What side dishes & sauces goes well with protein?
 

Since people might be stuck at choosing some sides and/or sauces that goes well with protein.

I'll start first with a question. I have a competition coming up in 3 weeks. It's about pork steak and I can't think of the sides that goes well with apple stuffed pork steak. I tried to look it up on google but it didn't really help me.
So Revscene FOOD LOVERS, CAN YOU HELP ME? :)

does the pork steak HAVE to have apples in it?

Not really. It's just options. I'm open to ideas tho.
The competition take about 30 minutes to complete one meal.

grilled pork steak /w roasted fingerling potatoes, stuffed red pepper with mushroom duxelle
some sort of tomato sauce?

tomatoes, red onion, white wine, seasonings if your choice, puree till smooth, brown sugar to cut the tartness


just a quick idea if thats all the time you have to work with

Sounds good actually. But for presentation, I have no idea where to put the stuffed red peppers.

the veg is up to you, i just threw it in there just for the sake of having a veg thats not cut up sauteed and put on the plate

Criss-cross sliced red and yellow peppers!
They did it at Cactus Club.. :troll:

its winter time, yellow peppers aint gonna be that good =/

Recently I have fallen in love with brussel sprouts.

Best way to prepare them is cut them in half and fry them until they turn browned and crispy in some olive oil, salt, pepper and shallots. Near the end of the cooking I add a little freshly squeezed lemon juice and a bit of maple syrup for some sweetness.

I eat them like candy.

Thanks, I'm gonna use brussel sprouts for the competition since it's in seasonal.
I am thinking of flavoring it with pork like panetta or bacon, but i can't pick which one. Panetta have a softer texture than bacon but bacon is smoked and crispy.

I've done them with bacon before and they turned out really good as well. Never done pancetta but probably would be even better!

Try and find brussel sprouts on the vine. It makes a BIG difference in their flavour. When I lived on the mainland I used to get them from a farm on westminster hwy around #8 rd (Richmond).

I found that boiling the brussel sprouts first and then frying them up in butter/oil mix with garlic and bacon to be the way to go !!! if its for a competition.. couldn't you precook the sprouts.. and then wrap them in a thin slice of bacon ??? (making it look like a flower??)

Since you only have 30 minutes or so.. that is going to be tough !! I would suggest mini potato latkes???

instead of apples, i'd recommend apricots if its a possibility?

I find that figs compliment pork well, either as some sort of sauce accompaniment with maybe port or roast them fresh. Bacon with brussel sprouts are good but I do find that depending on what kind of bacon you get it can overpower the natural flavour of the brussel sprouts.

Pork with a stuffing on the side. Ground pork sausage, apple, pear, cinnamon, nutmeg. Rough idea to get you started.

you're going to have him put pork in his pork?
:D

Ditto on the figs.
Mustard works well with pork too.

apricots, figs, chestnuts, sultanas, pears..... all great pairings for pork

shouldn't you know what goes with pork before you enter competitions?

i smell troll

Oh, the only thing you smell is fire on your ass.
I'm a high school student who want to be a chef. I don't know anything about PORK. That's why i'm asking Revscene to help me to find ingredients that goes well with pork. Of course I did research about it, but I want some ideas from Vancouverites who love to eat. I like to hear compliments from customers when they eat my food. Anyways, I kinda made my menu but it's not really official. KEEP GIVING ME IDEAS PLEASE. THANKS :D

Spice rubbed Pork with apple stuffing pan-seared then roasted in the oven.
Puree Cauliflower or root vegetable with a few brussels sprouts on top so my steak can hold in place.
The sauce will be balsamic vinegar-figs reduction sauce. (I'm still thinking if I want to do 2nd sauce for colour and flavour.
The garnish will be cilantro leaves and roasted small dice potatoes for presentation.
Excuse me for my crappy grammars! Thanks! Happy Eating :P

I can sort of see your plate presentation, so let me just say this... you will need some colour within your veg component. Also, you will need some form of starch (assuming the small dice potatoes will only be a garnish)
The balsamic fig reduction is a nice idea, but unless it's in the form of a demi, it will be way too sweet for the pork.
^this is all assuming you're plate has to be presented like a dish at a fine dining restaurant.

^ Well I want to make a steak dinner with different ingredients!
does Celery root or turnips have enough starch?
What vegetable should i go for? I heard brussels sprouts are too strong for pork.
Nah. Just balsamic vinegar, simple syrup and some fresh figs mix together...

you might be careful of the spices burning as you're searing it off, i might suggest on the chargrill

the garnish should try be accompany the dish, i dont see any cilantro in the dish(maybe in the rub?), i dont think it will be a good garnish, perhaps maybe a candied fig?

and if the meat is spice rubbed, but the sauce is sweet/acidic so i think sauce will overpower the spices and/or make the sauce taste different

more doesn't always mean better, just a couple imos
sorry if i sound like a douche

That is exactly what I was thinking. I mentioned the figs to give you some sugar and a bit of tang.

You're going to want to be careful about that. Balsamic vinegar (even the cheapest costco stuff) get's crazy sweet when you reduce it. It's also hella dark and has the potential to make your dish uber-ugly.


Here is an alternative you might consider instead.
Marinate up your Pork steak with cooking wine, salt and pepper.

- Caramelize some onion slivers, make it a dark caramel, like a good 15 minute caramelization). About 1/4 to 1/3 of an onion per steak. Reserve

- Fry steak at high heat to brown. Pop it in the oven to finish.

- Deglaze with a touch (just a touch) of white wine
- Orange Juice (fresh)
- a touch of white wine vinegar
- and fresh figs instead.

If you balance it right, the vinegar will give you a bit of tartness, the OJ some much needed brightness to a pork dish, then by cooking it down with the fresh figs, you'll be able to reduce that down into a pretty good sauce without destroying all the color of the figs.

Plating:
Onions as base, pork steak on top, drizzle with reduction. Starch on the side.

As for garnish, consider the zest from your orange. Tastewise, it'll be an added dimension. Plus, purple and bright orange color on your plate? baller presentation points.

How'd I do?
:fullofwin:

Fail to see the problem. :P