Salt-Grilled Meat

I’ve done salt-grilled prime meat but it’s summer, which means I want to grill like crazy.  So while that mood lasts I made salt-grilled meat.  Instead of choosing just a choice cut of steak instead of a prime cut of steak I tried to think about what Link actually eats in the game.  There’s a lot of birds and a lot of wild pigs.  So it came down to chicken and pork.  Now, if any of you grill you know that you never, never, ever grill chicken.  It is incredibly difficult to get cook through without drying out.  However, if you do cook pork, you know that you fell victim to one of the the classic blunder, the most famous of which is never get in a land war with Asia but only slightly less well-known is this, never grill pork unless death is on the line…  But we have a few tricks to help you build up an immunity to grilling pork.  Follow these steps and you should come out the victor.

Salt-Grilled Meat

If you are going to use fresh herbs first wash and then mince the herbs.  You want to make sure you have a really sharp blade to mince greens.  If you don’t, instead of cutting they tend to bruise.  Mix both the thyme and sage together and set aside.

The most  important thing is the very next step.  If you skip this step we may as well quit now…  We have to tenderize the meat as much as possible so the pork doesn’t dry out while we grill.  It’s called a brine, bro.

The pork you purchase should be at least 1.5 inches thick.  Any thinner and it will cook too quickly.  Take your pork loin out of the fridge.  Pat each piece dry.  Now we gently slice the fat at 1 inch intervals.  You want to slice the fat but do not slice the meat.  If you have a thick piece of fat along the side slice about 1/4 inch in.  If you have a thin strip of fat cut all the way through but do not cut the meat.

 

Brush or rub the pork on both sides with oil, preferably olive or avocado.  Then rub the pork generously with salt, pepper and the herbs.  Now we let them sit for at least 30 minutes.  Don’t get impatient.  Remember, 30 minutes is the minimum for how long we want to brine.  Closer to an hour and the pork will be even more tender and juicy.

Since not everyone has an outdoor grill I decided to make this using our stove-top grill.  Heat on medium high when the pork is nearly ready to cook.  When the grill is hot lay the pork down away from you.  Allow to sear and cook for 8ish minutes.  Along the side you’ll see how far up the pork is cooking.  When you can see that the cook of the pork is nearly to the middle but not quite (maybe 1/3 of the way up) render the fat by holding it fat-side down on the grill for 30 seconds to 1 minute if the fat is thick. When that’s done flip it over and cook on the other side.  It should be nicely and beautifully browned.

Cook for about 8ish minutes on this side as well.  This is where you have to start using your judgement.  It should be mostly cooked.  You have a 10 minute minimum rest time so you want the pork to be cooked medium so it can finish up while it’s resting.  This means pulling it off when it reaches an internal temperature of 135F.  You want the final temperature to be 145F.  If it’s not quite ready flip over and cook for a minute or two, then flip again and cook for a minute or two.  This will prevent it from over cooking on one side and still cook through.

Take the pork off the grill and place on a plate to rest.  Cover with foil and let it sit for about 10-12 minutes so the juices can equalize.  If you try and skip this step it’ll be a little tough and the juices will all run out.

 

 

Uncover and serve with whatever you’d like!  If you want to wait till next week’s recipe this pairs really well with that!

Link’s Salt-Grilled Meat

• • Raw Meat or Raw Bird Drumstick
  • Rock Salt