Food & Wine may have shut its doors for 2013, but its memory lives on … at least with Mrs. All in WDW and I, that is.
This past weekend, we were feeling a little bit sad that the “festivals of all festivals” was coming to its end. So, in an effort to re-create the “magic”, we tried our hand at making our own version of one of our 2013 favorites.
Ranked at #10 in the All in WDW 2013 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival Final Top 25, my first impression of Brazil’s Crispy Pork Belly came at the late-July Tables in Wonderland preview event where I said, “The Pork Belly rocks!”
Later, I went on to add, “The best bite of the Tables in Wonderland dinner was Brazil’s pork belly. The symphony of tastes you’ll find when you combine a bit of the pork with the dish’s black beans, onions, avocado, and cilantro are hard to beat.”
Crispy Pork Belly at the July ’13 Tables in Wonderland event.
At the actual festival, however, I came away with mixed feelings. I observed that, “The Crispy Pork Belly was …
… a bit of a disappointment, actually. It was a MUCH bigger piece than we had at July’s Tables in Wonderland event, but it was also a bit overdone. We’ve decided to give it another try before we leave because the flavors were still very good.”
The REALLY crispy pork belly at the 2013 festival.
After that subsequent tasting, however, I decided that, although it was better the second time around, I found myself struggling with Brazil’s inconsistency. For example, on that second tasting, I had a large piece (about the shape and size of a deck of cards), while Mrs. All in WDW was served a, comparatively, much smaller piece. Even to the same pair of guests, Brazil couldn’t deliver a consistent portion size.
Having said that, Mrs. All in WDW was undeterred. She ranked it at #2 on her final Top 25 on taste alone! #2! Well, it did taste really good. It was the melding of all of those flavors and ingredients.
By they way, did you know that Mrs. All in WDW had her own Top 25? No? Then, that’s because you didn’t download the “All in WDW Food & Wine 2013 e-Lists!”. Our FREE e-Book, this is the only place that we published her personal Top 25. Well, along with a picture of her attempt to re-engineer her overall favorite dish, that is!
Where does this leave us? It brings us back to last weekend and to a very delicious portion of “Brazilian” Pork Tenderloin! Walk though the pictures below to en joy our version of this dish. It was yummy!
The pork tenderloin is the “star”, but the secret is in the garnishing ingredients. Tasty things like my homemade salsa … tomato, onion, green pepper, and celery tossed in a healthy dose of hot sauce.
My homemade salsa.
Mrs. All in WDW makes me a fantastic blackened orange roughy, and this salsa is an excellent garnish on that dish as well.
Then, there’s the avocado …
I took an avocado and diced it up.
Finally, I chopped up the cilantro. But, I need to pause here for a moment to point out a very important fact that I learned using cilantro for the first time. Don’t. Well, OK. Don’t use a lot. Holy smokes, it can overpower anything!
Cilantro.
So, Mrs. All in WDW supplied the “leading actor” in this little production. Seasoned with a Caribbean Jerk seasoning, browned in a skillet, and then finished in the oven, we have the pork tenderloin.
Mrs. All in WDW’s yummy pork tenderloin.
I know I haven’t mentioned the black beans yet, but you’ll see them in a second. I seasoned them with some salt, black pepper, and a bit of Caribbean Jerk seasoning and spread them on a plate. I laid the pork tenderloin on that ebony bed, liberally draped the sliced pieces with salsa, and topped that combination with avocado and cilantro. It looked like this …
Oh, this was SO good! We can’t wait to have it again!
From a taste standpoint, this was as good as Brazil’s Crispy Pork Belly. No. In our opinion it was much, much better! A great meal, we can’t wait to have it again!
