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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Class Goes Full Circle

OMG! I am so lucky! I got this email from the manager of Radius 10, and it said that Chef Jason Brumm, and sous chef were offering cooking class every Saturday! I waited a day or 2 and then I emailed back to sign up for the Feb 10th class. I was rejected, it was full. I was so bummed out, but I emailed back and asked to be wait-listed, and I was going to wait until March to try again. To my surprise, the manager fit me into A NEW CLASS on Feb 3! I was so lucky! I got to go to the inaugural, first, initial class starring THE AMAZING SPECIAL Dish of KOBE BEEF and Chef Jason's GRITS TO DIE FOR! OMG! Did I say OMG? Yeah, that is an understatement. Really folks, if you recall my last post about Radius 10, and how I felt like Sabrina, well, this was like being Sabrina and then being invited to Martha's Vineyard for real, not just a ploy by Linus! I jumped for joy! What was I going to wear? What was the perfect set of earrings? Did my pen have enough ink? Was the battery in my digi-camera charged up?


Here is the menu. Sounds simple enough... salad, beef, grits, and a chocolate cake. Well, OMG, it was so fantastic!

Chef Jason has the same philosophy about salads as I do. I like a dressing, but just enough to barely coat the lettuce, and to let the salad greens flavor come through. The Radius 10 house dressing is a Greek lemon-ette (no vinegar so it is not a vinagrette) that is light, fresh and yummy! Sous Chef topped the salad with a a little goat cheese, but not too much, so the balance was right on. The salad is simple, straight forward, and perfect.

On to the main course. Chef Jason is showing me the beautiful marbling of the Kobe Beef short rib. This one has been deboned, but I think that I would like to try to make the dish with bone in, as I am a firm believer that meat with bone has an enhanced flavor.

In the demonstration, the Kobe Beef is browned on both sides. I learned that the reason why things stick to a pan, or not brown is that there is not enough heat. Turn it up and the item will release from the pan. It is true, I tried it! After browning, a mirepoix, stock and wine was added to deglaze, and the herb and spice base to the dish is orange peel, cinnamon, and star anise. All this goodness goes into a big dutch oven in the oven for hours as a braise. The liquid in the dutch oven reduces down to make a very flavorful sauce for the dish.

The grits, OMG! I had these grits about a year ago at an art opening, and I could not forget them. They were just TOO GOOD! I mean, I kept eating them. The next day I ran out and bought grits, polenta, masa, and corn, trying to figure out how Chef Jason made his grits, but to no avail. NOW, after the class, I KNOW! OMG! I haven't made them yet at home because, well, how do I say this, there may be a few fat grams involved. So, as you can see in the above picture, there base for the grits is cream (full 100% fatted cream) and butter. Once the grits are cooked, Chef Jason finishes off the grits with a little grated truffles right before serving. OMG! I cannot get enough of these grits! Chef Jason's GRITS ARE THE GOLD STANDARD of all GRITS! Holy Mackerel.

Here is a photo o f the finished dish. Kobe Beef shortribs on a bed of grits, and topped with an onion compote. The sauce was so flavorful, blended and condensed, that it just took on a life of it's own. I could not tell the indiviual ingredients in the sauce because the whole was greater than its parts.

This dessert recipe is brilliant. It has eggs, butter, flour and 70% chocolate in it. The batter can be made up 1 or 2 days ahead of time, then, when ready to bake, just pour some batter in ramekins while your guests are saying great dinner and I want some decaf. And *poof*, 6 minutes later, there are individual warm moltony chocolate cake for everyone to enjoy.

When I got there, I had plans to jog after the class. Well, that all went to the wayside, and I went home for a nap.

I cannot take another class until May. boo-hoo for me. BUT, you know that when I get another email in April for May classes, I am so IN! I am emailing that instant to take another calls with Chef Jason, and learn the secrets of his food.


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Radius10

Radius 10
The Gulch
11th Ave So and McGavock
Nashville, TN
615-259-5105

UPDATE: This restaurant is closed, and there is another restaurant in its place.

Radius 10 has been open for over a year, and is probably considered one of the dining locations to see and be seen in the music biz world of Nashville. The room and style of this place is urban, industrial, airy, sunny and visually minimalistically pleasing. It seems to have attracted the power players of Nashville.

I drive near this place everyday, and I park my car where I can see this place everyday. I get into my car at the end of each workday, I look across the railroad exchange yard that sits between my car and Radius 10, and I can see movers and shakers, and I can see hipsters starting their evening with a cocktail at the Radius 10 bar and patio. I imagine these people starting their evening out at Radius 10, and having power play conversations about who is going to keep the country music industry moving, and who is going to be dumped. I imagine the power people making power decisions for what the music landscape is going to be for the next year.

Everyday I leave work, I wonder who these people are, and what they are eating and drinking at Radius 10, and what their lives are like. I feel like the young Sabrina looking through the hedgerow stealing peeks at David and Linus and all their business friends who are wheeling and dealing during one of their posh cocktail parties.

I have been wanting to try Radius 10 for a long while, but as days passed, I felt more like the country mouse, and that I would not fit in. What the heck was I going to do? What anyone in my position would do, I lifted my head high, grabbed my camera, made a lunch reservation (cuz I heard this place was expensive, but lunch was cheaper), grabbed my friend - who happens to be the corporate attorney (gotta to have the mover and shaker factor, so lucky for me she decided on a mover and shaker profession, although she is very kind and I can't believe she is an attorney), and set out to taste food at Radius 10.

We both were impressed with what the chef/owner Brumm has done with this former loading dock and warehouse space. We were greeted by a very friendly and welcoming hostess, who seated us in the best seat of the house; it was centered by the big windows overlooking the railyard and my car. She asked if we have dined at Radius 10 before, and we said no. She was so nice, and said that she was happy that we decided to dine today, and that she hopes to see more of us, treating us like the Larabee's special guests. How strange it was to be seated where others have sat before, while I looked from afar, just imagining the Larabee-esque diner's lives. Our waiter too, he just treated us like we were his favorite cousins coming to visit him at his home. He told us he was happy that we wanted to dine at Radius 10, and he hopes that we would come again. He was just like the hostess, they said all this in a way that I believe them, and it wasn't some line the owner wanted them to say. What nice service we got!

On to the food. I decided to get the fried chicken and cheddar mac appetizer, and a fresh sea scallop salad. Each dish was large enough for a meal, so next time I know I need to order only one. The chicken and mac combo was a large bowl. The mac was made with cheddar, cream, country ham, asparagus, saucer pasta, and scallions which was topped with a few pieces of fried white meat chicken tenders accompanied with a homemade course mustard and honey dipping sauce. Fantastic! This $6 dish is the definitition of haute comfort food. It is familiar, yet complex. It made me feel cozy, yet sophisticated. I AM IMPRESSED! I LOVE THIS DISH!

I had to box up my chicken mac because it was too much, so I got to enjoy the splendor of the dish again at home! ;-) My next dish was a seared scallop salad. The greens were fresh. The scallops were cooked just right. The searing was beautiful with a delicate caramelization on the outside of each scallop, the center of the scallop was just cooked (not overcooked) and the scallop was still moist and tender. It was the perfect prepartion of a scallop! Just PERFECT!

The interior design, the hostess, the waiter, and the food just added to the stories I have made up in my mind about Radius 10 being the Larabee's estate. When I left, I really felt like Sabrina when she got back from France, sophisticated and invited to one of the posh Larabee cocktail parties. Just like Sabrina, the dining experience was everything I could have imagined as I looked on from my car from the other side of the railyard.