It seems like the Atomic Buffalo Turds, along with Meathead's popper recipe here, are extremely popular. On Super Bowl weekend, I lost track of the number of folks planning one or the other. And I just love the things. But how do we turn that into an entree that is something a little more than just eating a huge plate of ABT's (not that there's anything wrong with that)?
I'd been thinking for a month or so about doing a stuffed pork loin with the stuffing recreating much of what's in an ABT. And since I'm pretty much fully withdrawn from going out of the house for now, today was a great opportunity to try for the first time. When I filled my freezer with provisions, I included a 5.2 lb pork loin that I cut in half before freezing since I'm only cooking for two right now. The piece flattened a bit in the freezer before freezing, so it was oblong before I cut into it. I haven't opened up a loin for stuffing before, so I think this cut went about as well as I could have hoped for:
Dry brining went about 7 hours.
For the filling, I pan roasted a seeded poblano, four seeded red chiles and the last poor jalapeno my grocery store had on my last shopping trip (maybe it was Tuesday and then cases of the virus popped up here in Gainesville) with its seeds still intact.
I chopped the peppers and mixed with 8 slices of bacon roughly chopped, some green onions and fresh parsley into two 8 oz packages of cream cheese and a 2 cup bag of grated colby jack. I added a little dried basil, coriander powder and some freshly ground pepper. The filling was substantial and relatively stiff to work with:
So I put a light dusting of Memphis Dust Rub on the inside layer and then slathered on the filling:
I have to admit that I was really shocked it would roll back up to look so much like a pork loin. I used short water-soaked bamboo skewers to hold it together:
I cooked at 350 with a couple of huge chunks of hickory and pulled at an internal temperature of 140. I had been planning to go on as high as 160 if needed with a sear if I didn't like the bark, but I loved the look at 140:
There was very good bark on the underside and reasonable on the top. There's a hint of a smoke ring, which isn't bad since the cook went barely over an hour.
The filling, though, clearly got too soft. The amount that oozed out while cooking didn't bother me, but it stayed too soft for too long, so that my plating picture, once again, falls short:
The flavor was outstanding. We'll have several more meals of this, and there's even some of the cilantro lime rice and Brussels sprouts (cooked in the saved bacon fat, of course) to go with it. I definitely want to keep working on this recipe to turn it into a fun dish for entertaining when that sort of thing is possible again.
So, how do I fix the soft filling issue? Do I just wait a good 30 minutes before serving, and serve close to room temperature? The filling had gotten to a perfect consistency on the parts left on the cutting board after we ate.
Or do I mix in some kind of binder? Bread crumbs? Masa? I'm sure someone here will have the perfect fix.
I'd been thinking for a month or so about doing a stuffed pork loin with the stuffing recreating much of what's in an ABT. And since I'm pretty much fully withdrawn from going out of the house for now, today was a great opportunity to try for the first time. When I filled my freezer with provisions, I included a 5.2 lb pork loin that I cut in half before freezing since I'm only cooking for two right now. The piece flattened a bit in the freezer before freezing, so it was oblong before I cut into it. I haven't opened up a loin for stuffing before, so I think this cut went about as well as I could have hoped for:
Dry brining went about 7 hours.
For the filling, I pan roasted a seeded poblano, four seeded red chiles and the last poor jalapeno my grocery store had on my last shopping trip (maybe it was Tuesday and then cases of the virus popped up here in Gainesville) with its seeds still intact.
I chopped the peppers and mixed with 8 slices of bacon roughly chopped, some green onions and fresh parsley into two 8 oz packages of cream cheese and a 2 cup bag of grated colby jack. I added a little dried basil, coriander powder and some freshly ground pepper. The filling was substantial and relatively stiff to work with:
So I put a light dusting of Memphis Dust Rub on the inside layer and then slathered on the filling:
I have to admit that I was really shocked it would roll back up to look so much like a pork loin. I used short water-soaked bamboo skewers to hold it together:
I cooked at 350 with a couple of huge chunks of hickory and pulled at an internal temperature of 140. I had been planning to go on as high as 160 if needed with a sear if I didn't like the bark, but I loved the look at 140:
There was very good bark on the underside and reasonable on the top. There's a hint of a smoke ring, which isn't bad since the cook went barely over an hour.
The filling, though, clearly got too soft. The amount that oozed out while cooking didn't bother me, but it stayed too soft for too long, so that my plating picture, once again, falls short:
The flavor was outstanding. We'll have several more meals of this, and there's even some of the cilantro lime rice and Brussels sprouts (cooked in the saved bacon fat, of course) to go with it. I definitely want to keep working on this recipe to turn it into a fun dish for entertaining when that sort of thing is possible again.
So, how do I fix the soft filling issue? Do I just wait a good 30 minutes before serving, and serve close to room temperature? The filling had gotten to a perfect consistency on the parts left on the cutting board after we ate.
Or do I mix in some kind of binder? Bread crumbs? Masa? I'm sure someone here will have the perfect fix.
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