Simply the Best Pork Loin Recipe Ever
By Jerry • Oct 10th, 2007 • Category: Recipes
My wife and I have very different methodologies when it comes to cooking. I go out of my way to keep my ingredients simple, to let the flavor of the food shine as much as possible, with only minor ingredients that highlight the flavors of the key components of a dish. My wife goes recipe searching until she finds something that challenges her baker’s sensibilities, usually with a fairly extensive ingredient list and some fairly complicated steps thrown in the mix for fun. She says she does this because I do such a good job of making simple dishes. I think it’s just because her primary cooking influences are Puerto Rican, a culinary style that’s ingredient and method heavy.
I’m not complaining, my wife is an exceptional cook. I almost always have a problem tearing myself away from her dishes, and this one is no exception. As a matter of fact, I believe this is the best thing she’s ever graced my palate with and is a recipe I’ll be begging her to make often in the future.
This pork loin is oven roasted in a spicy-sweet glaze of herbs, cloves and brown sugar that to me embodies the flavors and aromas of late fall and winter. The house filled with a wonderful and heady perfume long before the dish was done, but I’ll go to my grave insisting that it was well worth the torturous wait to get to the finished product. It really doesn’t come any better than this.
Note: My wife adapted this from a recipe on the Food Network Website that was courtesy Le Central French Restaurant. The original recipe was for Pork Loin with Mushroom Fricassee, and called for a few additional steps, though I doubt these would have made an earth-shattering difference in the dish. The fricassee called for several varieties of mushrooms we didn’t have, and was skipped for this meal.
The Best Pork Loin Recipe Ever
Ingredients:
Paste: (Marinade)
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 2 tsp finely chopped garlic
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp kosher salt
Pork Loin:
- 2 tbsp Goya adobo seasoning
- 2 tbsp minced shallot
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tbsp minced fresh thyme leaves
- 1 tsp minced fresh oregano leaves
- 1 tsp minced fresh parley leaves
- 1 package pork loins (They come in twos where we get ours, but if buying a single, go for a 5 lb loin)
Method:
In a small bowl, combine shallots, garlic, thyme, oregano, adobo and parsley. Rub the mixture all over pork, pressing firmly, and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Place pork loins in a roasting pan and bake for 30 minutes. Remove pork from the oven and let stand until cool enough to touch.
Spread the paste all over the loin. Return to oven and cook until it has developed a good crust on the outside and is cooked to your desired doneness. About 25 to 30 minutes. (Place a cookie sheet under your roasting pan if it’s shallow, the brown sugar will foam after about 20 minutes in the oven, and could spill over in a shallow roasting pan.)
Remove pork from pan and let rest for 15 minutes. cut into slices, drizzle with pan juices and garnish with a sprig of thyme.
Serve immediately.
Plating:
The original recipe called for the loins to be buried in a mushroom fricassee. While that is a very French plating, I’d be ashamed to cover something this lovely with a thick sauce like that. I prefer to simply place a bit of the sauce on the plate, arrange a suitable portion in the sauce, drizzle with the pan juices, and garnish with fresh thyme or oregano (or both, if you’d like.)
Serve with something citrusy for an amazing taste combination.
What I would have done differently had I thought of it at the time:
I made a spinach and mushroom side for this dish. It was an utter disaster in flavor pairings. While good on its own (and with most other pork dishes, for that matter), the combination of spices in the sauce for the pork made the spinach taste metallic and about as unappetizing as eating iron filings.
In retrospect, I think next time I’ll go with a citrus rice, perhaps with lemon zest, thyme and a bit of fresh oregano to tie it in with the pork. I’ll report on that later, when we’ve given it a shot, but I can’t see any reason that the combination wouldn’t work well together.
Jerry is the epitome of cooking without a plan. As a matter of fact, he secretly wishes he could participate in an Iron Chef America episode, simply because it is one place where he wouldn't feel at all out of place. Not knowing the ingredients beforehand doesn't make him nervous at all. Of course, the reality is that he'd probably lose and look entirely foolish, but hey, it would still be fun!
Email this author | All posts by Jerry
Hey! Great blog. I’m making pork roast tonight, but I’ll have to try this recipe soon…looks delicious.
Goodness, Jerry, this dish has me salivating instead of ripping my hair out trying to figure out why, why, why I can’t make PDF files out of my word and excel docs. I’d rather just cook. Truly. And I’m with your talented wife. I’m a recipe reader, too. It’s how I continue to questions what I know about what works. And most of the time, it’s so much fun, I rarely turn back. But tonight I am…a nice flatiron steak with chimchurri…YUM. I just went through my stash of printed recipes I’ve tried once and liked. We’ll be swooning on garlic tonight.
Can’t wait to check out the details on this luscious looking recipe your wife found…
Jerry – that looks *fantastic*
kellypea,
It is quite seriously the best bloody pork loin I’ve ever had. Completely sumptuous and absolutely wonderful. I’m just glad the pictured do it justice.
Shawnda,
Hon, it tastes WAY better than it looks!
Oh my gosh! That looks so good. My fiancée loves experimenting with food and I am sure this something she would love to try out. It looks so good I might make it myself.
[...] came across this post – Simply the Best Pork Loin Recipe Ever – and thought it was worth sharing. I hope you find it interesting too and take the time to read [...]
Mmm, looks good! BTW, it’s palate, not palette. Love your blog.
Jennifer,
Glad you like the blog, come back as often as you like!
Thanks! My spell check assured me that was the proper spelling, but once again, context isn’t something it’s so great at guessing.
You’re right! This was absolutely fabulous. I did get a little confused with the “marinade” label initially, but the directions clearly stated the brown sugar rub was to be added during cooking. I’ll be cooking this again, and again. . . . !
Hey guys, love the site and the pork looks great. The pictures are wonderful as well. I just did a Pork Tenderloin myself with a Romesco sauce. If you have the time please come by and take a look and let me know what you think. http://cookingquest.wordpress.com
Thanks so much, I’ll be back for sure!!!
Joe
I am trying this recipe and I purchased the single 5 lb loin – so I need to cut this in 1/2 (into 2 pieces) to align with this recipe? The roasting time seems very short for a 5 lb roast – thanks
I made this tonight and it was great. The “marinade” boiled a bit, should make for fun pan cleaning, but otherwise it was a success.
I did differ from the original recipe because… well because I wasn’t paying attention. I didn’t have adobo seasoning handy so I went to the store for it (along with all the fresh ingredients). I saw one that was spicy and decided to just go with the original instead, but I failed in my attempt and grabbed the “bitter orange” flavor. Smells exactly like its named, but it doesn’t really come across as bitter after cooked. It may have changed the flavor somewhat but it was still excellent and no credit should be given to the chef because, as previously stated, I can barely shop for ingredients.
Thanks Jerry! I love every spice in this recipe except cloves (except in tiny quantities). They just seem to take over everything else. But it sounds JUST like what I was looking for…THANK YOU!
Delicious!! I made it with a side of risotto and also carmalized apples.
I rarely cook with pork because I find it boring but this one rocked!