Pork Tenderloin Roulade Stuffed with Apple and Porcini Mushrooms

Sous Vide Details: Cook pork roulade at 138ºF for 8 hours

Ingredients, Serves 8 - 10:

• 2 medium sized pork tenderloins (3 lbs)
• 2 cups of your favorite mushrooms (porcini, shitake, shimeji, mixed, etc..)
• 8 oz spinach (1 large bag)
• 1 cup apples (your favorite type), skinned, cored and diced into small pieces
• 1/2 lb ground pork
• 1/ cup minced yellow onion
• 1 cup shredded gruyere cheese
• 8 oz prosciutto slices
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon thyme
• 1 tablespoon rosemary
• 1/8 teaspoon truffle oil
• 2 tablespoons brandy or whiskey
• Extra Virgin Olive oil (EVO)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Believe it or not, I was just recently introduced to pork!  Was always a beef guy until my diet!  Then I tried a pork tenderloin sous vide!  Wow.  So now I wanted to try a stuffed tenderloin and what better stuffing than mushrooms and apples!

You can make the stuffing beforehand, even a day before.  First heat 2 tablespoons of EVO in a large skillet on medium heat.  Add the diced onions and minced garlic and saute until onions are soft, about 5 minutes.  Add the diced apples and mushrooms and cook until soft, again about 5 minutes.  Add the thyme, rosemary, brandy and truffle oil and stir to mix for 2 minutes.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Then turn off heat and let cool to room temperature.

Bring a large pot of water to boil and blanche the spinach for 30 seconds.  Remove spinach and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking.

To prepare the pork, make a long horizontal cut on one side of the tenderloin parallel to the cutting board surface and slice the tenderloin until you almost get though but don't cut all the way through!  You are making a butterfly cut, like you are cutting a baguette to make a sandwich.  Do this for both tenderloins.  Open them up and place a large sheet of saran wrap underneath both of them large enough to accommodate the tenderloin twice their size.  Leave enough room between each tenderloin for twice their size as well.  Place another sheet of saran on top and using a meat mallet, pound the tenderloins, starting from the middle and working your way outward.  Pound them until they are roughly 1/2" thick and fairly rectangular in shape.

Now the tricky part comes in.  Carefully flip the tenderloins (still covered with the saran wrap) over and remove the top saran wrap.  Pick up one of the tenderloins and slide it over so that it slightly overlaps the other tenderloin about 1 1/2".  Take the slices of prosciutto and layer them on top of the tenderloins horizontally.  Carefully place a new sheet of saran wrap on top of the prosciutto and flip the tenderloins over again so the prosciutto side is down.  If you got here you're doing great!

Now remove the top saran sheet and take your spinach and make a layer of spinach leaving roughly 1" clear around all the sides.  Then take your mushroom and apple stuffing and make a layer on top of the spinach, again, leaving 1 around all the sides.  Finally make a layer of cheese with the Gruyere cheese.  Now, using the bottom saran wrap as an assist, carefully roll the tenderloin, starting from a long side into a "log" or roulade.  Use the saran wrap to keep it tight and cylindrical in shape.  Adjust it so the seam is up and carefully remove the saran just enough to place additional prosciutto slices over the seam.  Then place the saran back to again make a tight cylinder.  Twist the ends of the saran wrap as well to close off the roulade.  Put the whole thing into a plastic bag and seal.

Pre-heat water bath to 138ºF.  Put the roulade in and cook for 8-10 hours.  When it's done, turn the oven on broiler.  Take the roulade out of the water bath and remove from the plastic bag and carefully unwrap the saran wrap.  Using paper towels, dry off the roulade and place it on a baking pan.  Put it under the broiler and bake until prosciutto begins to crust.  Remove from oven, plate and serve up the best pork tenderloin you've ever had!  Enjoy!

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Pork Tenderloin with Risotto

Sous Vide Details: Cook Pork Tenderloin at 135F for 3 hours

Ingredients, Serves 4:

• 2 lbs of pork tenderloin
• 2 sprigs of rosemary
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons grape seed oil
• Risotto:
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 1 medium diced shallot
• 2 cups chopped mushrooms of your choice (I like Shitake)
• 1 tablespoon Cognac
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVO)
• 1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• Special tool: optional 3" food ring

I have to admit I haven't eaten a lot of pork, mainly because I thought "pork = fat"!  Well, I have to admit I was wrong.  Of course, there are parts of a pig where that equation is essentially true, but pork tenderloin is very lean.  I picked up some the other weekend and decided to cook it sous vide with risotto and a haricot vert green bean and Chinese five spice tofu side dish (Click here for that recipe).  The result was AMAZING.  The pork was so tender and buttery I could cut it with a fork!  

For the pork, salt and pepper to taste and place into a bag.  Add the rosemary and seal.  Pre-heat the water bath to 135F and place the pork into the water bath and cook for 3 hours.

For the risotto, wait until there is 1 hour left on the pork before starting.  Heat up the chicken broth in a large pot until it's almost boiling and then set to simmer.  Heat up the EVO in the large pot under medium heat.  Add the shallots and garlic and cook until shallots are translucent, about 2 minutes.  Add the rice and stir to coat the rice.  Cook for 1-2 minutes until rice is translucent. Reduce the heat to medium low.  Slowly add 1 cup of the chicken broth to the rice, stirring while pouring in the broth.  Cook at a simmer until most of the broth is absorbed.  Slowly add another cup of the broth (again stirring the whole time).  Again, cook on simmer until broth is almost gone.  Add another cup and repeat.  Once that cup is almost gone, add the mushrooms and cognac and the last cup of broth.  Simmer again until almost gone.  Make sure you keep the rice from burning at the bottom of the pan.  Finally, add the parmasan cheese and cream and stir to incorporate.

When the pork is done, heat the grape seed oil in an iron skillet on medium high heat.  Remove the pork from the water bath and bag and pat dry.  Sear the pork on all sides.  Should only take 30 sec to 1 minute per side.  Remove the pork to a cutting board and slice into thick slices.

For plating, I used a food ring to plate the risotto into a perfect circle.  Place three pieces of pork on top of the risotto.  Add your favorite side dish and serve with love!

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Baby Back Pork Ribs

Sous Vide Details: 155F for 24-36 hrs

Ingredients - Serves 8-12:

• 6 racks of pork baby back ribs (make sure you take the silver skin off the back if it isn't already off)
• Your favorite BBQ sauce
• Thai Sauce:
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 1 T peeled, sliced garlic
• 2 T chopped lemongrass
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 2 T brown sugar
• 3 T finely chopped ginger
• 10 kaffir lime leaves (optional)
• 1 t kosher salt
• Aromatics:
• 1 T Thyme
• 1 T Rosemary
• 1 T Orgeano

Here is another place where sous vide shines!  I've cooked BB Ribs may times, on the grill, in the oven, in a crock pot, in a smoker.  While some have come out very nicely, my experiences have been inconsistent to say the least.  Sometimes, they come out dry and chewy, sometimes mushy.  It was always hit or miss.

With sous vide, BB ribs come out incredible!  And every time incredible.  I've made them several times now with huge success!  the most important feature is that they are all "FALL OFF THEM BONE"!!!  I mean really fall off the bone.  You can control how much fall off the bone by the time AND temperature.  You can find many variations for time and temperature for BB ribs on the web.  Some say lower temperature and longer time (140F for 72 hrs), while others say medium temperature (155F for 24-36 hrs), while even others say higher temperature (176F for 8-12 hrs).  The higher temperatures guarantee the collagens and fiberous fats break down and render out, which is what makes them "fall off the bone".

I have settled on the mid temperature cooking technique (155F for 24-36hrs).  I bagged up to 6 racks of BB ribs, using different marinades for each of 2 racks a piece.  I didn't brine them as I don't think you need to with sous vide.

I did a BBQ sauce marinade for one.  Using whatever your favorite BBQ sauce.  I've found that the good store bought brands are equally as good as making it from scratch.  I know I should want to make it from scratch, but I love getting some hidden gem of a BBQ sauce brands!  Sur La Table has some good ones.

I did a Thai marinade for the second pair.  Mix all the ingredients in a sauce pan and heat on medium until sugar melts and a gaze consistency forms..

I did a simple aromatic marinade for the last pair.  Putting in thyme, rosemary and oregano herbs.

They all went into the Polyscience IC bath together and 30 hrs later, I took them all out and off to the grill I went.  I slathered some BBQ sauce on the BBQ sauce pair and seared all the racks on a high heat outdoor grill.  The results were incredible!  Truly fall off the bone and all wonderfully flavorful.  I made three little stacks on a large white plate.

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