This is the first Ming Tsai recipe I ever cooked, and it remains my favorite.
Why? Three reasons.
First, it is absolutely delicious and requires no hard-to-come-by ingredients. Second, with the exception of the brining which takes a little advance planning, the meal is very quick to put together. Third, with just a little extra effort it can be quite gorgeous on the plate. For a weeknight family meal, a dollop of the pureed potatoes, a couple of slices of pork, and a spoonful of apples and you are good to go (don’t feel like making the apples, put a little Chinese Five Spice Powder into your favorite applesauce, and you’ll have an easy substitute). For a dinner party or special occasion, plate it as I have in the photo above, and its a real stunner.
A few words about brining. If you’ve never tried it before, make this the first recipe where you give it a go. Brining, especially for a low-fat meat like pork tenderloin, chicken or turkey, is an easy and wildly effective way to inject flavor and moisture to a meat that can easily turn dry and bland when cooked. I NEVER cook a turkey without brining it first, and really do find that the technique makes a world of difference to whole roasted chickens, chicken breasts, and pork tenderloins. Unless I’m really pressed for time, I make the effort to brine each of these items a day in advance. Brining adds so much flavor and moisture to meats, that once you try it once, you’ll be hooked for good. Oh…and another thing, brined meat tends to stay pink on the inside even when perfectly cooked, so trust your meat thermometer and your cooking instincts as to when a brined piece of meat is fully cooked, because the moistness and pink hue of brined meat may cause you to second guess yourself and overcook the meat.
I have taken a few liberties with Ming’s original recipe. He calls for serving it with a drizzle of chili oil, which IS delicious, but as I rarely use it as a condiment, I didn’t go through the effort of making it for this one dish. I have included his recipe if you’d like to have some around, but the dish is delicious without it, so don’t feel you have to make the effort. I also use far less cream when making the potatoes. I used to follow his recipe religiously here, but over time found that I just couldn’t bare to add that much cream to the dish.
If I only made them a few times a year that would be one thing, but we love these potatoes so much, and they go well with so many things, that we make them quite frequently. Using less cream helps me sleep better at night knowing that I’m making some effort to keep the fat calories down around here, and besides, they actually taste BETTER with less cream, as the sweet essence of the potatoes is not muted by the richness of the cream. Finally, Ming calls for a pork loin in his recipe, not a tenderloin. I much prefer cooking a few tenderloins, they are generally easier to find in most markets, and cook much more quickly to a perfect degree of doneness.
Peyton helped me pull this dish together the other night, honing her knife skills by peeling and dicing the apples and sweet potatoes, and finely mincing the ginger for the mash. Her reward, getting to flip the switch on the food processor to finish our fine puree….its always her favorite part!
Cheers – Steve
Asian Marinated Pork Loin with Gingered Sweet Potatoes and Five Spice Apples
Ingredients
Marinated Pork Loin
- 4 cups water
- 1/3 cup kosher salt
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 1 1/2 teaspoons toasted Szechwan peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon toasted black peppercorns, plus freshly ground black pepper
- 4 1/4 inch-thick slices fresh ginger
- 2 star anise
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 4 pound pork loin *(or 2-3 pork tenderloins)
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- Gingered Sweet Potatoes (recipe follows)
- Five-Spice Apples (recipe follows)
- 1/4 cup chives cut into 1-inch lengths, for garnish
- 2 tablespoons Chile Oil, for garnish (recipe follows)
Gingered Sweet Potatoes
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream *(I use only 1/2 cup, not reduced)
- 4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Five-Spice Apples
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 small red onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons five-spice powder
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed
- 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch dice
- 1 cup apple juice
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon butter
Chile Oil
- 1/2 cup chile powder, such as ancho, chimayo, or pasilla
- 1/2 tablespooon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups canola oil
Instructions
Marinated Pork Loin
- One day in advance, combine the water, salt, sugar, soy sauce, peppercorns, ginger, anise, and bay leaves in a deep baking dish large enough to hold the pork and stir to mix. Add the pork; if it is not covered, add more water. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Rinse the pork thoroughly with cold water, pat dry, and season with the ground pepper to taste. Heat a large skillet over high heat, add the oil, and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. When the oil shimmers, add the pork and brown on all sides. Transfer the pork to a roasting pan and roast just until the pork is hot through to the center (about 125 degrees F internal temperature), 25 to 30 minutes *(more like 14-15 minutes for pork tenderloins. The interior of the pork will remain pink.
- Allow the pork to rest for 10 minutes and cut into 1/4-inch slices. Divide the gingered sweet potatoes among 4 plates, surround with the pork, and add the five-spice apples. Garnish with the chives, drizzle with the chile oil, and serve.
Gingered Sweet Potatoes
- Heat a small saucepan over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the butter and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the garlic and ginger and saute, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the cream and reduce by one-third over low heat, about 10 minutes. Keep warm.
- Meanwhile, combine the sweet potatoes in a large saucepan with enough water to cover them completely. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook until they can be pierced easily with the tip of a knife, 20 to 30 minutes. Drain and trasnfer to a food processor. Add the cream and process until well blended. Add the remaining butter, season with salt and pepper, and puree until smooth. Transfer the potatoes to a bowl, correct the seasonings, and serve.
Five-Spice Apples
- For the Five-Spice Apples: Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. When the oil shimmers, add the onion and saute, stirring, until brown, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Add the five-spice powder, brown sugar, apples, and juice. Stir, season with salt and pepper to taste, and cook until the liquid is reduced by half, about 12 minutes. The apples should retain their shape and some liquid should remain in the pan; do not overcook. Stir in the butter and correct the seasonings. Serve warm.
Chile Oil
- In a medium skillet, combine the chili powder, cumin and salt, and heat over medium heat just until the mixture begins to smoke. Whisk in the oil and remove from the heat.
- Allow the chili oil to cool, transfer it to a glass jar and let it stand overnight. The oil will separate from the solids, use only the red oil.