Foodsploit – Pork steaks and hot garlic spinach

Right, I should probably be writing about my trip to heidelberg and post pictures, but I’m not going to. Why? Because I’m tired, that takes more energy, and I can do this one fairly quickly. Also, I didn’t take any pictures for this foodsploit. Sorry!

I was trying to use what I had around the house, which happened to be pork steaks and spinach (and other veggies, but nothing worth cooking. More salad type stuff. Which is why I had the spinach.)

For the pork, after letting it thaw all day so it was more or less at room temperature, I decided to go with my favorite, reasonably quick method of cooking: pan frying. Which, incidentally, is almost the only technique I’ve used for these things. I should branch out. I hit the steaks with canola oil and some store-purchased spice grinders: A steak one for one of the steaks, a steak one with chili pepper added for the second, and garlic/sea salt/chili pepper/pepper combo for the final one. I used the canola oil because I didn’t want the oil flavoring the steaks this time, and that was the highest smoke point oil without much flavor that I’ve been able to find at the store, thus far. Apparently, according to this random and unknowably accurate website, I should try and find some semi-refined sunflower oil or something.

Anyway, I left that to sit for awhile to draw out the juices, and played some video games.

I came back after 20-30 minutes, put a fat chunk of butter in the cast iron skillet on low-ish heat. I melted the butter all the way, and had a small pool of it consistently across the pan. I then turned up the heat, and right as the butter started browing, I put the pork in. The theory was, that I’d give it a nice crust, and then turn the heat down to finish the job. Probably would’ve worked better with a different pan and a gas stove, come to think of it.

For the spinach, I cooked it down in a mixture of olive oil, butter, and garlic from a chili garlic oil jar. It was surprisingly bland, actually. Sadly. Some salt and a little vinegar made it better, but it wasn’t special.

The pork turned out ok. It was not tender, but not tough, and the flavoring was more delicate than I’d been hoping in terms of spices. I think I need to marinate the thick pork steaks, and maybe even beat them up a bit. I need to read my alton brown again.

Anyway, not a total success, but a good meal non-the-less.