The 4th has come and gone. We gave thanks as a nation to all of the troops yesterday, today, and tomorrow that have preserved our freedoms. I thank you all! As a nation, most of us anyway, did it as best we could; by cooking a small feast and setting fire to several hundred dollars worth of powder and paper. I don't have any photos of fireworks... I didn't even have fireworks... I watched the race and listened to others. However, I do have photos of the food and the recipe to boot. This was awesome... absolutely worth a try.
This recipe has been posted in a few other places. It was posted by a fellow named Grand Scale on another forum and he credits a poster named SPFranz who says it was inspired by a cookbook the name of which escapes me. I changed it to Pork Loin instead of Tenderloin, but I suspect I am not the first nor the last. I think it would work on Pork Chops too. Pay attention... Its called Watermelon Injected Pork Loin with Watermelon Salsa. Yep... thats what I said. And... its awesome. Here is the recipe...
Marinade:
3 cups diced watermelon meat (yields about 2 cups of juice)
3 jalapeños (leave in seeds and veins for more heat, remove for less)
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup Midori liqueur (recipe says it's optional, but I thought it made the whole dish)
5 lbs +/- pork loin - some fats a good thing here
salt and pepper
1. Seed, then puree watermelon and jalapeños in a blender.
2. Strain the mixture through a sieve and return to the blender. If you won't be injecting the tenderloin, don't worry about straining the marinade.
3. Add salt, sugar and Midori liqueur and blend for 2 minutes.
4. Reserve 1 cup for basting.
5. Poke and inject marinade throughout tenderloin.
6. Refrigerate over night
7. About 2 to 3 hours before you want to cook season the meat on all sides with your favorite BBQ rub-- more about crust so simple is better.
6. I cooked mine indirect with some Cherry chips, but you could change that however you like
7. I basted mine after 1 hour, waited 30 minutes, then 15, then pulled it off, basted, and foiled to rest.
8. Slice it on the bias and spoon some salsa down the loin
Watermelon Salsa
2 cups watermelon, seeded and diced fine
1 Granny Smith apple, diced fine
1 red onion, julienned
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 mango, peeled and diced
2 jalapeños, seeded and diced fine
1 bunch cilantro, leaves only
2 tablespoons sugar
salt and pepper to taste
2 limes, juice only
splash of rice wine vinegar
Combine all ingredients and chill well. I made mine the day before and I had some leftovers with chips... it was pretty tasty that way too.
OK... Enough of that... here is what it looked like.
After the rub...
Dinner...
We served it with Sweet Potato Salad from Peace, Love, and Barbecue
Grilled Corn and Avocado Salad from The Food Network Show Ask Aida...
and Tomato and Asparagus from the Book Cordon Bluegrass and I have no pic of that... the food was looking mighty tasty and people were looking like they did not want to wait for photos.
I will say, and others remarked, that it was a very colorful plate. It was almost pretty... and I don't have a pic. I may be slacking, but I was hungry to be sure.
The other recipes can be found, but I highly recommend the Pork Loin.
This recipe has been posted in a few other places. It was posted by a fellow named Grand Scale on another forum and he credits a poster named SPFranz who says it was inspired by a cookbook the name of which escapes me. I changed it to Pork Loin instead of Tenderloin, but I suspect I am not the first nor the last. I think it would work on Pork Chops too. Pay attention... Its called Watermelon Injected Pork Loin with Watermelon Salsa. Yep... thats what I said. And... its awesome. Here is the recipe...
Marinade:
3 cups diced watermelon meat (yields about 2 cups of juice)
3 jalapeños (leave in seeds and veins for more heat, remove for less)
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup Midori liqueur (recipe says it's optional, but I thought it made the whole dish)
5 lbs +/- pork loin - some fats a good thing here
salt and pepper
1. Seed, then puree watermelon and jalapeños in a blender.
2. Strain the mixture through a sieve and return to the blender. If you won't be injecting the tenderloin, don't worry about straining the marinade.
3. Add salt, sugar and Midori liqueur and blend for 2 minutes.
4. Reserve 1 cup for basting.
5. Poke and inject marinade throughout tenderloin.
6. Refrigerate over night
7. About 2 to 3 hours before you want to cook season the meat on all sides with your favorite BBQ rub-- more about crust so simple is better.
6. I cooked mine indirect with some Cherry chips, but you could change that however you like
7. I basted mine after 1 hour, waited 30 minutes, then 15, then pulled it off, basted, and foiled to rest.
8. Slice it on the bias and spoon some salsa down the loin
Watermelon Salsa
2 cups watermelon, seeded and diced fine
1 Granny Smith apple, diced fine
1 red onion, julienned
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 mango, peeled and diced
2 jalapeños, seeded and diced fine
1 bunch cilantro, leaves only
2 tablespoons sugar
salt and pepper to taste
2 limes, juice only
splash of rice wine vinegar
Combine all ingredients and chill well. I made mine the day before and I had some leftovers with chips... it was pretty tasty that way too.
OK... Enough of that... here is what it looked like.
After the rub...
Dinner...
We served it with Sweet Potato Salad from Peace, Love, and Barbecue
Grilled Corn and Avocado Salad from The Food Network Show Ask Aida...
and Tomato and Asparagus from the Book Cordon Bluegrass and I have no pic of that... the food was looking mighty tasty and people were looking like they did not want to wait for photos.
I will say, and others remarked, that it was a very colorful plate. It was almost pretty... and I don't have a pic. I may be slacking, but I was hungry to be sure.
The other recipes can be found, but I highly recommend the Pork Loin.