I took last weekend almost entirely off from cooking, feeling a great need to engage in some sloth. But, just to give myself sandwich makings, I decided to do a small pork roast in the slow cooker. I further decided to brine my roast - that is, soak it in a saline solution before cooking - to try to get the enhanced moistness the method is said to provide. I found a brine recipe on the Internet and enhanced the brining solution with a couple of tablespoons of chile-garlic puree. I left the roast in the brine for about 24 hours in the refrigerator.
Result 1: The cooked roast was nicely moist, and has remained so throughout the week. I don't know for sure that the brine was the biggest difference, but I am inclined to think it was.
Result 2: If the hot sauce I'd spiked my brine in made any difference to the taste of the cooked meat, it was too subtle for me.
Conclusion: In the future, I will brine raw pork on most occasions when I have the time.
We did a pork roast on the rotisserie this week and it turned out ok. It was too bland for me so I hear ya on the subtle factor. I had decided to do one in the crock pot in the future but hadn't thought about brining!
ReplyDeleteDagnabit! Now I'm hungry. Gee thanks! :P
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