Gotcha Pork Roast

I watched the first episode of Food Wars with Ryann not too long ago. He went on to watch subsequent episodes while I… fell asleep. I’m not much of an anime fan but this one was pretty interesting and it does seem that they put a lot of thought into the featured dishes. They’re not just made-up but I can see that they have realistic concept behind them. Here’s my take on the first episode’s featured dish: Gotcha Pork Roast, or as I like to call it: Bacon-Wrapped Mashed Potato Log. Major props goes to CHEFPK. Of the handful of YouTube videos I watched on how to make this dish, I found his video to have the best tutorial. The below is adapted from his recipe.

Ingredients for Potato Log:

• 2 lbs. waxy potatoes (I used red potatoes, you can also use Yukon gold), peeled and cut to medium-ish cubes
• 3 large king oyster mushrooms (I was only able to find this at Asian markets, so if you can’t find them, you can substitute with about 8 oz. of white button mushrooms)
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped to small dice
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 4 oz. butter (0.5 standard stick)
• 0.25 cup half-and-half
• 2 lbs. bacon (we buy almost exclusively thick-cut bacon in our household but for this recipe, make sure you don’t use too thick of bacon because it’ll be harder to wrap the mashed potato)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs (regular breadcrumb will work too if that’s what you have on hand)
• Not an ingredient, but parchment paper and cling plastic wrap will be very helpful here
• Kitchen twine will also be helpful in keeping your log together

Ingredients for Beurre Rouge sauce:

• 1 cup red wine (no need to use expensive wine but use something you don’t mind drinking like a 2-buck chuck)
• 3 tbsp of mirin (you can also find this at Asian markets but can also be subbed with sherry)
• 1 large shallots, minced finely
• 1 small bunch of rosemary
• 8 oz. cold butter (1 standard stick)

Directions:

1. Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender, about 15-20 minutes depending on the size of your potatoes.
   
2. While the potatoes are boiling, heat up a couple teaspoons of oil in a saute pan and saute the mushrooms over high heat for 4-5 minutes, until you see them shrink a bit and give off water. Season with salt and pepper and then set aside in a bowl.
   
3. While the mushrooms are cooking, take 3-4 slices of bacon and chop them into small pieces. After you have set aside the mushrooms, return the pan to the stove and lower the heat to medium. Put the bacon into the pan and let it cook for a few minutes. Once the fat has rendered out, put in the onions. After another minute or two, you should see the onions sweat out and your kitchen should be smelling really delicious at this point. Put in the minced garlic and saute everything for another 3-4 minutes until everything is properly cooked. Season with some salt and pepper and then take them off the heat to combine with the sauteed mushrooms.
4. By the time you’re done with the mushrooms, bacon, onion, and garlic mixture, your potatoes should be tender. Make sure to check with a fork or paring knife and check a few different pieces because the bottom layer of the potatoes may cook faster than the top. Once you’re sure they are tender, drain them and then start mashing. Confession time: I don’t have a potato masher or ricer so I use my mixer to help. Using the whisk attachment actually makes them quite fluffy. Anyway, this is not required. A potato masher will work just fine.
   
5. Combine the potatoes with the 4 oz. of butter and add in the half-and-half little by little until you reach your desired consistency. Put in mushrooms, bacon, onion, and garlic mixture and combine until they are distributed evenly. Season with salt and pepper. Set your mashed potatoes aside to cool down a little bit.
6. Pour in the beaten egg (this is why we set it aside to cool down a bit: you don’t want scrambled eggs) and combine well. By this point your potatoes should have a loose consistency, but it should not be drippy. Mix in the breadcrumbs about 0.25 cup at a time until the consistency thickens up a bit more. You want to reach a point where you can shape it and it will hold its shape.
   
7. Divide the potato mixture into two even halves and shape each of them into a log shape. Do this on top of plastic cling wrap so that once you shape them, you can wrap them tightly. At this point, they need to rest in the refrigerator for a few hours or even overnight so that they have a much better structural integrity (look, Mom! I’m practically a structural engineer… of mashed potato logs).
   
8. After resting period, preheat the oven to 400° F. Take the remainder of the bacon and weave them like you would weave a basket, or lattice pie crust. You should have enough bacon for two weaves. If not, you can always drape the bacon over the potato logs as well. Parchment paper will help you drape the bacon over the potato. Wrap both logs and tie kitchen twine around them a few times along. This will help keep them together while they bake.
   
9. Put a rack over a baking sheet and put the logs on top. This rack is important as it will make sure that there is air flow and your bacon will crisp up all around. When I was preparing this, I ended up putting some green beans below the rack so that they will be roasted with bacon fat. Genius, I know. But seriously though, it ended up being very greasy which Ryann loved but I probably wouldn’t do it again.
   
10. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until the bacon is beginning to crisp. You’ll see in my picture below that my potato log sort of expanded, much like many of us during many months of lockdown.
    
11. While the potato logs are baking, make the beurre rouge sauce: combine shallots, rosemary bunch, red wine, and mirin into a small saute pan. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to medium and let it reduce down by half. Turn off the heat and remove the rosemary bunches. Whisk in cold butter about one tablespoon at a time, each time making sure they are incorporated into the sauce. Set aside in a warm spot.
    
12. Take the potato logs out of the oven and take off the kitchen twine. Switch the oven to broil and return the potato logs to the oven to crisp up a little further, about 5 minutes. You may also want to rotate halfway through so all sides of the bacon get crispy.
13. Once the bacon is crisp, take out of the oven and let rest for a few minutes. If you cut into them right away, the potatoes will be too soft and once again the structural integrity will be severely compromised.
    
14. Cut into about 2-inch slices and serve with the beurre rouge sauce. Enjoy and please be sure to eat some green vegetables too because fiber is an important part of everyone’s diet.

Here’s a comparison between Food Wars:

And my version of Gotcha Pork Roast (a.k.a. Bacon-Wrapped Mashed Potato Logs) with some greens on the side as a valiant effort to be slightly healthy: