Brined Roasted Pork Loin

Brining, which we first tried out on our Thanksgiving turkey, has become fairly commonplace in our kitchen.  It's simple but genius - let your meat sit in a salty solution and let the flavours permeate.  You get tasty, juicy meat every time, a particular delight after overcooking pork on so many occasions.  The recipe for the brine comes from Ratio by Michael Ruhlman, a book that I can't recommend highly enough.  The actual recipe calls for a bunch of fresh herbs but I just threw in some dried herbs (very rough estimate of amounts) and was very pleased with the result.  Anyway, you should brine something and tell us how it goes!


Ingredients


2 1/2 cups water
2 tbsp Morton's kosher salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp black pepper
10 cloves garlic, smashed
1/2 tbsp dried oregano
1/2 tbsp dried parsley
half a boneless pork loin (4 to 5 lbs)


Place all the ingredients for the brine (everything except the pork) in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until the salt and sugar have dissolved.  Let the brine cool, then let the meat sit in it for 12 to 24 hours (if you're brining smaller cuts like pork chops, this only needs to be 4 to 6 hours).  I did this in a pyrex container but I generally like to use ziplocks.

Pre-heat the oven to 450 F.  Remove the pork from the brine, pat it dry and roast until it reaches an internal temperature of 140 F.  This took a little over an hour for 4 1/2 lbs, so if you don't have a thermometer, figure about 15 minutes a pound and if you want to be cautious, it's okay to go a little further - brined meat is incredibly forgiving to overcooking.  About halfway through, I threw some broccoli into the pan and you could do the same with things like cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, etc.  Once it's out of the oven, let it rest for about 15 minutes before slicing and serving.  All right, that's it from me, happy brining!