Over the past few months my husband has been getting more interested in cooking (Yay!). I think that this is probably in part the result of taking an array of cooking classes for a few date nights over the past couple of months and also because he has wanted to take a larger role in contributing to our Sunday sit down dinners at home.

Last week while he was in the kitchen cooking up a pork chop and yelling to me across the house to confirm the various cooking steps, it occurred to me that it might be helpful to write a post on my basic tips for cooking meats (chicken, beef, pork and fish). Today I have compiled a list of what I believe are the essential tips to keep in mind when cooking a protein.

Room Temperature

This tip is geared towards chicken, pork and beef. Before cooking anyone of these proteins, I suggest letting the meat sit outside of the refrigerator for at least an hour. The reason being, throwing ice cold meat on the grill or into a hot pan will cause it to cook unevenly due to varying temperatures throughout the meat. For a consistent/even cook throughout the meat, it is important to let your meat come up to just about room temperature.

Season Before Cooking

There are different schools of thought on this tip. Personally I find that seasoning my pork and beef with salt and pepper 10 minutes before cooking creates a more tender and flavorful end product. For chicken, the ideal is to season it at least 24 hours prior to cooking, using a technique known as brining. While this technique is certainly fantastic, it's not something I typically have time to do, so generously salting and peppering poultry prior to cooking works well too. Taking the time to properly season your meats before cooking will definitely yield a noticable difference.

Thermometer

When I was first learning to cook meats, I would often slice into it the meat while it was cooking to check for doneness…I cringe every time I think about this rookie mistake I used to make for a few reasons. First, when you hack into meat while it's cooking, all of the juices escape leaving your meat dry. Second, serving meat that has been hacked up is not very appetizing. Finally, why the heck didn't I have a meat thermometer!?! Meat thermometers are extremely accurate and will give you a perfectly cooked protein every time. I am a huge fan of my All Clad Digital Thermometer, because I find that the digital read is more accurate than the dial. In addition to my meat thermometer, I have my Joy of Cooking Cookbook permanently bookmarked on the USDA Recommended Cooking Temperatures Page, which is so helpful and something I would recommend having readily available in your own kitchen. Thanks to the thermometer and Joy of Cooking USDA Meat Guide, I have perfectly cooked meat every time that doesn't look like it was Freddie Kruger's latest victim.

Searing and Finishing

When I am cooking a pork or beef protein, I use the following method to ensure the flavors and juices are locked in and the meat is cooked evenly throughout. Here is a breakdown of my go-to method:

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit
Heat oven safe pan on medium-high heat
When pan is hot and oil is flaccid, add season protein and let it sear/brown until the side that is in direct contact wih the pan naturally releases from the pan
When it naturally releases, flip to the next side and repeat browning until all sides are seared
While still in the pan, place browned meat directly into the oven to finish cooking, checking intermittently with the meat thermometer.
When the meat has reached the desired internal temperature (even a degree or two below), remove from oven and lightly cover with foil to allow the meat to rest for approximately 10 minutes.

**Fish works well with the sear, but is more delicate so it will take less time and typically doesn't need to be finished in the oven.

Which oil to use?

I have found that when cooking a beef or pork, which require a higher heat, canola oil works best (since it has one of the highest smoke points). For fish, olive oil is great because it requires a lower cooking temperature. When roasting a chicken or any type of poultry, I am all about the melted butter because of the flavor.

I really do credit these tips/suggestions/guidelines for all of my meat cooking success. These are great concepts to remember the next time you are cooking a protein and will really make a difference with flavor and presentation of your finished product. For any questions not covered in today's post, don't hesitate to e-mail me at redefiningdomestics@gmail.com.

I don't know if you have ever felt this way before, but during the work week the only thing I want to do when I come home from the office is flop on the couch with a glass of vino and watch a TV show saved on my DVR. My brain feels like pudding and my body like Jello (maybe too vivid of a description), but the point being--I don't want to do anything but relax! The idea of preparing a homemade dinner seems herculean. I don't want to have to think about shopping for the ingredients, chopping ingredients, cooking and then of course…the clean-up (woof, no thanks).

Changing my tune...

Over the past few years, while dating and then engaged to my now husband, there were definitely nights during the week where I wanted to surprise him with a home-cooked dinner after work. I've had a bunch of trial, error (ex. would not recommend making an apple pie from scratch on a week night), and success (ex. Barefoot Contessa's Herb Marinated Pork Tenderloin)!

This pork tenderloin recipe evolved from the success I have had with making Ina Garten's Recipe. I have tweaked the ingredients a bit and will show you how to take the marinade and turn it into a sauce to serve with your pork. The best part about this recipe is that you can start prepping this meal over the weekend but then cook it on a weeknight! Cooking on a weeknight becomes infinitely easier when all you have to do is cook something because all of the prep has been done the day before. Here is my recipe for Lemon Dijon Herb Pork Tenderloin:

Ingredients

3lbs Pork Tenderloin
3/4c Extra Virgin Olive Oil (plus 3Tbs set aside for cooking)
2 1/2 Tbs Fresh Minced Garlic
Zest of 1 Large Lemon
Juice of 2 Large Lemons
1oz Champagne Vinegar
1/4c Dijon Mustard
1tsp Julienned Sage
2Tbs Fresh Chopped Rosemary
2Tbs Fresh Chopped Thyme
1/2tsp Fresh cracked pepper
1 Tsp Salt
1 Gallon Ziplock Bag (I like to double-up and use 2 bags to make sure nothing leaks in my refrigerator, but 1 Ziplock is certainly sufficient)

**Tip- When shopping for the ingredients above, instead of buying each herb individually, just buy the herb pack that says "Poultry Herb Blend" in the produce section. The "Poultry Herb Blend" contains Rosemary, Thyme and Sage (and enough of each for this recipe!), so you can save money by only purchasing one herb box instead of three!

**Tip 2- Easy way to chop the Fresh Rosemary and Thyme--place herb leaves in a bowl, take a pair of kitchen scissors and snip contents until evenly chopped.

4 Kitchen tools that help to make this recipe even easier

Mini Vegetable Chopper- Great for Slicing, Dicing and Mincing Garlic
Citrus Reamer- Great for Juicing Lemons
Microplane- Can be great for zesting citrus or grating hard cheeses.
Digital Meat Thermometer- Investing in a good quality digital meat thermometer will give you an accurate read for determining the internal temperature/doneness of your meat.

Prep Instructions

Add Pork Tenderloin, Olive Oil, Garlic, Lemon Zest, Lemon Juice, Champagne Vinegar, Dijon Mustard, Sage, Rosemary, Thyme, Pepper and Salt to a 1 gallon Ziplock bag.
Squeeze air out of bag, seal bag shut and mush around (apologies for this non-technical term but it is what you have to do) contents of bag.
Place in refrigerator overnight to marinate.

Cooking Instructions

Remove pork tenderloin bag from the refrigerator an hour before you are planning to cook it.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
In an oven safe 12 inch skillet, heat 3 Tbs of extra virgin olive oil on medium high heat
When the pan is hot, pull the pork tenderloin out of the marinade bag shaking off as much excess liquid as you can and place the tenderloin in the heated pan
Brown the tenderloin on all sides (**If there is an excess of liquid in your pan you may need to drain some of it out…otherwise it will take significantly longer to brown the meat because you will have to wait for all of the liquid to evaporate first).
Once the meat has been browned on all sides, remove from stove and place entire pan straight into the oven to finish cooking
Cook the tenderloin in the oven until it reaches an internal temperature between 160 (medium-well) and 170 (well-done) degrees.
Once the meat reaches the suggested internal temperature, remove from oven and cover meat lightly with aluminum foil. Allow meat to rest for approximately 10 minutes before slicing and serving. (Cutting into the meat right out of the oven will cause all of the juices to run out and your meat will be dry.)

For the Sauce

Once the pork tenderloin has been removed from the marinade bag to cook, dump the remaining contents of the ziplock back (the marinade) into a small sauce pot (2qt) and set aside
As soon as the pork goes into the oven, bring the sauce pot to a boil stirring frequently
Continue to cook/boil the marinade for approximately 20min (stirring frequently)
Once the sauce is done cooking, pour through a sieve into a heat safe container (I use a pyrex measuring cup)

To Serve

Cut the pork tenderloin into 1/2 inch thick pieces on the diagonal
Assemble on plate and drizzle with sauce
I like to serve this dish with my Roasted Sweet Potato Discs and Microwave Steamed Green Beans (*Reference first photo in this post*)