Project Foodie - Hearty Boys Cookbook

Hearty Boys Cookbook

Save Recipe: Cider-braised Pork Roast Stuffed with Figs and Apricots

If you watch the Food Network then you're familiar with the Hearty Boys - the winners of The Next Food Network Star competition and stars of the network's Party Line with the Hearty Boys. Now the Hearty Boys have their own cookbook - Talk With Your Mouth Full by Dan Smith and Steve McDonagh. This cookbook is packed with entertaining stories from their catering business and great recipes targeted at helping you throw your own parties. The recipes begin with Hors d'Oeuvres and move on through main courses, desserts and even drinks. Check out the recipe below for "Cider-braised Pork Roast Stuffed with Figs and Apricots" for a great fall pork main entrée. Sample menus are provided along with preparation timelines and helpful hints that are scattered throughout the book. Capturing everything you love about their show, their cookbook is sure to be equally popular.

Cider-braised Pork Roast Stuffed with Figs and Apricots

From Talk with your Mouth Full by Dan Smith and Steve McDonagh, Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2007

Yield: Serves 6-8
Preparation time: 40 minutes
Cooking time: 3 ½ hours

When autumn comes around I always want to eat pork roast. I don't know why, but to me, pork is the quintessential fall meat! Braising it in apple cider and adding the dried fruits make it just about the season's perfect main course.

6 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 Spanish onion, thinly sliced
½ cup chopped dried Mission figs
½ cup chopped dried apricots
3 teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon pink peppercorns
½ teaspoon caraway seeds
4 sprigs fresh thyme
¼ cup brandy
1 pork loin 2 ½ - 3 pounds, butterflied
4 cups unfiltered apple cider
5 bay leaves
8 cloves
1 bunch fresh thyme
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into bits

Special equipment: Butcher's string

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Warm 3 tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Ad the onion and cook until translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the dried fruit, 1 teaspoon of the salt, the peppercorns, caraway seeds, and thyme sprigs. Raise the heat to high and add the brandy. Touch a match to the pan in order to flame the brandy. (Be careful with this step - the flame will be vigorous.) allow the flame to go out on its own, lower the heat, and let the mixture simmer until almost dry, about 5 minutes.

Lay the pork loin out on a flat surface and sprinkle with salt. Spoon the fruit mixture onto the center of the loin, working from one end to the other. Roll the loin around the filling so it looks like it did when uncut. Tie with butcher's string.

Put the remaining vegetable oil into a large skillet and heat it over high heat for 2 minutes. Put the roast into the skillet. Sear on all sides for 1 minute and remove to a roasting pan. Add the cider, bay leaves, cloves, thyme and remaining salt to the skillet. Bring to a boil to deglaze the pan, making sure to stir up any brown bits from the bottom.

Pour the liquid over the roast, cover it with foil, and place it in the oven. Braise for 3 ½ hours, turning once during the cooking process. Remove the roast from the pan and allow to sit for 15 minutes before slicing.

To make gravy, pour 1 cup of the braising liquid into a saucepan, using a strainer to make sure there are no solids. Skim as much of the fat form the top as possible, bring the liquid to a boil, and whisk in the butter. Correct seasonings and serve immediately with the pork.

About Talk with Your Mouth Full: The Hearty Boys Cookbook

The stars of Food Network's popular Party Line with the Hearty Boys bring their signature style of casual entertaining to their first book. These Hearty Boys don't solve literary mysteries, but they sure are great at demystifying party-throwing. Dan Smith and Steve McDonagh are two guys who never attended culinary school yet built one of Chicago's most popular catering businesses. In Talk with Your Mouth Full, the couple's self-deprecating, natural approach to cooking, which has made them such a hit on the Food Network, comes through on every page. Packed with exciting but accessible recipes, clever how-to tips, and a gaggle of tales from the catering trenches, this is truly an entertaining entertainment cookbook.