The Other White Meat!

Some of my favorite things to eat come from pig! Anyone who doesn't like pork, stop reading now, or be prepared to have your mind changed! Everyone who isn't a fan of pork has probably been burnt out on the dry pork chops their mother made growing up, or the over cooked pork roast they had on New Year's Day.  I get that! Growing up, we had pork chops probably once a week, because they were inexpensive compared to beef, and it wasn't the same old chicken!

Some people think that pork is bad for you because of the fat. This isn't always true, most times if you get the right cut or buy from the right place you can get lean cuts of pork. I could go on forever about all the different forms of pork that I enjoy fixing and eating, like bacon, baby back ribs, and shoulders. However, this time I am going to talk to you about the tenderloin.

I bought my first pork tenderloin a few years ago, and I over cooked the hell out of it. It was pretty much one dried out tough piece of pork. Then I fixed it again and threw it in a crockpot all day and I had pulled pork that was very juicy and tender. Pork tenderloin is one of the easiest cuts of meat to fix, but it is also one of the easiest to screw up as well! Some things that will pay off in the end when cooking a tenderloin are, taking the time to marinate, meat thermometer, quality cooking surface, and patience.

I fixed the best pork tenderloin a week ago for my friends Kurt and Shannon for dinner. I actually impressed myself in the end, but I was skeptical the entire time until I saw how much they enjoyed, as did I. I started the pork off with a dry rub of Penzey's BBQ 3000, and sea salt. I put it in a zip-loc bag and set it in the fridge for about 4 hours. You could do this a day ahead of time or in the morning before work if you chose to.

I preheated the grill, the surface was probably about 400 F. I laid the tenderloin on the grill and seared a side of it. You can determine when it is seared when the pork is free from the grilling surface and no longer sticks. I rolled the tenderloin a quarter turn and seared another side, and repeated this until the tenderloin was fully seared. When I rolled the tenderloin on it's last side to sear, I turned down the grill heat to medium to medium low. I then started to baste with BBQ sauce as the last side finished searing. Careful, if the heat is to high, you'll only burn the BBQ sauce and get a bad flavor!

So I have seared the entire tenderloin, but the entire tenderloin is cooked through. I probably spent 4-5 minutes on each side depending on the heat of the grill. My goal at this point is to just get the internal temperature up to 145 degrees and pull it off the grill. Pork's minimum cooking temp has recently been lowered to 145 degrees with a three minute rest period by the USDA. This is the first time I followed it, and it turned out wonderful! Use your meat thermometer to make sure the temp is where you want it and pull it off the grill. After searing and while you are cooking the loin at a lower temp to raise the internal temp, feel free to add as much BBQ sauce as you want! When you let the loin rest feel free to cover with aluminum foil and a towel over that if you want the loin to stay warmer.

After the loin has rested, cut it on the bias. I explained this earlier in another blog, but I'll give the run down again. If the loin is laid on a cutting board in front of you and ensure the ends are at your left and right hand. Take your knife like you are going to cut the loin in half, but before you do that turn your knife so the point is at the 10 o'clock position (9 and 3 would be where your hands are), then also tilt the blade edge on the vertical axis. You are accomplishing two things by doing this. You are making the slices of tenderloin bigger and more aesthetically pleasing, and you are also make the slices more tender! Before you make the first slice, move the knife to the end of the tenderloin you are comfortable starting with, start slicing! If you would like, drizzle a little BBQ sauce over the slices on your plate! Now, enjoy the other white meat! I hope you have changed your mind about pork if you were not a fan, if you were already, I hope this made you hungry!