A simple night at home on New Year’s Eve

So what did you make for dinner on New Year’s Eve?

I was back in sous vide land, this time with a large pork tenderloin. We had bought it on a 2-for-1 sale at Safeway several months ago, and it’s been sitting in the freezer. I’ve shied away from making it for guests because it’s hard to cook a tenderloin “just right.”

But after the previous night’s relative success with a piece of halibut, I decided to try the pork cooked sous vide. I set it at 138 degrees (F) for 2 hours and 20 minutes.

When the time was almost up, I washed and sliced some mushrooms, dropped them into a pan with a bit of olive oil, garlic, and a sprinkle of granulated air-dried shallots from Penzey’s, the spice store. Oh, I also added a bit of anchovy, along with the juice of a good-size lemon. Then in went a half cup of white wine and a similar amount of low sodium chicken broth, and it all simmered until the liquid was reduced by at least half.

At that point the pork was done. I removed it from the water, patted it dry with a paper towel. I took the liquid from the bag it was cooked in and added it to the mushroom mixture.
The last step was to heat a hot cast iron pan with some oil, then brown the pork for two minutes, turning to get it browned on all sides.

Finally, I sliced several almost perfectly cooked pork medallions for each plate, and topped them with the mushroom mix.

As you can see, Meda prepared a plate of deviled eggs with olives and tomatoes. A bit of chutney, some hot sauce, and a bottle of wine topped off the meal.

And then we waited for the year to end.

Now that the new year has started, I’ll serve leftovers tonight, this time with a garlic-balsamic reduction sauce.

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5 thoughts on “A simple night at home on New Year’s Eve”

KAH January 1, 2020 at 7:39 am

Thanks for sharing these posts. You’ve inspired me to give a sous vide tool a try. No oven in the condo so, in the past, roasts have not been possible. This looks fun & promising.

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Ian Lind Post authorJanuary 1, 2020 at 2:20 pm

You just need to think about the right size for the container. I’m using a large pot, and the frozen pork loin barely fit. I had to add more water to cover the last corner.

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1. John Miller January 1, 2020 at 5:32 pm
  
  Ian, there are dedicated containers of varying sizes for sous vide Cooking.
  EVERIE Sous Vide Container 12 Quart with Collapsible Hinged Lid for Breville Joule Sous Vide Immersion Circulator Cooker (Side Mount) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075QHYTTH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_TowdEbNAWGKCF
  
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2. KAH January 7, 2020 at 7:22 am
  
  Thanks for the note. Locating a container is the next step. I bought the iFedio model (on Amazon), largely from the report that it’s quiet and from its lack of dire reviews (I always read the 1-stars to get the worst case perspective). I see the iFedio calls for a minimum of 6 qt so I’m looking at 12 quart vessels now. It’s a choice between the plastic tubs and a metal pot. I’d like to find a 12 qt, deep cast iron pot (double-duty for the browning step) but so far I don’t find those. Thanks, John, for your container link — the Rubbermaid model I’d been looking at has a number of reviewers that report that the plastic cracks when used for sous vide. So still on the fence.
  
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