Pork Loin

While the chops are cooking, work on the Wilted Spinach with Garlic Chips, opposite.

Feel free to swap out the green vegetable for whatever looks good. My husband, John, loves salami and really all pork in general. The only thing he likes better is a meal like this one, which combines pork and crispy salami-topped side dishes!

Pork roasts are perfect for picnics. One dish and you’re set—all you need to do is slice it and serve it (with a dollop of slaw on the side, of course). Leftovers, if there are any, make a dynamite wrap the next day. Brine the pork roast the morning you plan to serve it for dinner. The meat needs a good 6 hours to break down. Do not let it soak overnight or the pork gets too mushy. The result is the most tender pork on the planet. Serve with Corn Roasted in Its Own Jacket (page 265) if you wish.

Pork loin is one of my favorite meats to convection roast because it’s readily available and easy to handle, requiring no special trimming or cutting. If you simply season it with salt and pepper and use the same temperature and timing as with this recipe, the meat is tender and delicious. Most ovens come with a probe. When you’re roasting pork loin it’s best to use it, so that you don’t accidentally overcook the meat, making it dry rather than succulent and juicy. Set the probe to 160°F. The roast continues to cook for a few minutes once you’ve removed it from the oven. When you convection roast the pork, it is done in one-third to one-half the usual time.

Even though peameal has nothing to do with the bacon we know and love, many still refer to it as "Canadian bacon." They call it that in Canada, the place on both sides of Quebec—joking, joking....Part of the history of Montreal is an overdramatized opposition to Toronto. Maybe it's hockey, maybe it's the separatist thing, or maybe it's just a friendly rivalry. Regardless, we love Toronto. It's where our favorite butcher, Stephen Alexander, has his shops (Cumbrae's) and it's the national capital of oyster bars (Rodney's, Oyster Boy, Starfish). It's also home to Kids in the Hall, John Candy, the Black Hoof, and, of course, the Saint Lawrence Market, where you can get a peameal bacon bun with maple mustard. Peameal is not made with peas anymore. Like most aspects of life, ranging from food to plastic, peameal is being taken over by corn. We make our peameal with dried yellow peas crushed in the processor. The purpose of peas or cornmeal is to wick and dry, thus preventing spoilage. You will let the meat brine for a minimum of four full days, ninety-six hours, in the fridge. It is necessary to have a brine injector; they sell them nowadays for under ten bucks in big stores.

Stuff, roll, and wrap the butterflied pork loin one day ahead. Then, two hours before the party, roast the pork on a bed of apples, which serves as a natural rack and adds sweetness to the cider jus. Don't sweat the technique: Ask your butcher to trim and butterfly a pork loin for you, or go to bonappetit.com/go/porkloin for step-by-step photographs to learn how to butterfly and roll this beauty yourself.

Roasting skin-on pork belly that's been wrapped around a pork loin gives you the best of both worlds: crackling mahogany crust and juicy meat seasoned with fennel, chile, and orange. Start at least 24 hours ahead. First, ask your butcher for a skin-on pork belly that's just long and wide enough to wrap around a trimmed, center-cut pork loin.

Anthony Ross, executive chef at the Langham Hotel in Melbourne, once took me on a tour of the kitchen. The food there is amazing and so I asked Anthony for his recipe for pork belly tandoori as it is my favorite. He said it was quite funny because in India pork isn't really seen as a popular choice for tandoori, but in Australia it is his bestseller. I have changed the pork belly to loin as it suits the grill better.

This hearty Southwestern-style stew was created by executive chef Chad Luethje. Swap chicken for pork if you prefer.

A spiedo is a kitchen spit over an open fire that is most often used for cooking whole animals, particularly chicken. Spiedino—;literally "little spit"—refers to food cooked on skewers, which is how we like to prepare pork loin. Grilled briefly over a smoky fire, the meat takes on an addictive char that counterbalances the sweet, mellow soffritto of pine nuts, garlic, and currants.

The slight sweetness delivered by the cream in this sauce complements the sweetness of the pork loin, a characteristic intensified by roasting. The mustard in the sauce offers just the right balance of tartness. Accompany the pork loin with sautéed apples and roasted potatoes.

Craig promises that if you follow this recipe, you can make dizzyingly delicious Chinatown char siu ribs at home in the oven or on the grill. That makes them a great choice for the winter, when you've got a hankering for ribs and the smoker is snowed in. Many Chinese restaurants use spareribs that are chopped into 3- to 4-inch riblets. If you want, your butcher can make you riblets with a band saw. Craig likes baby backs for this recipe because they are a bit meatier. You can also substitute 4 pounds of pork loin for the ribs if you wish. The booze is important for the marinade because it helps penetrate the meat, and even if you're a teetotaler, don't worry—there isn't any measurable alcohol in the ribs. If you must skip it, use apple juice or water. You can buy char siu sauce at Chinese specialty stores, and it makes a fine glaze, but it doesn't make ribs that taste like Chinese restaurant ribs. That's because you need to marinate the meat in a thin sauce first.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from A Kwanzaa Keepsake by Jessica B. Harris. The traditional roast pork is given a southern accent with a crust of well–seasoned crushed pecans. Thinly sliced pork loin with a slathering of chutney makes perfect sandwiches to take to work or school.

Small, tender baby artichokes are easier to prepare than their larger counterparts. The lightness of the artichokes is delicious with the rich pork.

Cassoulet is a robust meal, filled with cured and smoked meats and sausages, baked in a stew of beans until a rich crust forms. According to tradition, the cook repeatedly breaks the crust and pushes it down into the stew.

When I was little, I would beg my mom to make pork chops, because she'd top them with this sweet, sticky condiment called Saucy Susan. It's a sort of jam made from apricots, and ever since she first combined the two ingredients, I've been obsessed with how well the fruit goes with pork. Nowadays, I pay homage to the sweet-tart flavor of the fruit by brining the loin in apricot nectar and later building upon the flavors with a glaze made from apricot preserves and lemon.

This handsome roast elicited oohs and aahs in the test kitchen when Ruggiero pulled it out of the oven, and the succulent meat disappeared in a flurry of forks. The rosemary, thyme, sage, and savory sprigs on which the pork loin roasts infuse the meat and mingle with its mustard and shallot cloak. The luscious sauce is argument enough for keeping a bottle of dry vermouth on hand.