I’ve figured out a great way to turn leftover pork loin into something delicious: quesadillas. Normally I BBQ a good-sized pork loin out on the charcoal grill for a few hours (with a good spice rub on it). But yesterday I was trying simplify and speed up the process, so I roasted it in the oven. It still came out tasting good, although you can’t beat the smokiness from the grill.
Regardless of how it’s prepared, a pork loin that’s tender and juicy when first cooked tends to get tough and dry in the fridge when it becomes leftovers. That’s where quesadillas come in. You dice the meat, throw it in a pan with some water and taco-seasoningesque spices like cumin, chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and let it simmer for a while. It absorbs the water, making it moist and tender, and gets thoroughly coated in the spices. Then throw in some jack cheese, cheddar cheese, and a little milk and you have a yummy, stringy concoction perfectly suited to sandwiching between a couple tortillas and frying.
I was skeptical of the beer choice tonight. The only reason I went with SA Imperial White is that it just hit retailers in Birmingham for the first time today, and I was just eager to try it. That’s it. I didn’t necessarily think it would make a great pairing, but I figured it was worth a shot.
The pairing actually ended up ok. The coriander and orange peel spices in the beer were an acceptable compliment to the various spices in the quesadilla. Enjoyable.
Turning my attention solely to the beer for a moment, I have to say it didn’t live up to my expectations. I was actually pretty excited about this because I enjoy a good witbier and I enjoy high gravity beers, and I thought perhaps the combination would come out really interesting. But when you jack up the starting gravity on a beer, you typically wind up with a high finishing gravity, too. Which means more sweetness. And witbiers desperately need to finish dry. This one was just too malty and sweet. There are techniques that can dry out high gravity beers, but they weren’t employed here, unfortunately.
Tags: Imperial White, Quesadillas, Samuel Adams
July 2nd, 2009 at 8:24 am
Yeah, I’m with you here. I’ve decided that the Imperial train went one stop too far when it got to the Imperial Wit station. By almost any definition the style, Imperial Wit is an oxymoron. Every one I’ve tried has been a let-down.