A 10-Year-Old’s Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Ryan’s 10th birthday. He turned into a real “porker” this year. No, I didn’t mean that kind of porker …Not only did he ask for a stuffed pork loin for dinner from Mary and I, his mom told me he asked for pork steaks for the previous evening! Here’s Ryan, with a slice of stuffed pork loin, a baked potato with sour cream and shredded cheese, and a salad … heavy on his favorite veggie, broccoli:

Stuffing a pork loin isn’t difficult. All you need is a pork loin and some stuffing. Really, that’s all you need. Oh, and some olive oil and a bit of string. Here’s what you do …

The pork loin, from Hiller’s market in Ann Arbor, was already trimmed and tied, ready for roasting. I cut the strings off and separated the halves. Using a very sharp knife, I cut a slit in the halves lengthwise along the flat edge, then flipped them over and coated the rounded outside and the ends with Lysander’s hickory rub. In a large hot skillet with olive oil, I seared where I’d used the rub, ignoring the flat sides I’d slotted. Once the searing was done, I laid them out and filled the slots with the stuffing.

It was then a simple matter to reassemble the loin, stuffing-to-stuffing, and tie it back together with new string. This then went into the V-rack of a roasting pan.

I then cooked it for one hour at 350°F, until the internal temperature of the pork loin was at 165°F.

It may look a tad overdone, but that’s just a good crust. Inside it was moist and tender. Feeding it to myself and 5 kids, there’s only enough left for a sandwich.

Ask kids what they want for their birthday dinner. It may be something very unique. This little Ryan, and his brothers and sister, are all experimental eaters. Some of Ryan’s faves, besides broccoli, are frog legs, oysters, squid, and some other interesting things.

Briahna, however, doesn’t like cornbread, but loves alligator … and just loves my own corndogs, which has a batter that’s based on Jiffy corn muffin mix.

Go figure.

Yes, the birthday boy got cake, too!

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