An Ode to a Classic.
Cheffy pulls a bistro classic out of his back pocket inspiring a trip down memory lane. Who knew pork roast braised in milk could have this effect on the notoriously non-nostalgic Barkeep.
Bistro cuisine will always have a place on The Tap Room’s menu. Steak frites is standard - we use skirt, purists may insist on Bavette. Pfft. Skirt steak’s delicious especially with some great fries. A stellar roast chicken, check. Pork medallions with a dijon sauce, yep, with egg noodles. We could go on, and on, and on, but we digress.
Cheffy pulled another old-school favorite out for last night’s special: Rôti de Porc au Lait, inspired by Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook. We share the recipe below, but that’s not really what this post’s about. It’s about a celebration of the glory that was the original Brasserie Les Halles on Park Avenue in Manhattan. One bite into Cheffy’s pork sent The Barkeep back to wobbly night-time walks in Midtown burning off a stomach full of apertifs, protein, wine, digestifs, and desserts.
Les Halles was great. Full stop. It was noisy, it was cramped, it was dark, but dammit, where else were you going to get a fantastic steak frites for $19 anywhere in Midtown? Free of the pomp and a-la-carte-only pretentiousness of nearby steak joints named for owners’ last names, Les Halles was a tonic. A stool at the bar was perfect for those dining-alone-while-on-the-road nights. A table for two or four was ideal for taking a crew looking for a memorable casual meal for those of us that would decline invitations to the large, painful group dinners we’d find ourselves sucked into during a work trip if we weren’t careful.
The chalkboard with the daily specials was art - I got the cassoulet once - a little heavy. The wine list was what you’d hope for and expect. The case at the entrance featuring the cuts of beef you could choose for your steak along with some saucisson. Table-side steak tartar. A little would go a long way but still cool on occasion. Elbow-to-elbow with your dining neighbors, yeah sure, but who cared. The shouting and ambient background music made the periodic nudge feel right in place.
That the place was loved is an understatement. I was starting to get worried when I heard that the locations in DC, Miami, and downtown were closing. I held hope that the flagship would survive, it didn’t. Unfortunately neither did Tony. Two of my favorite escapes were gone, but Bourdain has a stool in perpetuity at our bar, and we do our best to honor the bistro classics in the kitchen. We think there are approving nods.
Rôti de Porc au Lait - as described in Les Halles Cookbook (with a few minor modifications).
Time from Prep to Nosh: 2 hrs
Difficulty Factor: Easy/Medium
Lord of the Meat Sweats’ Rating: 11 out of 10.
Ingredients
2 - 3lb Pork Loin Roast
2 leeks
1 onion
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
4 garlic cloves
1 cup chicken broth
2 cups whole milk
2 bay leaves
Few sprigs of thyme
2 tablespoons olive oil
Dollop of salted or unsalted butter (you do you)
1 tablespoon flour
Salt & pepper
Get to Work
Do yourself a favor and make sure there’s a nice butcher’s knot around your roast.
Give your roast a generous coat of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.
Drizzle the olive oil across the bottom of a dutch oven. Drop in the butter.
Heat over medium-high until the butter stops foaming.
Brown the roast on all sides until that nice bronze, tan color forms that Prez wishes his face had.
In the meantime, chop up the leeks (white parts only), onion, carrot, celery, and garlic. Rough chop’s fine.
After the roast is brown, remove from dutch oven and let rest on a baking sheet.
Throw in your chopped veggies and garlic.
Stir, stir, and stir. After a few stirs, give it a good dash or two of salt. Stir some more.
Once translucent, dust with flour.
Keep stirring for a few mins. You should have some nice fond forming.
Deglaze with chicken stock. Scrape the bottom of the dutch oven with your wooden spoon to get all of that good fond love. Scrape some more.
Enter milk. Stir.
Add thyme and bay leaves. Preferably tied together with butcher’s twine.
Put the roast back into the pot. Bring to boil.
Cover, reduce heat to low.
Let it braise for an hour. Lord, let it braise. Stirring occasionally and flipping the roast.
Remove roast from the pot. Let rest.
Now the even more fun part: Strain all that goodness from the pot into a smaller pot. Squish on all of the saturated solids at the bottom of your strainer to get all of that love.
Get your immersion blender, put it into the smaller pot, and blend that goodness so it reforms and you have a lovely jus. It should be good and foamy.
Thin slice your roast. Plate. Pour some of that love jus on top.
Serve with some nicely boiled potatoes finished with salt, pepper, butter and chives.
A green vegetable like haricot verts does a nice job of finishing the plating.
Steps #4, #8, #20, #21 - #23
Thanks Les Halles. Thanks Tony.
- The Barkeep