I decided within the last couple of weeks to enter a recipe contest sponsored by Maple Leaf foods, and I promised those of you who follow the Real Food Made Easy page on Facebook an explanation for why I decided to enter…

For those of you worried that I’m shilling for “the man”, here’s my thinking:

My primary goal in getting involved in food was to see more people eating food made from scratch.  My chequebook is happy if people want to use my services to help them do that, but personally, I get just as much satisfaction from helping people acquire the skills and confidence in the kitchen to do that on their own.

While I strive to use locally produced meats, that is not always feasible given many people’s lifestyle or chequebook.  Often people buy premium products but don’t always know the best way to cook a particular cut of meat, and end up disappointed, feeling like they have wasted time and money.   Pork tenderloin and the leaner cuts of chops are often one of those cuts — being so lean nowadays, that they are easy to overcook.  Processes such as brining help considerably, but are not in the repertoire of many home cooks.

When I started this blog, it was with the intent of sharing information as I went — hopefully things people might find useful for themselves.  So, when I was made aware of this contest, I thought it was a good opportunity to take a product available to most people in their supermarket, and develop a  recipe that was practical for a weeknight dinner.  I’d love to hear your thoughts, if you have any.

I’ll be posting a recipe sometime between August 7th and 15th, on this blog AND on the Maple Leaf Prime page on Facebook.  I’d love it if you would take a look at the recipe, and “like” it (if you really like it!).  Maple Leaf will be compiling votes until October ON THE FACEBOOK PAGE , at which time they will award a prize of $500.00 towards groceries plus some exposure through Maple Leaf.  Should I be fortunate enough to win, I plan to donate the prize to the Mustard Seed here in Victoria.

In the interests of keeping it real …. for the record, the Maple Leaf Prime products are:

• from hogs raised and processed in Western Canada
• Not certified organic
• brined ahead of time in pork broth and sea-salt.  This is a process identical to one I use at home and for catering jobs for pork, chicken, turkey and sometimes seafood.
• Not processed in any other manner — from a home cooking standpoint, you would treat this like any other pork cut you would purchase from your butcher or supermarket.
• I have received coupons for two packages of this product, which I will be using for the recipe development.

I’d like to thank you all in advance for your support, and look forward to your thoughts and comments