in a brine: four quarts of water, a teaspoon each of ground black pepper and granulated garlic, a half cup each of brown sugar and kosher salt, and also several pinches of dried herbs from last years garden.

My whipped potatoes (I always leave the skins on - you don't lose all those vitamins you know) I boiled along with several garlic cloves and a pinch of salt. This makes the house smell very garlicky.

I then mashed and added a stick of butter, a half cup of whole milk, a quarter cup diced onions, and about a half cup of shredded cheddar cheese. 

A few asparagus stalks got wrapped up in the meat, but most of them went in heavy duty foil with a couple pats of butter, a couple garlic cloves minced, and a small can of sliced mushrooms.

The foil packet of asparagus cooked as long as the meat but it didn't need to go that long. 

The meat I butterflied and then pounded flat. I seasoned it with a Montreal chicken blend, then laid in five or six asparagus, some mushrooms, and about half a cup of grated Muenster cheese. The mushrooms and cheese I spread over the entire piece of meat, but the asparagus I gathered at the end I started rolling from. I would do it different next time.

I set up the grill with coals on the south side. When the coals were ready, I seared all sides of the meat over the coals, and then moved it to the north side for indirect heat. I turned the meat every ten minutes or so, checking the temp until it reached 135 degrees Fahrenheit.

A warm Sunday afternoon, a great day for cooking on the deck

LONGER

Yestreday morning we had two inches of snow covering everything

I started inside dicing the potatoes for my special whipped variety. About six good size russets, 

a couple cloves of garlic chopped, 

and a pinch of salt in the water. Boil til the fork goes in easily

Aldi Asparagus

Make sure the carving knife is sharp!

I pulled this pork center cut tenderloin out of the brine I had it in over night, rinsed it off, and toweled it dry. 

I made a horizontal cut, then looped back around,

 laid it flat on a broiler pan, and covered it with plastic. Then I beat on it for about five minutes with a huge jar of Miracle Whip (my meat hammer is just way too wimpy for this much meat)

I laid in some asparagus and garlic, 

(Aldi mushrooms, oh yeah)

chopped mushrooms, 

(Kroger cheese, please)

and some shredded orange rind Muenster.

Then I began rolling

and tied it with butcher's twine.

You nearly had me roped and tied, altar-bound, hypnotized

I then lit the fire

and let the remains of our December burgers cook off.

Potatoes boiling, on the stove

Grill temp was about 450 and I seared the rolled loin over the coals before moving it to the indirect side

I wrapped more asparagus in foil, and threw on a couple of chicken legs and a thigh also.

I wanted the inner most temp to get to 135 - it took about an hour all told

I brought the meat in and tented it for almost 20 minutes. Do not neglect this important step.

I then sliced the meat

It was good. 

With the juice from the meat smothering all, it was most excellent.