accidents happen

This summer, when we were out of town, my full-size freezer in the laundry room was accidentally left open for a day.

It wasn’t all the “openers” fault.

Although the freezer is only a few years old, the seal had come loose and instead of figuring out how to fix it, I used duct tape to keep it closed.

Additionally, I had a little chalkboard chef on the front of the freezer who told “would be openers” this:

“Do NOT OPEN! It is next to impossible to re-shut and keep shut.”

Unfortunately, the “opener” did not see or heed the chalkboard chef’s warning.

Even though I knew of the “freezer breach” immediately upon my return home, I avoided the freezer and refused to open it and face the music until two months later.

Nearly everything was a loss; homemade chicken and beef stocks, frozen citrus juices, handmade puff pastry, lobster broth, homemade mole, demi-glace, frost-burnt cookies and brownies, and quite a bit of meat. I threw out more chicken breast and chicken thighs than I’d care to mention.

I decided that maybe some of the larger beef and pork roasts might be OK, as I was told that they were not thawed out when the freezer was found open.

That turned out to be true with the large 5-pound pork shoulder I used a couple of weeks ago to make Slow Cooker Crispy Carnitas.

Not so true when I went to use a 2-pound pork tip roast for dinner last night. I thawed the piece of meat in the refrigerator and nearly passed out from the smell when I opened the door a few hours later!

Oh my! Pork smells really bad when it goes south!

By the time I discovered the bad meat, I’d already made a spice coating for it. I tossed the pork into the outside trash bin, which thankfully gets hauled away tomorrow, and pulled out a couple of chicken breasts and used a cold water thaw on them.

I tell you my tale of woe to say that this spice coating is best for pork. It overpowered the chicken. So although you are seeing it used on chicken… use it on pork.

There you go … Long story – Not so Short!

So, use this on a 2-pound pork tip or pork tenderloin, use all the spice coating. For two boneless chicken breast halves, I used about half of it and cooked it in a skillet. For the pork, preheat the oven to 350 and roast for about 60 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer reaches 140 degrees, then rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

Spice and Herb Coating for Pork

1 tablespoon smoked mild paprika
1 heaping tablespoon Mama Mai’s S&P
2 teaspoons Greek or Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 minced garlic clove or garlic cube

Mix the paprika and Mama Mai’s S&P in a small bowl until well combined.

Add the Greek or Italian seasoning and mix again.

Stir in the olive oil.

Add the garlic (I love the frozen cubes!) and let sit for about 10 minutes before spreading on the meat.

I used about half the mix on the sliced chicken breast, then tossed it all together to coat before cooking in a skillet.