Wed, Dec 03, 2008
 Chef Bruce Yim folds cheddar and Parmesan cheeses into the grits he's preparing that will complete the pork loin meal. Jim Davis / Arizona Daily Star
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Vintabla chef Yim creates flavorful dish of pork loinArizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.03.2008
When Bruce Yim cooks, he has four things in mind:
"I like to cook with spicy, sweet, salty and sour," he says as he prepares to whip together a pork loin wrapped in bacon and served with an apple onion relish and caramel sauce for the latest edition of the Star's online cooking show, "Cooking With the Star."
Yim knows what he's talking about. The chef at Vintabla Restaurant has worked the kitchen in some of the country's best restaurants, including Wolfgang Puck's Postrio in San Francisco, the 21 Club in New York, and Harry Cipriani in Washington.
He has a résumé that's built to impress.
But on this day, he's not resting on his laurels as he prepares the meal.
First, the caramel sauce.
"It won't melt evenly," he says of the sugar as he caramelizes it over a high heat. "So stir it slowly."
When he adds the jalapeño, he throws in the seeds, which add heat.
"With the sugar, it balances out," he explains.
Once the sugar's caramelized, he adds the wine.
"The wine will stop the caramelization of the sugar," he says. "But be careful; sugar will jump up on you. I've taken people to the emergency room more than once."
Next, he turns his attention to the pork. He whips out a pound of sliced bacon, overlaps each piece as he lays it out, puts a layer of clear wrap over it and gently pounds the bacon.
"Light strokes," he instructs. "Don't take your aggressions out on it."
Then he wraps the pork loin completely in the bacon, ties some twine around it to keep it all in place and pops it in the oven.
He checks his caramel sauce again; it's thickened and reduced to the point that "it looks like syrup," he says. That's when he adds his cream and stock (though the recipe calls for veal stock, Yim says beef will work just as well).
Then it's to his relish.
"Apples add a crunch," he says as he prepares the relish. "There are all different textures in this dish."
Next, he turns his attention to the chard, sautéed to perfect doneness with lots of fresh garlic.
Yim throws together some cheese grits to complete the meal. The grits are from a box. "I'm not a Southerner, so I can use quick grits," he says with a laugh. The secret to his grits? "A good rule is to read the back of the box."
He's preparing a meal for the home cook, remember. We suspect if grits ever show up on his menu, he'll make them from scratch.
About this point, Yim takes the pork out of the oven, lets it sit a few minutes and carves a slice. The bacon hugs the juicy slice of pork. There's our salty.
He tops it with the caramel sauce, sweet with a bite that's not too aggressive, thanks to the chile.
A spoonful of the relish supplies a deeper sweetness, the vinegar in the relish a fine sour.
His four elements come together to make a dish that's homey yet sophisticated and that wakes up the taste buds.
We're sold. Spicy, sweet, salty and sour is a delicious credo to cook by.
● Contact reporter Kathleen Allen at kallen@azstarnet.com or 573-4128.
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