Meals under $2 per serving / Mustachian Recipes

[TheInsuranceMan]

How do you cook [pork loin]?  Grill?  Oven?  Stove top then oven?  Crock pot (please no!)?

Yes, yes, yes and no, respectively.

Do you also have issues with cooking the shit out of it?  :)

[NESailor]

ewwwww chicken thighs that's poor people food.... Can't be seen eating that

ಠ_ಠ

Seriously, if you're braising or stewing, thighs/drumsticks will end up tasting better than breasts would. In fact, making the cheap meat good is exactly what wet cooking methods are for! And the same goes for the cheaper/tougher cuts of beef and pork -- braised brisket or chuck roast is awesome.

But how do you get moisture into a pork loin - even slow-cooked they come out dry. Ugh. I swear I'm going to start injecting them with bacon drippings.

Moisture into a pork loin?  How about not cooking the shit out of it?
USDA changed their guidelines, 145 degree internal temp is now considered cooked for pork.  If that worries you, cook it to 150.  It'll be super moist.  You can't put a damn pork tenderloin (assuming you are talking the little guys, and not a 6-8# loin) in a crock pot all day and expect it not to be dry as shit.

Brown it on the stove top, wrap it in foil with a little liquid, and stick it in a 300 degree oven until it gets to 145 degree internal temp.

Or, get a smoker, and smoke it low and slow....you'll be amazed.

Maybe I need to enunciate. Pork loin is a roast. One side is fatty. It can come bone in, or boneless and tied. It is either cooked as a whole roast (dry as a popcorn fart) or cut into chops (kinda chewy, not usually served to guests.)

Pork tenderloin is a tenderloin. A long round tube of delicious, moist, wonderful meat which is great as either roasted whole or cut into medallions. Tenderloin is hard to screw up. It is wonderful and cheap.

It is Pork Loin - the roast - that I am talking about. Looks like this:

Oh, I know exactly what you are talking about, the loin (you know, the one chops are cut off of) are delicious.  By far one of my favorite pieces of meat to throw on the smoker.  Pork loin sandwiches are amazing, and are truly Iowan.  Seriously, if you have trouble cooking them, get a GOOD digital meat thermometer, and try cooking the loin with the thermometer in place to monitor the internal temp of the meat.

I promise you, if you cook that pork loin to 145 degrees, take it out, let it rest for 10-15 minutes, and then slice it up, you'll be amazed.  And, the best part, if you don't cut it all up, like leave half of it "whole", put it in the fridge.  Find someone with a meat slicer, and slice thin slices of it for your own cold meat sandwiches.  It'll be better than anything you find in the store!


**Removed picture...will try to locate a more recent cook

I can't believe nobody is talking about turning this into.... SCHNITZEL!  Buy the whole damn thing, slice into 1/4 or 3/8 inch thick chops, tenderize, rest after oiling it up a bit, salt, spice, bread, FRY and yummmmmmm so good!  It's a bit of work but if you do it in stages (ready it in the morning, let sit in the fridge all day and then fry up for dinner) it goes pretty fast.  This is a staple in our house :)

[Jack]

How do you cook [pork loin]?  Grill?  Oven?  Stove top then oven?  Crock pot (please no!)?

Yes, yes, yes and no, respectively.

Do you also have issues with cooking the shit out of it?  :)

I'm not sure what you mean. No, when my wife cooks it, it comes out nice and juicy. Yes, I take issue with the practice of overcooking it purposefully due to outdated trichinosis paranoia.

[Gerard]

I find the pork loin (the whole thing with the rib bones and the fat on the outside) only really works when roasted whole... the pale pink bit down the middle (the tenderloin) needs less cooking time (or more accurately, cooking to a lower temperature). Keeping it surrounded by bones on two sides and dark meat and fat on the other two works out great. For chops, not so much... the tenderloin portion is done way before the rest, and high heat makes the chops curl up unless you do a lot of snipping first.

So what I do instead is, butcher out the tenderloin and cook it whole according to the 10-10-10 method (10 minutes browning in a hot frypan, 10 minutes in a 450-degree oven, 10 minutes or more resting time covered), or slice it for stir-fries. The other parts (the good parts) get cubed, browned, and slow-cooked with something interesting.

To be honest, that's more what I *used* to do, but with the uneven pricing of Canadian pork nowadays, I usually buy a shoulder and cook it low and slow.

Google "pork confit" to find a way to turn on-sale pork into something awesome that will keep in your fridge for weeks and can form the base for all kinds of fast convenient meals later on.

[TheInsuranceMan]

How do you cook [pork loin]?  Grill?  Oven?  Stove top then oven?  Crock pot (please no!)?

Yes, yes, yes and no, respectively.

Do you also have issues with cooking the shit out of it?  :)

I'm not sure what you mean. No, when my wife cooks it, it comes out nice and juicy. Yes, I take issue with the practice of overcooking it purposefully due to outdated trichinosis paranoia.

Ahhh, just must be Prospector that likes it tough and dry :)

[Le Poisson]

How do you cook [pork loin]?  Grill?  Oven?  Stove top then oven?  Crock pot (please no!)?

Yes, yes, yes and no, respectively.

Do you also have issues with cooking the shit out of it?  :)

I'm not sure what you mean. No, when my wife cooks it, it comes out nice and juicy. Yes, I take issue with the practice of overcooking it purposefully due to outdated trichinosis paranoia.

Ahhh, just must be Prospector that likes it tough and dry :)

You're lucky I can take a ribbing, and that I'm tough enough not get hurt when you rub salt (or other BBQ appropriate seasonings) in my flesh. I'll gird up my loins and carry on now.

[TheInsuranceMan]

How do you cook [pork loin]?  Grill?  Oven?  Stove top then oven?  Crock pot (please no!)?

Yes, yes, yes and no, respectively.

Do you also have issues with cooking the shit out of it?  :)

I'm not sure what you mean. No, when my wife cooks it, it comes out nice and juicy. Yes, I take issue with the practice of overcooking it purposefully due to outdated trichinosis paranoia.

Ahhh, just must be Prospector that likes it tough and dry :)

You're lucky I can take a ribbing, and that I'm tough enough not get hurt when you rub salt (or other BBQ appropriate seasonings) in my flesh. I'll gird up my loins and carry on now.

I'm glad that can take the ribbing, it's all in good fun!

[MrsPete]

If I end up throwing away the extra cream

I don't know about cream, but I often have half a carton of buttermilk left over.  I freeze it.  I have a certain silicone pan that's meant for flower-shaped cupcakes.  I freeze them and then move them into a ziplock.  I know that every "flower" I take out of the freezer is 1/4 cup.