My Go-to Food for a Crowd: Sous Vide Pork Loin
After marrying into a family who treat food as a means to survive, and a handful of holidays with less than stellar food experiences, I took the food prep into my own hands. I am very much a person that lives to eat, and hold the belief that a bad meal is calories wasted. You may think what, won’t you just eat less if you don’t like the food? No, I will eat that plate of hot garbage because mama didn’t raise no quitter. I have been scolded on many occasions by Kristen for going over the top on flavor or seasonings and to cook “more plain”.
This is a particular issue for me, as “plain” food isn’t my thing. I scoured the internet to find the unicorn solution of satisfying food for all palettes. In-steps the Sous Vide Pork Loin, you can easily feed 20 people for under $30. The technique used in preparation of the meat will allow one to season as simply as salt and pepper and satisfy all palettes. When properly prepared, you can serve the most satisfying pork dish that can feed a crowd (side-eyes slow cooker pulled pork aficionados with disdain). This is just as repeatable, and takes maybe 20 minutes of work extra total, for a substantially better product. This one will take a few extra toys, but if you are into Kristen’s personal finance posts you should already have one of the specialty tools (the food saver).
Necessary Equipment (All linked items are Affiliate Links):
You may be able to bypass this one if the pork loin is prepackaged in vacuum-sealed plastic. You won’t be able to add the aromatics, but it is a fine option. This dish is more about the technique and you can liberally season afterward.
We use the Anova Culinary Sous Vide Precision Cooker Pro, 1200 Watts, Black and Silver and find that it does everything that we need it to do.
Large Sous Vide Cooking Container (or a cooler works also)
We started with a pot and it just wasn’t large enough. to fit anymore than single servings. We later upgraded to the food service container that is linked. Sometimes we go big and have had to use a cooler when cooking a full Pork Loin or Prime Rib Roast. We generally use a 12 Qt Rubbermaid food service container that we purchased years ago to brine chicken, amongst other food projects. We find that it is still a bit too small, better than the pot, but not quite good enough. It has it’s other uses. The Anova branded version looks to be the perfect size and also comes with a lid to prevent evaporation. We generally used saran wrap for this purpose.
Ingredients:
1 Full Pork Loin (not tenderloin)
3 cloves rough chopped garlic
1/2 rough cut onion
Seasonings for sear after Sous Vide
Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Paprika
Instructions:
Vacuum seal pork loin with garlic, onions and pepper
I do not add salt when cooking sous vide, I feel it is not necessary
Heat water with Sous Vide to 140 (145 if you want no pink)
note: We used a cooler to do a full loin, if you are not cooking for many people you can use a smaller cooking vessel and cut the loin into halves or thirds. We generally do this and throw them in the freezer for later.
Let cook for 4 hours
3 hours is edible but not quite as tender as I think is perfect
Remove post sous vide and pat down
Liberally season the exterior of the loin as you heat a large skillet or griddle to high. You may need to cut the loin in multiple pieces if you do not have a large enough pan, this is not an issue. You can even season in multiple ways and have different options.
Sear all sides in ghee, roughly 4 minutes per side on High.
Pull it off and let it sit for 10 minutes and then slice.
