ode to pork (a celebration in four parts)

the kitchen is finally spotless (ok, ignore the stovetop), approximately 19 hours after we sat down to consume pork II. but first, pork I. (if you're fuzzy on the origins of porks I-IV, see my january 26th post.)

we bade pork I a fond farewell last week, to the tune of maple-roasted pork with parmesan mashed sweet potatoes, roasted carrots and asparagus, and rice with onions. pork I was wholly satisfying and simply cooked - the maple component of the roast was just a glaze brushed on throughout the cooking time. in fact, everything in this dinner was pretty standard, but combined it was excellent. we used up some of our myriads of sweet potatoes, much to our relief (we then emailed boston organics to nix lettuce from future deliveries). we didn't have any stock or onions, but i made a sauce anyway, from a roux with port wine, madeira, mustard, and the pan juices. i have become a tyrant over the 15 minutes following the departure of the pork from the oven, so i can let the meat rest, then cut it up, and use the released meat juices in the gravy. even though you let the meat rest to avoid releasing those juices, i find that even after it has rested and you slice the roast, it still ends up shedding juices galore. and in my little cooking world, that gesture is the pork roast crying out to me to add more meat juices to the sauce. i guess the sauce turned out a little bit odd with respect to color - it was a pale pinkish color from the port wine - but it sure did taste good.

however, we one-upped pork I with pork II. i had just opened the new issue of gourmet, which i had left in my mailbox for almost a week, when i spotted what looked like a pork loin. upon closer inspection (because gourmet's photography has been suffering for the past several months and the photograph was sadly dark), it was not only a pork loin, but a bacon-wrapped pork loin. carrien and i had just thawed pork II a few days ago, so seeing this photograph was clearly meant to be. the roast consists of a maple syrup/peppercorn/bay leaf/sage/garlic brine, a maple syrup/garlic/sage rub, a coat of bacon, and a glaze at the end of cider vinegar/maple syrup. to go with the pork, we roasted some vegetables, and josh made brussels sprouts. this time around, it was still too cold to go outside, and we had no butter, so we made another sauce out of "nothing" - i sauteed some sage and garlic, added port wine and madeira, reduced it to a syrupy consistency, and added some mustard. i considered sauteing the sage in rendered pork fat or adding maple syrup to the mixture, but i thought that might be overkill. when the roast came out of the oven, it thankfully had exuded plentiful juices, both before and after being sliced. we ended up with a pretty good sauce, which wasn't pale pink this time, but a dark purple-brown color. the roast itself was also excellent - the bacon does a great job of keeping the pork moist, and i could definitely tell that it had been brined, which is a first. the meat's texture was slightly different - you could see the strands of muscle more easily - and it was a little bit too endlessly juicy for me. i think i prefer my roasts unbrined. the bacon, however, was delightfully crisp-but-not-too-crisp, and much of the fat had been rendered during the cooking time. it also turns a beautiful dark bacon-red.

and now i'm hungry again...