Hanukkah Pork

[eyesroll]

I made some Hanukkah Pork last night (I am a lousy Jew). For one, I used half a pork tenderloin, and only ate half of that. So this is a recipe that's cheap and will go a long way (you can get a pork tenderloin for about $6).

1. Slice the tenderloin into 3/4-inch medallions and pound the crap out of them. Thin as possible. Bread the tenderloin with breadcrumbs/flour/salt/pepper, dip in egg, bread again.
2. In a big sautee pan, sautee some mushrooms in butter. Set aside.
3. In that same pan, sautee the medallions in some butter (add more if you have to) -- about two minutes a side should do it, depending on how thick the slices are. (If the pork isn't done but the breading seems dark, you can always pop them in the oven for a few minutes to finish cooking.)
4. Remove the medallions and scrape the breading bits off of the pan. This will serve as an impromptu roux.
5. Add some milk, rosemary and garlic powder to the pan and heat through. As it simmers, it'll thicken. Add the mushrooms to the sauce, finish heating, salt & pepper to taste. Serve the sauce over the pork.

I also made mashed root veggies (I boiled cut-up sweet potato, carrot, parsnip and turnip, mashed, added a little butter and salt) and sauteed kale.

Total cost for me was $7.50, (veggies and pork -- everything else was pantry stock) and what I made could have easily fed two.

[bearfan454]

1. Do you get a Hanukkah bush for Christmas ?

When I was growing up a Jewish family that lived near us had a kid I was friends with. They used to get a Hanukkah bush for Christmas just not call it a Christmas tree. When The grandparents used to come over to visit the Mom would bring ham over from their icebox for us to keep until the grandparents left.

[eyesroll]

2. Nah.

We were the non-decorated house on the block.

I don't have a tree/bush/anything now, either.

[n2mark]

3. I thought

Jewish people did not eat pork.

[eyesroll]

4. That's what makes me a lousy Jew.

:D

Technically, Jewish people are not supposed to eat pork, rabbit, shellfish, bottom-feeding fish, and a whole bunch of other things. Nor are they supposed to eat meat and milk during the same meal, so the sauce was flat out as well.

I'd wager 90% of American Jews do not follow their religion's dietary laws.

[n2mark]

5. I was just wondering

as I remember when my sister was in college and she boarded at a house where the woman was Jewish. If my sister wanted to cook pork she had to have her own pan, the lady was very Jewish. Are the customs of the Jewish disappearing like many other people from different countries?

[fortyfeetunder]

6. Depends....

I have friends who are either Reform or Orthodox.

My Reform friends are unabashedly pork and shrimp eaters. One even served me a pork dinner. But they do at times eat kosher.

My Orthodox friends are kosher. One of them has connections to a kosher inspector for restaurants so when we eat out we go eat at one of those restaurants, which have been excellent. I got introduced to several vegetarian restaurants from these friends.