This is probably less of a recipe and more of a brag. I’m simply extremely proud of the way this one turned out considering it has a couple of firsts on the plate.
I’d been wanting to try making a gastrique for ages, but really needed to have something worth trying it on. I was lucky enough to find a small piece of pork fillet (I guess it’s a tenderloin to American readers) on shot time chuck out at the supermarket. It’s usually out of my price range unless I’m doing something special, but the rapidly approaching ‘best by’ date meant this lovely little piece of pork sufficient for 2 was only AUD 6, and would also be worthy of dressing with a gastrique. Happy dance number 1.
The pork was merely stripped of the silver skin and packed in a bag and into the 54C bath where a lump of beef for future dinners was already residing. An hour later it was removed from the bag, dried, seasoned with Pink Lake salt and ground pink pepper (had to keep the colour theme going) and sizzled quickly in a screaming hot pan.
The sweet succulence of the pork was a perfect foil for a gastrique made with mulberry vinegar from last summer’s harvest. I usually use my vinegar for salad dressings, drizzling on ice cream or even adding to a glass of sparkling wine, so I had made it a little on the sweeter side. Next time I’m making vinegar I’ll use a little less sugar with gastrique in mind. But the resultant gastrique is just divine.
The pork is accompanied with sous vide butter carrots (82.2C for 45 mins) and fondant potato (another first attempt).
And D E L I C I O U S !