Pork - Radius 10 style

After the cooking class with Chef Jason Brumm of Radius 10, I decided to try making a variation of his famous braised Kobe Beef Short Ribs, and Grits, but without the Kobe Beef and without the Grits. I used the same spice base has he did. I used star anise, orange peel and cinnamon as the stars of this dish. I am excited about using star anise because the only 2 things I ever used it for was Chinese Roasted Duck, and Chocolate Cookies. To be able use star anise in other cooking is awesome!


One thing about my cooking is that I am incredibly lazy, but I want my food to taste good and have a good texture. The way I made this dish is fairly lazy, as I use the dump and forget-it method. I never get hung up on the exact measurements of anything because most cooking isn't an exact experiment in chemistry class. I rarely ever measure anything. Baking, well, that is a different story that may require measuring, but regular old fashioned cooking stems from dumping a hunk of something over an open fire, and then eating it. OK, so I may be a bit of a lazy cook liking the dump and eat method, but I do comb Nashville markets for the best ingredients I can get, and I mail order the best spices, oils and cheeses.

That is my preferred method of cooking. Dump it on heat, when done, eat it.

Lannae's Lazy Pork Tenderloin, the dump and go method. The basic dish feeds 6 people and includes the following ingredients:

1 1/2 lb browned pork tenderloin, cut into 1/4 lb pieces
small whole raw mushrooms
1-2 cups Mirpoix (diced) to deglaze
1 cup red wine to deglaze
2 cups pork stock (beef or chicken is fine too) to deglaze
Drops of vinegar to deglaze
Drops of real Grade B Maple Syrup (or sugar, not fake stuff) to deglaze
Garlic whole cloves, use at will
2 whole star anise
1 orange peel
pinch of cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
2 whole clove
Bay leaf
Fresh or dried thyme at will
Crushed dried red peppers at will
salt and pepper at will
whatever you herb or spice you think goes
cornstarch to thicken gravy

METHOD: Dump browned pork and raw mushrooms in a dutch oven. Dump deglaze stuff on top. Dump everything else in the dutch oven. Stir once. Cover. Put in 325F oven for 3 hours. DO NOT OPEN. Eat orange and leftover celery. Go to a movie, or do something fun for 3 hours.

When the pork is done, and nearly falling apart, put the dutch oven on the stove, and thicken the gravy with a little corn starch. When thick, cover, and set aside off the heat, and make the rest of the meal.

I made roasted diced root vegetables of carrots, daikon, beets, yam, turnip, parsnip, garlic and onions. I added a leek for color and a lovely carmelized flavor when roasted. I tossed with Spanish Arbequina olive oil which is very flavorful, thyme and salt and pepper. If you don't have flavorful olive oil, you can try Goya brand Spanish Olive Oil which is the most flavorful bulk olive oil I have tried. The olive oil is a flavoring and a herb flavor carrier in the dish, and it is not meant to be used to grease anything. Anyway, I dumped the veggies on a pan, roasted for 25 min in a 500F oven, stirring once.

Ta da. Roasted root veggies with leeks. Yum.

Here is my plate of root veggies, Jasmine rice and the pork with gravy dish. I definitely deviated from the Radius 10 recipe because I really needed to drop the fat grams for my regular home cooking. This meal can be very lean as long as the olive oil is used sparingly on the root veggies. The pork is a lean cut and you don't need a lot of oil in the pan to brown the pork as long as the pan is REALLY HOT.

A Great Success!

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Pork
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Root Vegetables