Dateline 4-20-2017

Alright, I'm awake, have a bit of energy from getting a forced full night's sleep and it's early enough that I'm not panicked as to whether or not I can fit in all the things I need to do by the end of the day. Where I meant to write this yesterday but opted to wait because of a late start to the day, here's how my pork loin test went down...

First, I was really following a recipe, instead, I based my ingredients on items that I had on hand that had the same consistencies as ingredients from a combination of online recipes. These ingredients weren't a "this for that" equivalent replacement. Instead, I used the X cups of liquids to X scoops of seasonings technique to slap together a Frankendish that I thought would work out just fine.

Next, the ingredients:

Keep in mind, the Worcestershire sauce is the only ingredient I specifically bought to add flavor to this pork. I've inherited my mother's poor sense of smell which makes my taste weak as well, so I often don't do much with seasoning. I also mainly cook individual one-off meals making a sprinkle of salt and maybe some kind of sauce is usually the only added flavor that I need.

Also, I only glanced at a few recipes to figure out cook times and whether or not there were any mandatory amounts of liquid required to keep my Instant Pot from melting or blowing up as I'm still learning to use the equipment from having only owned it less than a week. Other than that, I would have just thrown it in as is to add flavor to taste after the fact.

I figured that the Cup Of Soup powder would replace the onion soup packet that one recipe called for and could possibly replace the broth from another. The Sriracha flavored Himalayan salt would have been added as the salt either way. The diet energy drink replaced the cola or cider that some recipes called for but mainly because I wanted to invent Energy Pork!!! The cayenne pepper was just laying around so I decided to use it. Finally, I added the Worcestershire sauce because I planned to use it as a dip after the fact anyways so I figure why not just throw it in.

Alright, next, the common theme in the recipes that I read said to down all sides for the pork when slow cooking. So, that what I went and did:

Again, I'm by no means a Master Chef so I'm now quite sure how brown browning means but I also knew I was going to be cooking this thing for the next eight hours so I figure this had to be brown enough. I really like how I was able to do this browning by setting the Instant Pot to saute. If that feature wasn't readily available I would have skipped this step for sure.

Speaking of Master Chef, though, I don't do a lot of cooking, I do watch a lot of cooking shows so I'm not fully sure why I didn't add any seasoning before this browning process but then again I go back to the point that I'm not that picky about taste so I figured adding some flavor added at some point something would happen and I'd eat it either way.

Next, I threw some water in the Instant Pot, added the Cup Of Soup to consider it broth and randomly decided to include a handful of onions thinking that seems to be an ever-present ingredient when I see others making stew. I pre-rubbed the pork with the powders, added it to the pot and sprinkled more on top and set it to cook for eight hours.

I got a later start to this than I was aiming for so the eight hours didn't elapse until far past dinner time. In fact, I wasn't even in my place when the meal was done but I came back to a concerning smell. I wouldn't say that the scent was horrible but there was a hint of vomit to the smell. 

I'm guessing the juices that had rendered from the pork didn't mix well with my makeshift recipe. Though the smell wasn't ideal the actual meat was nice and tender. Once I saved it from its odorous cooking bath, I added some additional, after the fact, seasoning that totally worked to save it. 

Unfortunately, it was so late by the time I was wrapping things up that I totally forgot to take an after picture. I've now been eating off of this thing for over a day and a half and all I have left are a bunch of unphotogenic leftovers.

Though I wouldn't say that this was the most successful of feats when it comes to seasoning and sauceless flavor, I do truly believe that it will only take a few small tweaks to get me to the point to where I will always have tasty meats as an option for any meal.

Sometime within the next few days, I plan to experiment with cooking dry beans. As always, I'll keep you posted on my progress and check in tomorrow with another update.

Talk to you then,

The Wicker Breaker