STAR-BULLETIN Marc Anthony's coffee-smoked pork is served over a salad of Asian pears, pine nuts, Maui onions and mixed greens.

Chefs go hog wild
in pork contest

A coffee-flavored dish
wins top local honors

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By Betty Shimabukuro
betty@starbulletin.com

Pork tenderloin smoked over Kona coffee beans will be Hawaii's entry in a competition to select the nation's best pork dish.

Marc Anthony, executive chef at Sarento's Top of the "I," created the dish for the Taste of Elegance competition, devised by the National Pork Board to get more pork entrées onto restaurant menus.

Anthony's Coffee-Smoked Pork Tenderloin Salad was the winner of the local trials, held last month at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort.

Fifteen chefs competed, putting forth cuts of pork paired with papaya, macadamia nuts, dried cranberries, Portuguese sweetbread and more.

Second place went to Tom Wong of Waialae Country Club for a complex Pork Saimin; third to Matt Johnson of Sergio's Italian Restaurant for Pork Chop Porcini with Truffled Risotto.

Anthony will compete in the national Taste of Elegance competition in Washington, D.C., in February.

As an added layer to the competition, co-sponsor Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates challenged the chefs to make their dishes work with one of a selection of wines -- a riesling, zinfandel, chardonnay, shiraz or pinot noir.

Anthony selected the "Vintner's Reserve" Riesling to use in his salad dressing and to quaff with the dish -- and also won the award for best wine pairing.

Anthony, originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., is a graduate of Johnson & Wales University in Charleston, S.C., and began his career in Hawaii as a pantry cook at Nicholas Nickolas. He helped launch Sarento's in 1993, becoming executive chef in 1998.

He says the idea for infusing pork with coffee came from his boss, corporate chef George Gomes. "I was just blown away by the concept. ... The coffee is not overpowering, it's just a very, very slight hint. You've got to look for it to find it."

He wanted to use the pork in a salad and was searching for the right final touch, "then I was walking through the supermarket and saw some Asian pears and thought, 'That's it.' "

Anthony's dish is designed for upscale restaurant service, so it's not as straight-forward as a typical recipe for home use, but despite the number of steps involved, the technique is not difficult. It would be an impressive and original holiday meal.

You will need a metal steamer to pull this off, or a pan with a perforated bottom that you can set over another pan for the smoking part of the recipe. And you might want to do it outside if you have a portable gas burner, to avoid smoking up your kitchen.

If that's too much, though, the dish will make frequent appearances at Sarento's as a special through the holidays.

Coffee-Smoked Pork Tenderloin Salad

1 pound pork tenderloin
>> Brine:
4 cups water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup olive oil
>> For smoking:
2 cups uncooked white rice
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup coffee beans
1 sprig rosemary
1/8 cup star anise
>> Salad:
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup riesling
2 sprigs thyme
1/8 cup sugar
2 pounds Asian pears, peeled and cored
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
1 cup Maui onion, caramelized (sauté over medium heat until light brown)
1 pound mixed greens
>> Espresso-balsamic sauce:
3 cups balsamic vinegar
1/8 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup roasted espresso beans

Combine brining ingredients and soak pork in mixture overnight.

Drain and allow pork to dry. Line the bottom of a metal smoker with foil. Spread rice, brown sugar, coffee beans, star anise and rosemary evenly over the foil. Place pork in the top part of the smoker.

Place first pan on the stovetop over high heat until smoking, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low, put top part of smoker in place and cover. Allow to smoke 10 minutes. Pork should still be pink inside.

To make salad: Combine vinegar, wine, thyme and sugar in a pan; simmer until reduced by 1/3. Cool, then place in a blender with half of the pears. Blend, then slowly drizzle in olive oil while blender is running. Julienne the remaining pears and toss with greens, pine nuts and onions. Toss with dressing just before serving.

To make sauce: Combine all ingredients in a pan and cook over medium heat, reducing until syrupy. Strain; cool to room temperature. Makes 1 cup.

Slice pork and sauté until cooked through.

Serve pork slices over salad; drizzle with espresso-balsamic sauce. Serves 4. Extra sauce may be refrigerated and saved for use with pork or chicken.

Nutritional information unavailable.

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