Eggs Benedict with Rosemary Pork Loin, Orange Hollandaise and Wild Arugula Salad

We're all pretty familiar with your standard Eggs Benedict: two poached eggs over a slice of Canadian Bacon or ham, on a toasted English muffin, luxuriously topped with Hollandaise sauce. Well here is a fresh take that makes use of leftovers from Saturday evening's pork loin roast. Combine them with with farm fresh organic eggs and produce, and crusty sourdough bread to make an elegant Sunday brunch.

This recipe also uses a number of techniques that are good to have in your repertoire.

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The Difference is in the Brine

Why bother to brine a pork roast, a turkey, or a chicken?  Well, there are two reasons.  The first is that all three of these meats generally don't contain a lot of intramuscular fat and therefore tend to dry out when you roast or grill them.  Brining helps the meat to retain its juices, even if it's slightly overcooked.  The second reason is flavor.  A basic brine is made up of water, salt and sugar.  Soaking a roast, a bird, or even chops in this liquid allows the meat to become seasoned all the way through, not just on the outside.

Lately one of the things I like to keep in my larder is a pork loin roast.  A 1-1/2 to 2 lb. roast is the perfect size for my little household of two plus dog.  I brine it for about 2 hours, then sear it off, and roast it.  The whole process takes about 3 hours, largely unattended.  Properly cooled and left whole, the cooked roast with keep for about 3 days tightly wrapped in the fridge.   Then I just slice off pieces as I need to make grilled sandwiches or to have with eggs and toast.

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Pulled Pork that Practically Cooks Itself

I ordered a pork shoulder through Basis Foods a couple months ago. The online store estimated each one at about 8 or 9 lbs. But when it arrived from Mountain View Farm it was a whopping 13 lbs, and...it was frozen. So I popped it in my freezer because unless I had a special occasion or a plan to make use of all that pork, there was no way the Buddy and I were going to be able to eat all of it.

Last week I finally thawed it out. The boneless half I sliced into steaks which I used to make Char Siu, and Tasso Ham. The bone end, which weighed about 7 lbs. became the easiest pulled pork ever. I looked up David Chang's recipe for his Bo Ssam in the Momofuku Cookbook, and was truly surprised at how basic his recipe was for marinating and cooking the pork: Rub pork with salt and sugar and marinate overnight. Cook pork, in a covered pan at 300 degrees until fork tender.

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