[h1]Pork Tenderloin Two Ways[/h1][h1] [/h1]
Not all that long ago, Xray posted a smoke featuring his Porketta Rub. It looked really interesting and I figured I might just try that. Since then, a couple of people have tried it and posted very positive results. So………Thursday I grabbed a couple of good sized, very nice pork tenderloins out of the freezer to thaw. Now Miss Linda is definitely NOT a fan of fennel, so I had decided to use the Porketta rub on mine and put hers in a Tuscany style marinade.
Following Xray’s recipe for the rub, I assembled all the ingredients. I first ground the fennel and rosemary in Miss Linda’s spice grinder—just a coarse grind, as I wanted large chunks of the herbs. Then I added all the other herbs and spices and mixed well.
I trimmed both tenderloins and removed the silverskin. I could have made bullet proof vests out of that silverskin—it was the toughest I’ve ever encountered.
Miss Linda’s went into a zip lock bag along with the Tuscany marinade, then into the fridge.
My tenderloin, I gave a very generous coating of the Porketta Rub, wrapped it in plastic wrap, and into the fridge alongside Miss Linda’s.
At about 2 PM, I fired up the MES 30 and as it was kinda chilly outside--about -25* C (-13* F)--I set the temp to 270* to get everything warmed up. At the same time, I started prepping my pellets for the AMNPS—a mixture of Pecan and Orange.
About an hour later, I filled the AMNPS with the Pecan/Orange mixture and lit it up. When the MES was up to temp and AMNPS was smoking nicely, I took both tenderloins out of the fridge and put them on a grill.
Then it was everybody into the smoker. As my step-daughter had asked for some more smoked pretzels, I had some ready with dry ranch dressing as the flavor of the day.
They went onto the top grill, with the tenderloins just below.
When things leveled out, I cut the MES cooking temp to 230* and sat back (inside, I might add) to let the magic happen.
When both tenderloins were reading 139* IT, I figured that was close enough to 140* and brought them in to be tented for a short rest.
The pretzels, I left in the smoke for another hour.
Finally, it was time to slice both tenderloins. They were both very moist and tender and a beautiful pink. The picture shows them to be MUCH pinker than they actually were. LOL.
The plated shots came out terrible, so here’s some pics of Saturday’s dinner, with the tenderloins reheated. Served up with Jasmine Rice, green peas, homemade ginger applesauce, and refrigerator pickles. Fantastic!!!!
Miss Linda’s marinated tenderloin was everything you could ask for. Moist, tender and delicious. Mine was moist and very tender, but the fennel was totally overpowering. It’s not very often that I say there’s too much spice flavor on anything!!! But I sure did this time. Obviously, I had put way too much rub on it.
I actually ended up scraping most of the rub off. Then, it was delicious. Next time, rest assured that I will be a lot more conservative with the rub.
And yes, there will be a next time. I’m already thinking about how much to reduce the fennel by without reducing any of the other ingredients.
Thanks for looking.
Gary
Not all that long ago, Xray posted a smoke featuring his Porketta Rub. It looked really interesting and I figured I might just try that. Since then, a couple of people have tried it and posted very positive results. So………Thursday I grabbed a couple of good sized, very nice pork tenderloins out of the freezer to thaw. Now Miss Linda is definitely NOT a fan of fennel, so I had decided to use the Porketta rub on mine and put hers in a Tuscany style marinade.
Following Xray’s recipe for the rub, I assembled all the ingredients. I first ground the fennel and rosemary in Miss Linda’s spice grinder—just a coarse grind, as I wanted large chunks of the herbs. Then I added all the other herbs and spices and mixed well.
I trimmed both tenderloins and removed the silverskin. I could have made bullet proof vests out of that silverskin—it was the toughest I’ve ever encountered.
Miss Linda’s went into a zip lock bag along with the Tuscany marinade, then into the fridge.
My tenderloin, I gave a very generous coating of the Porketta Rub, wrapped it in plastic wrap, and into the fridge alongside Miss Linda’s.
At about 2 PM, I fired up the MES 30 and as it was kinda chilly outside--about -25* C (-13* F)--I set the temp to 270* to get everything warmed up. At the same time, I started prepping my pellets for the AMNPS—a mixture of Pecan and Orange.
About an hour later, I filled the AMNPS with the Pecan/Orange mixture and lit it up. When the MES was up to temp and AMNPS was smoking nicely, I took both tenderloins out of the fridge and put them on a grill.
Then it was everybody into the smoker. As my step-daughter had asked for some more smoked pretzels, I had some ready with dry ranch dressing as the flavor of the day.
They went onto the top grill, with the tenderloins just below.
When things leveled out, I cut the MES cooking temp to 230* and sat back (inside, I might add) to let the magic happen.
When both tenderloins were reading 139* IT, I figured that was close enough to 140* and brought them in to be tented for a short rest.
The pretzels, I left in the smoke for another hour.
Finally, it was time to slice both tenderloins. They were both very moist and tender and a beautiful pink. The picture shows them to be MUCH pinker than they actually were. LOL.
The plated shots came out terrible, so here’s some pics of Saturday’s dinner, with the tenderloins reheated. Served up with Jasmine Rice, green peas, homemade ginger applesauce, and refrigerator pickles. Fantastic!!!!
Miss Linda’s marinated tenderloin was everything you could ask for. Moist, tender and delicious. Mine was moist and very tender, but the fennel was totally overpowering. It’s not very often that I say there’s too much spice flavor on anything!!! But I sure did this time. Obviously, I had put way too much rub on it.
And yes, there will be a next time. I’m already thinking about how much to reduce the fennel by without reducing any of the other ingredients.
Thanks for looking.
Gary
