Boneless Stuffed Pinwheel Pork Chops or Roast
So you are having company this weekend and you want to impress them with a delicious pork chop stuffed with wild rice and mushrooms. But, instead of the traditional pocket style of stuffed pork chop, let’s make a pinwheel style stuffed chop.
We went to our local major grocery chain store in town and picked out a boneless half pork loin. To make this the whole boneless pork loin is cut into a rib half and a loin half. I prefer the loin half for making these stuffed chops but either half will work.
After removing the pork loin from it’s packaging I placed it on our cutting board and began to cut this oval piece of meat into a piece of meat that will be totally flat as seen above. Here's how to do it:
To start, refer to the picture above with the knife starting to make the first cut. We will want to continue to make this cut the full length of the loin. Notice that we stated at the thicker side of the loin and not at the thinner or tail of the loin. And as you see in the picture below, you will want to make your first cut about a third of the way down from the top.
Try to make long smooth cuts. This may be a challenge at first but with more practice using the knife you will become proficient at this.
And now that you have the top third of the pork loin cut “almost” off but not removed, lets take a look at the picture below for what yours should look like.
Now we will want to turn the loin 180 degrees as you will be starting to cut the other 2/3’s as seen below.
Now might be a good time to mention that a good sharp knife is worth the investment. And be sure to store this knife in a safe place so as not to get it knocked around by other utensils in the drawer.
As i mentioned earlier, we turned the loin so that the thicker portion can now begin to it cut as you see in the above picture. In the two pictures below you see that the once oval boneless pork loin is becoming a flat piece of meat.
We were able to purchase a wild rice with mushroom stuffing at the store and followed the instructions to re hydrate it. However, you can use your own favorite stuffing. As you see below we have our prepared stuffing next to our flattened pork loin in preparation for stuffing.
So our next step is to put a layer of stuffing on top of the meat. If you noticed we have always had the part of the pork loin with the fat covering down on the cutting table. We will discuss this more in a bit.
Next, we need to place a layer of our stuffing at about ½ in. over the whole area.
Be sure to gently press the stuffing to make it a little more compact before our next step of rolling into a pinwheel. This just helps keep the stuffing together with the meat as you begin to roll.
And now the rolling begins. Earlier we mentioned that the fat side of the pork loin was down. We will leave it down but we will start the rolling with the other end. This end is lean meat on both sides. The reason for this, is that we want to have the fat on the outside. This not only makes for a nicer appearance but helps the meat maintain it moisture while cooking.
In the picture above we are starting to roll the pork loin into a pinwheel.
Take your time and be sure to roll it firmly and evenly from end to end. And don’t be upset when some of the stuffing spills out of the end. You can just stuff it back in.
Now that you have it completely rolled and it looks like a log, let’s tie it together. I like to use the butchers slip knot but really any type of knot will work. Even if you want to tie the strings like you tie your shoes -- that will work. The goal is to place several strings approximately 1 inch apart the length of the pork loin. Why one inch? Well, that is the thickness of the chops I like. So, you can really tie them any distance apart you want. The key here is to try and get your strings even distance apart. This makes for all chops to be the same thickness.
Ok, you now have a few different options as to what you may want to cut. You can leave the whole thing as a roast, cut it into two or maybe three roasts, and cut some chops off and have both chops and roast(s). At this point it is whatever you want.
Can you freeze it? The answer is yes.
So, now lets make some chops and a nice roast that we plan to serve some guests for dinner tomorrow night.
I am going to make my first cut off a nice roast. About a third of the whole loin will be what we need for dinner. The rest,, I will cut in between the strings to make my pork chops.
Just a couple of tips when cutting any meat but especially when cutting this stuffed and tied loin.
First, let your knife do the work. Don’t force the knife through the meat. Slice the meat.
And second, try to make as few slices as possible. This allows for a nice smooth cut of meat and one that is even in thickness. This will take practice so don’t be discouraged -- keep going.
And now that we have all our cuts, lets wrap them up, call it a day and get ready for some good eats.