Archive for Roasting

Easy Does It – Roast Pork Loin with Preserved Orange

February 28, 2015 at 9:23 pm · Filed under Pork, Roasting


Roast Pork Loin with Preserved Orange

Roast Pork Loin with Preserved Orange

It’s all well and good to put together large, symphonic dishes. Dishes that take lots of ingredients and lots of finicky prep. Hey, I’m a food blogger – there are more than a few of those on the Calorie Factory site – we are not immune to their lure!!

But some dishes are so perfect, so lush, so. . .prime, with just a bare minimum of work that they call out to be made.

In that spirit, I offer my version of Roast Pork Loin. I’ve made this with preserved oranges, but you could easily use orange marmalade or even fresh oranges and a bit of sweetness (maple syrup? brown sugar perhaps).

It’s super easy and remarkably good – the meat is so tender you can cut it with a spoon. It takes a while to cook, but virtually all the time is just oven time, so you can fix whatever sides you like while the meat finishes cooking.

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Factory Pot Roast and Roasted Root Vegetables

February 9, 2013 at 9:58 pm · Filed under Beef, Braise, Comfort Food, Cravings for Childhood Dishes, Down Home, Families, Parsnip, Roasting, Root Vegetables, Sweet potato, Turnip, Uncategorized ·Tagged , , , ,


Pot roast gets a bad rap in some circles. “Diner Food”, “Boring”, “Old Fashioned”, “Gramma’s Dinner Choice”, and other, equally vile epithets. I’m here to tell you that properly done, a good pot roast is a sublime thing of joy. The aroma alone makes the house sing “Dinner is cooking and you’re gonna Love It!” and the simplicity and accessibility of the dish means most eaters will dive right in with no qualms.

I’ve made pot roast perhaps two dozen times in the past decade – about twice a year is my average. Last night my audience of critical eaters was kind enough to let me know that this pot roast was the best to date. Doncha love that “to date” thing – you could probably do better, improvement is always possible, but so far, this is the one!” But I digress. . .point being, they really really liked it.

And I know why.

I’ve tried searing the meat, not searing the meat, cutting the roast into pieces, leaving it whole, using flour to dredge the meat, leaving the meat undredged, using no seasoning other than salt and pepper, using a variety of different seasonings, using boiling water, using boiling beef broth, adding tomato, not adding tomato, cooking in the oven, cooking on the stovetop, cooking with X-ray lasers. OK, I’m lying about the X-ray lasers, but wouldn’t it be cool?? Read the rest of this entry »

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