Pork medallions

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Time for a rant about brining. If you have not tried it with pork (any pork, all pork) you are missing out on a valuable technique for flavorful and tender meat. If you insist on cooking your pork until there is no trace of pink in it, go somewhere else now - this post is not for you.

Brine for one pork tenderloin: 2 cups water, 2 tbsp kosher salt, 1 tbsp sugar; refrigerate for 4-6 hours; rinse well, dry and slice into the little gems you see above.

Saute in butter and olive oil (add some pepper and maybe paprika) for 3-4 minutes per side. The center should still be pink. It won't hurt you. If you need proof, send $20 to my PayPal account (id provided upon request).

Butter-poached pork chops

Start with a top-quality pork chop, the kind with the t-bone in it, proceed; end up with a ravishingly tasty and tender result. How? That's what I'm here to tell you.

Back in March I posted what I then called "gentle" pork chops. I dare say last night's version were the best I've ever done with a pork chop. I think some of it is the cut of meat. March's version was bone-in loin chop, whereas this time I had the classic pork chop cut, about 3/4" thick and with the tenderloin attached (that's the oval of meat just above the bone at the top of the picture).

I have an interesting idea to try sometime. I hacked off 2 bits from one side of each chop. It was mostly fat with a bit of meat running through it. These pieces I nuked for 1 minute (they had been brined and I wanted to test for saltiness). What I ended up with were 2 scrumptious bits. I'm now wondering if nuking the entire chop might be an option. That's for another day.

Butter-poached pork chops

2 pork chops, brined for 2 hours

black pepper

paprika (smoked or sweet)

1 1/2 tbsp butter

Rinse the chops under cold water and dry with paper towels. Sprinkle with pepper and paprika to taste, but don't add salt. Make sure to get them to room temperature before cooking.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high (5 on my 1-10 dial) until the butter is melted and seems ready to brown. Put the chops into the pan and immediately reduce the heat to 3.

Cook the first side about 4 minutes. Turn them and continue cooking 4-6 minutes longer. You'll need to cut a slit near the bone to ascertain doneness. If the interior of the meat is just a bit pink get the chops off the heat. Let them rest on a cutting board (but not in the pan) for 5 minutes before serving.

Broiled chicken legs and thighs

I have mentioned at least a couple of times how I pressure cook a chicken to make dog food (with brown rice and frozen vegetables). Each time I do it I save either the breast portion or the legs and thighs for human consumption.

I "borrowed" the above picture from another website. My thanks and apologies. You certainly can leave the legs and thighs attached, but I am in the habit of separating them. I don't think it particularly matters, so suit yourself.

America’s Test Kitchen did a number on what they call “picnic chicken” a few months ago. We tried it 2 or 3 times and, while it was good, it wasn’t great. The following recipe comes under the category “great” in my book. Using all the various techniques I’ve come to espouse in recent years, I made this up yesterday. It may be the best version of chicken I have ever made.

Chicken is hard to screw up. After all, you can grill, poach, roast, or fry it. The only trick is to get it cooked through but not over-cooked. If you use an instant read thermometer you should be golden.

Broiled chicken legs and thighs
2 chicken legs and 2 chicken thighs
Dry rub (recipe below)
2 tbsp salt
2 cups water

Dissolve the salt in the water and put it and the chicken in a freezer bag. Squeeze out as much air as you can, seal, and place the bag in a large bowl and then into the refrigerator for at least an hour, preferably 3 hours.

Remove and rinse the chicken with cold water. Dry the pieces well with paper towels. Place a clean paper towel on a plate and put the chicken on it. Coat the chicken with the dry rub. Put the plate of chicken into the refrigerator uncovered for an hour or two. Remove 45 minutes before cooking and allow to come to room temperature.

Preheat the broiler and place the oven rack on the second location below the heating element. This is important: if you use the top location the chicken will burn. Here’s a hint about broiling in the oven: if you close the oven door the heating element in an electric oven will cycle on and off and you will be baking more than broiling. Every oven I’ve ever had has a position for the door which leaves it open a few inches. The purpose for this door setting is clearly for broiling. With the oven door ajar the heating element will remain on throughout the cooking time. It has been years since I've had a gas oven (although I would prefer to have one), so I'm not sure if the gas broiler element will cycle off if the door is closed. If you don't know about your gas oven, do a test run.

Put the chicken on a wire rack on a raised-sided baking sheet. Place under the broiler. Broil for 5 minutes and then rotate the pan 180°. Broil 5 more minutes and then turn the chicken pieces over. Broil for 5 minutes and turn your oven to “bake” and set the temperature to 350°. Close the oven door and allow to continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Check the internal temperature. If it has reached 160° remove it from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes. If it’s not quite there, just leave it in the oven for a few more minutes with the oven turned off.

Dry rub
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp dried parsley flakes
1 ½ tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp ground white or black pepper
PLEASE NOTE: do not add salt to the chicken after brining.

Mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl.

For a free excerpt of my book, “A Year of Food,” in which I opine, report, cook, muse and philosophize about everything that passed my lips for an entire year, write to me at: scrout1944@msn.com.