Pork Medallions with Pluots

Just call me
Bubba High-Brow

This post goes out to two friends living up in Ohio and to their readers on Cocina Savant where you will always find fabulous food, innovated cookery and outstanding reads of their life journey.

Now folks, by now you know I’m a southern boy, with decent aptitude when I put my mind to it. Still I am far from an intellect of worldly knowledge in prose, of possessing poetic skills as in writing for the high-brow and certainly not clever enough to ever try and pull off anything other than who or what I am. Philosophical pundit I am not. Some of you also know I write pretty much the same as I talk, which is, bastardizing the English language grammatically as best I can all with a drawn-out, dripping southern drawl often with an added remark that probably has no rats-ass bearing.  There was a time I knew better, but with age comes a slipping sloppiness in grammar and, well, there’s no turning back now. And I hope most of you are able to follow what I am saying even though many times what I do convey isn’t always what I mean. I mean, I know what I’m talking about, sometimes it just doesn’t come out so.

So when I do run across someone with great writing style, someone who has the ability to put words in a rhythmical order that plays out like a lyrical sonata, I am in awe and read word for word mesmerized as though I am on Prozac, or a darn tootin’ good horse tranquilizer. The marriage of two great minds is the works of Cocina Savant. Daniel and Dawn are not only eloquent writers but visionaries in creating food fare beyond anything my meager mind could imagine. Separately, each concocts recipes and dishes in such a revelation that I am always shocked with their vision. Together, this couple infuses words and ingredients that is mind boggling.

I know of no other way in describing these two than in their own words.

Daniel on his madden method of cooking:
“You know that my cooking if far from straight-lined with a veering toward outlandish fusion and rarely sticking to the flavor profiles and ingredients of a central area. It is the child in a candy shop affect, what can I say. My mind starts running wild through ingredients that would tasty heavenly in a dish and then the Aristotelian logic side says that ingredient has nothing to do with said dish. Back and forth they go sometimes like bad step children until one- usually the tougher more agile creative side says why not use shiitake mushrooms in a summer dish of sauteed rapini and orechiette and while you are at it place some fried zucchini strings on top for the added crunch.”

Dawn on meat in the southern diet:
“Meat in the South is something like what Marx was seeing when he noticed workers consuming their work with reckless abandon. But, where Marx went wrong, Southern food does it right by showing that when one is caught up in a whirlwind of tradition or work, enjoyment is often the crux of that tradition. You could say the two correlate in the fact that Southern food has been so greatly influenced by African, Cajun, Creole, Cuban, and Irish customs as well as by necessity that necessity itself is often attributed to the most similar cultural influence that can be found just as day to day work is oftentimes descended from an enjoyment in one's occupation. The notion of meat not being the center of every meal, in my book, is quite a healthy and conscious decision these days and one not too decentralized from the dishes I hold so dear like cornbread utilizing a light coating of vegetable oil for lubrication, creamy cheese grits, and even the glories of buttermilk biscuits.”

So here is a recipe I concocted, as intellectual as I get folks with just enough southern flavor for Dawn and one I made especially for my two friends. Enjoy!

Noisettes de Porc aux Pluots
-Pork Médaillons with Pluots
Serves 4 to 6

2 pounds pluots or plums
1 cup white wine, like a White Zinfandel or White Merlot
1.5 to 2 pound pork loin center-cut filet, cut into 6 buttons
Salt and freshly ground peppercorns
Flour
3 tablespoons butter or olive oil
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 teaspoons red currant jelly
    Wash each pluot, cut in half and remove seed. Slice each half into thirds. Place in a saucepan and add wine. Bring to a low simmer; turn off heat and let set for 2 to 4 hours. Drain fruit reserving the liquid.

    Sprinkle pork buttons with salt, pepper and flour. Sauté pork in the butter until brown on both sides and remove to a plate. Remove most of the fat from the pan and add the pluot flavored wine. Bring to a brisk boil and cook until almost all is cooked away. Add the chicken broth, bring to a boil and then add the pork buttons. Cover and reduce heat, gently simmering for 30 to 40 minutes or until tender.

    Remove the buttons to a plate, add the cream and bring to a boil scraping up any brown bits. Cook stirring often until slightly thickened. Stir in the jelly until dissolved, add the pluots and bring back to a simmer. Taste for seasoning and cook 5 minutes. Arrange buttons on serving dish with the pluots and spoon the sauce over the top.

    Comments

    1. i salute you and your friens,danile and dawn and thank you for sharing with us this delicious dish!

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    2. Oo lala! I like the sound of this one too.
      Are you participtaing in the Food Blog project? I hope so.

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    3. Haha...looks like I'm sitting in a classroom with a dictionary in front of me :D Never mind, Drick, at least your English is way better than mine! But I'm thankful that you understand my English...hehe :D This dish looks simple and nice. Updating you with my Mexican food. My pictures the other day didn't come out good. Would make again this weekend....yeah.

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    4. Hey Bubba, glad you're back! I was about to send out a search party for you! LOL This recipe looks great and so interesting! Always nice to meet new chefs, so thanks for sharing! And please fill me in on the Food Blog project?

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    5. What a dish! I love your drawl :) Makes it more you... This is a great dish and looks fantastic :)
      P.S. Are you on facebook, a page?

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    6. Bubba High-Brow.


      (PS. Such a creative dish! It's been far too long since I've had pork. I think you dundid inspired me)

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    7. Very nice, have never cooked pork with wine will have to be trying this out since I love using wine with everything! yum! Hope you have a fabulous Birthday!!!!

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    8. Too funny! I find your type of writing way easier to read than the high brow stuff, what does that say about me? Recipe looks pretty good,even with the fancy french name. Don't know where to get semi sweet wine though- have a lot of dry white wine though... ready to jump into a sauce at a moment's notice!

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    9. @Patty - changed 'semi-sweet' wine to a couple - I used a white merlot

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    10. I think you are hog-washing us...You are more of an intellect than you let on. I love how easy that elegant pork sounds. Easy and elegant...a wonderful combo.

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    11. awwwww, thanks Drick!!! your pork looks amazing and like something we would both enjoy greatly! we just started getting pluots in the store, so we'll have to try this one out soon! your posts are always such an inspiration to both of us!
      -dawn

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    12. Drick,

      This is a wonderful pork recipe with the incorporation of cream in the sauce makes for
      ... la perfection de joie sauce à la crème!

      Très magnifique et Bon Appétit!
      CCR
      =:~)

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    13. Drick, you are far too kind. It is amazing friends like you that make blogging such a pleasure. And anytime you are doubting your creativity either prosaic or culinary you must look back to this post. This is truly a powerful homage to our blogging friendship and delectable Southern cookery.

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    14. A terrific dish - I love your pairing of pork and pluots!

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    15. Ah I love your words, your post are always creative and informative, I sometimes worry about my writing also, but then realize more people comes for the food than my silly words, lol lovely dish I can imagine how the pork with pluots compliment each other so well, yum
      sweetlife

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    16. Oh, I'm loving the looks of this- and off to spend some time on Daniel and Dawn's blog!
      xoxo Pattie

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    17. I don't know Drick. I think that your Southern way with words lends a certain charm and eloquence to each and every blog post you do. Perfect concoction, too. Nothing more Southern than Pork and Pluots.

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    18. I like how it is called pork buttons! :)

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    19. Drick, this dish is perfection! Lovely presentation. I agree with JodieMo. I love to read your posts. You have a wonderful sense of humor that always makes me smile. :)

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