Braised Pork with Red Onions and Red Grapes

Braised Pork with Red Onions and Red Grapes is a recipe inspired by a similar French recipe. In many recipes, baking is the popular cooking method for a chunk of pork. But this recipe uses a casserole to braise the pork in a slow tempo. When my kitchen was under renovation, I could not use my oven for any baking recipes. Therefore, I tried this recipe with my mobile cooking stove.

Sometimes, I alter the recipe purposely to use up the herbs or food from the last meal. In my recipe, I also reduce several ingredients from the French recipe. But still, there are still about ten ingredients used in this recipe.

Main ingredients

• Pork loin: The boneless rib-end pork loin roast is the best for this recipe. I also cut off the fat part if there is any.
• Dry wine: Spätburgunder Weissherbst is a German white wine from the wine-growing region not far from my home. I use this wine for many recipes. But other types of dry white works for this recipe as well.
• Chicken broth: The reduced-sodium broth is excellent for this recipe. The reduced-sodium broth gives me the ability to control the flavors at various stages throughout the cooking.
• Herbs: The original French recipe uses thyme and bay leaves. When I cooked the recipe the first time, I had only dills left from a seafood meal. Surprisingly the dills worked for the recipe as well.
• Red onions:  I use red onions frequently in my salad recipes because of their deep purple skin and relatively mild flavor. Red onions have a similar flavour as the yellow onions when cooked.
• Red grapes: Grape seeds are crunchy and have a bitter taste, and therefore, I choose seedless grapes for the dish.
• Other ingredients: Butter, salt, freshly ground pepper, garlic, and all-purpose flour are ingredients used in different steps.

How to make Braised Pork with Red Onions and Red Grapes

Wash and dry the pork loin. I would cut off the fat part if there is any since I do not like to eat that part. Then, season the pork with salt and pepper all-round for about 30 minutes.

Melt the butter in a casserole and brown the pork well over moderately high heat. Move the pork loin to a plate. Scrap up the browned bits, do not use the leftover butter but clean the casserole completely. The browned bits would break the flavour and the looking of the sauce. Add the wine and boil over high heat and then pour the broth.  Bring the liquid to a boil.

Add the garlic, herbs, red onion, and pork. Cover the casserole and simmer over very low heat. The liquid should cover the pork loin. It is necessary to turn the pork once so that the meat is cooked evenly. This process takes about one hour using my stove. You can use a food thermometer to check the doneness of the meat. I consider the meat is done when the temperature is about 80°C. When the meat is done, transfer the pork to a plate again.

In a bowl, blend the butter with the all-purpose flour to form a paste. Add some cooking liquid into the flour paste and whisk the flour paste until smooth.

Afterward, add the whisked mixture back into the cooking liquid. Simmer over moderately high heat, whisking, until the liquid gets thickened. Season with salt and pepper. Return the pork to the casserole and turn the pork a few times in the sauce to heat it up.

Melt some butter in a frying pan and cook the grapes over moderately high heat until the grape skins start to burst. Slice the pork thickly and transfer to plates. Spoon the sauce and grapes on top and serve with rice. While eating, I also add some sauce to the rice, it’s delicious!

Tips for the recipe

The white onions do not fit this recipe since they have a sharper flavour. Vegetable broth works for the recipe as well.

Did you make the recipe?

You can print the recipe or pin it for future cooking. Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and tag @cuisinereinvented on Instagram and hashtag it #cuisinereinvented.