Nico's Eats: The ultimate pork marinade

Don't you just hate it when people give things they love titles like "perfect," "ultimate," or "best ever"? Me, too. But I guess it's because I'm running out of words for delicious, tasty, scrumptious, amazing... I suppose I could use "fabulous" or "wonderful," but they're just not my style.

Well, because this is a blog about food and not semantics, I'll move on. Let's just say, this is a doggone good pork marinade.

I got the ingredient list from a former Herald-Times colleague of mine, the much loved and much hated Mike Leonard. (Does that pique your interest about him? His columns are often political.) I am saying "ingredient list" because, as is the fate of so many recipes, this one was transferred over a plate of food, drinks in hand, via a simple conversation. Just a list, no pens or paper in sight that night.

So here's the scoop, with the approximate amounts I used for 4.1 pounds of pork loin* in parenthesis. I had to cut the loin in two to marinate it in gallon-sized plastic bags.

Mike's ultimate pork marinade

red wine (I used one of those airplane-sized bottles, which I think is 5 ounces)

garlic (3 cloves, crushed)

soy sauce (1/4 cup)

dried onion (I used flakes, about 2 tablespoons)

cinnamon (1 teaspoon)

brown sugar (2 tablespoons -- I like things sweet, in case you hadn't noticed)

Whisk together all above ingredients.

1.) Trim roast of fat. Marinate for at least 4 hours in the refrigerator. Overnight is best, I think.

2.) Rinse and pat dry before starting cooking process.

3.) Brown the roast on all sides in a pan in hot oil, briefly, before putting in a 325-degree oven on a rack, fat side up.

Cooking time will vary according to how much meat there is. Let the roast rest for 10 minutes on a cutting board before carving.

*A 4.1-pound single boneless pork loin took about 1 hour and 45 minutes to roast.

A last note: I've had not-so-great luck cooking pork in slow cookers, in terms of how dry it gets, regardless of whether I add water or not. I think roasting is the way to go. Although browning the meat in hot oil in a skillet made me reconsider how much I need a splatter guard -- I vowed to get one, soon -- it really sealed in the juices meat during cooking time. This turned out moist and delicious.