BBQ Bistro: Simple, Sophisticated French Recipes for Your Grill (2015)
CHAPTER 12
PORC
PORK
Basque-Style Pork Paillards with Red Peppers
Pork Chops Rapide with Port Cherry Sauce
Char-Grilled, Thick-Cut Pork Chops with Corn Japonaise
Pork Tenderloin Roulade with Frilly Greens and Fresh Herbs
Grill-Roasted Pork Loin, Périgord-Style
Sweet and Sticky Ribs
Certain regions of France are more known for their pork dishes than others. Normandy in northern France celebrates pork in sausages, pâté, and pork tenderloin cooked with apples. Alsace-Lorraine loves pork and sauerkraut, or roast pork with plums and cabbage. In the Loire Valley, pork loin is cooked with prunes.
Even ham shows regional preferences. Bayonne ham from the Pyrenees is brined with red wine and herbs, rubbed with a little Espelette (a dried red pepper), smoked for two weeks, then left to dry like an American country ham or prosciutto. Ham from the Ardennes is more heavily smoked. Ham from Paris is sweeter and more moist, like the traditional American Easter ham.
The recipes in this chapter show the regional flavors you’d find in bistro pork dishes but with the added flavor of the grill. Basque-Style Pork Paillards with Red Peppers (page 174) pair sweet pork with tangy peppers. Pork Chops Rapide get a Port Cherry Sauce (page 175). The light and elegant Pork Tenderloin Roulade with Frilly Greens and Fresh Herbs (page 179) is very different from the rich and meaty Grill-Roasted Pork Loin, Périgord-Style (page 181) that tastes of garlic and truffles.
Pork dishes with a French bistro twist are very much at home on the American grill.
BASQUE-STYLE PORK PAILLARDS WITH RED PEPPERS
THE BASQUE REGION IN THE SOUTHWESTERN PART OF FRANCE BORDERING SPAIN produces robust foods. Farm-fresh meats and day-boat fish are grilled over hot coals, and there is an abundance of tomatoes and sweet or hot red peppers in many dishes. Serve a triple recipe of Garden Tomato Salad (page 70) or Provençal Grill-Roasted Tomatoes (page 108) along with the pork. Paillard is French term meaning a very thin boneless, skinless piece of meat. On French bistro menus, you usually see chicken paillards, but at home you can easily make pork paillards from the loin. Cut ½ inch (1 cm) thick, pork paillards grill in just 5 minutes over a hot fire.
SERVES 6
2 pounds (1 kg) boneless pork loin, cut into ½-inch-thick (1 cm) steaks
Olive oil for brushing
Kosher or sea salt
Smoked paprika
4 red bell peppers, cored, seeded, and cut into eighths lengthwise (about 1½ pounds/750 g)
2 lemons, halved
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Prepare a hot fire in your grill.
Lightly brush the pork paillards with olive oil and season to taste with salt and smoked paprika. Set aside.
Lightly brush the pepper strips with olive oil and season to taste with salt.
Grill the pepper strips in an oiled grill wok or basket over the direct fire for about 10 to 12 minutes, tossing with long-handled wooden spoons in the grill wok or flipping the grill basket over from time to time.
Grill the pork paillards for 2½ minutes per side, turning once, until just a hint of pink remains inside.
Grill the lemon halves, cut-side down for about 2 or 3 minutes.
To serve, layer the pork paillards down the center of a platter and arrange the grilled pepper strips and lemon halves on either side. Squeeze some lemon juice over all and sprinkle the pork with the chopped parsley.
PORK CHOPS RAPIDE WITH PORT CHERRY SAUCE
WHEN YOU ARE IN A HURRY, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO FORSAKE THE IDEA OF A delicious meal. Start at the butcher shop and buy four small butterflied pork chops, and then get a baguette at the bakery. Three different cheeses with Champagne grapes can do double duty as either an appetizer or as the cheese course after dinner. The Port Cherry Sauce ingredients can be staples in your pantry to whip up this sauce in less than 15 minutes—while the pork chops go on and off the grill. Serve the pork chops with a green salad and the rest of the evening is ooh-la-la!
SERVES 4
4 butterflied pork chops (6 ounces/175 g each), about ½ inch (1 cm) thick
Olive oil for brushing
Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Port Cherry Sauce
1 cup (175 g) dried, tart cherries
½ cup (125 ml) port wine
¼ cup (60 g) sugar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Prepare a medium-hot fire in your grill.
Lightly oil the pork chops and season with salt and pepper and set aside.
For the Port Cherry Sauce, bring ½ cup (125 ml) of water to a boil. Add the dried cherries and cook for 5 minutes over low heat until the cherries are plump. Add the port wine, sugar, and lemon juice to the pan and continue to simmer for 10 minutes or until the sauce slightly thickens. Remove from heat and set aside.
Grill the pork chops over the fire for about 2 minutes per side, turning only once. The chops should still be slightly pink in the center. Serve with the Port Cherry Sauce.
CHAR-GRILLED, THICK-CUT PORK CHOPS WITH CORN JAPONAISE
IN THE 1880s, ARTISTS CLAUDE MONET, EDWARD DEGAS, AND VINCENT VAN GOGH AS well as sculptor Auguste Rodin discovered and then collected Japanese prints. There was something about the Japanese aesthetic that appealed to them and influenced their work. Here, the Japanese flavor of miso—fermented soy that has a flavor like dried mushrooms or Worcestershire sauce—gives this bistro barbecue dish an exotic twist. Decadent, thick-cut pork chops are a main stay on restaurant and bistro menus. Sear these thick, bone-in chops over a medium-hot fire, and then finish them on the indirect side. Although corn is infrequently seen on Parisian bistro menus, we think that with a slather of White Miso Butter (page 47) it hits just the right flavor note. Keep the husks on the corn as you grill them. The heat from the grill makes the silks come right off when you peel back the husks, saving you the usual prep time of picking out those pesky strands of silk.
SERVES 4
4 (10-ounce/300-g) bone-in pork chops, about 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick
4 teaspoons olive oil
4 teaspoons Three-Peppercorn Rub (page 23)
4 ears fresh corn-on-the-cob in the husk, ½ pound (250 g) each
1 recipe White Miso Butter (page 47), prepared
Prepare a medium-hot indirect fire in your grill.
Brush the pork chops with olive oil and sprinkle with Three-Peppercorn Rub.
Grill for 4 minutes per side, rotating a quarter turn after 2 minutes on each side for crosshatch grill marks. Move the chops to the indirect side of the grill and close the lid. Grill for another 10 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part of a chop registers 145°F (65°C) for medium-rare, or until desired doneness.
Grill the corn directly over the fire while you are grilling the pork chops. Turn the ears until the husks are browned, about 10 to 12 minutes. When ready to serve, pull the husks back to make a handle and serve with White Miso Butter for slathering on the corn, along with the peppery pork chops.
PORK TENDERLOIN ROULADE WITH FRILLY GREENS AND FRESH HERBS
FORMAL. COMPOSED. AESTHETICALLY PLEASING. THAT’S THE FRENCH WAY. AND here is a grill version. A roulade—a boneless pork or turkey breast butterflied, pounded thin, stuffed, rolled, and grilled—looks beautiful when it is sliced into rounds so you can see the colors of the stuffing in spirals. You can have your butcher butterfly a pork tenderloin, but it’s easy enough to do yourself. Simply cut each pork tenderloin halfway through, lengthwise, so you can open the tenderloin like a book. Using a meat mallet or a sturdy saucer, pound the butterflied tenderloin until it is an even thickness all the way through, about ½ inch (1 cm) thick. Served with a salad of Frilly Greens and Fresh Herbs, this is bistro barbecue meets cuisine minceur or healthy cooking.
SERVES 6
Suggested wood: Apple, almond, or oak
2 boneless pork tenderloins butterflied and pounded thin, 2 pounds (1 kg)
Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 garlic cloves, slivered
3 tablespoons chopped fresh herb leaves like oregano, marjoram, chervil, and/or snipped chives
Olive oil for brushing
Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Frilly Greens and Fresh Herbs
2 cups (500 ml) fresh parsley leaves, torn from a large bunch of flat-leaf parsley
½ cup (125 ml) assorted fresh herb leaves like oregano, marjoram, chervil, and/or snipped chives
1 head green or red leaf lettuce, leaves freshly torn
1 small head of frisée, leaves freshly torn
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Prepare an indirect fire with a kiss of smoke (page 15) in your grill and add your desired type of wood. (Replenish the wood chips as necessary.)
Lay each butterflied tenderloin, cut-side up, on a work surface and season with salt and pepper. Arrange the garlic evenly over the meat and sprinkle with fresh herbs. Starting with a long side, roll up jellyroll-style. Tie the roll together at intervals with kitchen string. Brush the exterior with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
On the hot or direct side, grill the roulades for 2 minutes per side, turning a quarter turn at a time, or until the roulades have good grill marks.
Transfer the roulades to a disposable aluminum pan. When you see the first wisp of smoke, place the pan on the indirect side of the grill. Close the lid and smoke for about 1 to 1½ hours, or until a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the meat registers 145°F (65°C) for medium-rare, or until your desired doneness. Transfer to a cutting board, tent with foil, and let rest for 10 minutes. (While the meat rests, it will continue to cook for another few degrees, so keep that in mind.)
To make the Frilly Greens and Fresh Herbs, place the herbs and lettuce in a large bowl. Drizzle with the lemon juice and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and toss to lightly coat the greens.
To serve, slice the pork roulades into 1-inch-thick (2.5 cm) slices and serve with the herbs and greens on the side.
The tenderloins may also be refrigerated for up to 2 days and served cold.
VARIATION:
Instead of slow-smoked butterflied pork tenderloin roulades, simply season the whole pork tenderloins with salt and pepper and place in a large sealable plastic bag. Add the garlic and chopped herbs and drizzle with enough olive oil to lightly coat the pork. Refrigerate for 1 hour or up to 6 hours. Let the pork come to room temperature before grilling. Remove from marinade and grill over a medium-hot fire for 5 minutes per side, turning a quarter turn at a time or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the tenderloin registers 145°F (65°C).
GRILL-ROASTED PORK LOIN, PÉRIGORD-STYLE
WHEN WE CAME ACROSS A RECIPE CALLED ENCHAUD PÉRIGOURDIN (POT ROAST Périgord-style) in Anne Willan’s French Regional Cooking, we were struck by how delicious it would be on the grill. A pork loin, perfumed with slivers of garlic the night before, is grill-roasted to a juicy, caramelized turn. If you have a rotisserie attachment on your grill, see the variation on the next page on how to set that up. But you can simply place the pork loin on the indirect side of your grill and let it grill-roast until done. Périgord, in southwestern France, is a region known for duck confit, foie gras, and truffles. Indeed, writes Willan, the holiday version of this dish calls for the pork to be butterflied, pounded thin, spread with a truffled meat stuffing, then cooked. We simply slather this with White Truffle Aioli (page 31) as it grills.
SERVES 6
1 (3-pound/5-kg) boneless pork loin roast
Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 large garlic cloves, cut into slivers
1 recipe White Truffle Aioli (page 31), prepared
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Fresh thyme sprigs, for garnish
The day before you want to grill, sprinkle the pork loin with salt and pepper. Using a paring knife, make small incisions in the surface of the meat and insert a sliver of garlic. Wrap the pork loin in plastic wrap and refrigerate to allow the garlic flavor to permeate the meat.
Prepare an indirect fire in your grill.
Unwrap the pork loin and place it in an aluminum pan. In a small bowl, mix the White Truffle Aioli with the dried thyme. Slather the surface of the meat with about a third of the White Truffle Aioli mixture. Place the pan on the indirect or no-heat side of the grill. Close the lid and grill-roast for 45 minutes. Open the lid and slather the pork loin with another third of the White Truffle Aioli mixture. Close the lid and grill-roast for another 45 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the meat registers 145°F (65°C) for medium-rare, or until your desired doneness. Transfer to a cutting board, tent with foil, and let rest for 10 minutes.
Carve into slices and arrange them shingled, or overlapping, on a platter garnished with fresh thyme sprigs. Serve any remaining aioli alongside the pork.
VARIATION:
For Rotisserie Pork Loin, Périgord-Style, set up your grill for rotisserie grilling (page 18). Instead of placing the pork loin in a disposable aluminum pan, insert the rotisserie rod or spit through the center of the pork loin and attach the spit to the rotisserie. Slather the surface of the meat with about a third of the White Truffle Aioli mixture. Place a drip pan under the pork loin and fill it with water to reach a depth of 2 inches (5 cm). Prepare a medium-hot fire in your grill. Start the rotisserie and close the lid and grill-roast for 45 minutes. Open the lid and slather the pork loin with another third of the White Truffle Aioli mixture. Close the lid and grill-roast for another 45 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the meat registers 145°F (65°C) for medium-rare, or until your desired doneness. Transfer to a cutting board, tent with foil, and let rest for 10 minutes.
Carve into slices and arrange them shingled, or overlapping, on a platter garnished with fresh thyme sprigs. Serve any remaining aioli alongside the pork.
SWEET AND STICKY RIBS
OUR COOKBOOK CLUB LOVED LUNCH IN PARIS BY ELIZABETH BARD. IT IS A LOVE story with the most delicious collection of recipes. We’ve adapted her oven-roasted rib recipe for the grill and added some traditional BBQ seasonings like celery salt and paprika. Serve the ribs with Grilled Red and Savoy Cabbage with Roquefort and Celery Seed Dressing (page 78) or a bistro salad of your choice. Use needle-nose pliers to grab the membrane on the underside of each rack of ribs and pull it off in one motion. This is easiest to do when the ribs are cold. Once they warm up, the membrane breaks apart, making it an exasperating task. One last tip—use two large aluminum foil pans placed one on top of the other for sturdier transport and holding of the ribs.
SERVES 6
½ cup (125 ml) dark honey
¼ cup (50 ml) olive oil
¼ cup (50 ml) red wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed with the back of a knife
1½ teaspoons celery salt
1 teaspoon paprika
4 pounds (2 kg) baby back ribs, trimmed and membrane removed
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
In a bowl, combine honey, oil, vinegar, garlic, celery salt, and paprika.
Cut the ribs into individual pieces and place in a large sealable plastic bag and pour in the marinade. Add the rosemary sprigs and seal the bag. Refrigerate for 1½ hours, turning occasionally.
Prepare an indirect medium fire in your grill.
Pour the marinade from the ribs into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat.
Arrange the ribs in a single layer in a large aluminum pan. Pour the hot marinade over the ribs.
Place the pan of ribs on the indirect side of the grill and grill-roast for about 2 to 2½ hours, turning the ribs once or twice and turning the pan 180 degrees halfway through the roasting time. If the sticky sauce starts to get too brown your fire may be too hot. Turn down the fire and add a few spoonfuls of water to the sauce and stir to blend. The ribs are done when the meat at the ends of the ribs starts to pull away from the bone. Serve at once. Or refrigerate the ribs and serve cold the next day with buttered bread, pickles, and an ice-cold glass of Bière de Garde.