Stuffed pork Tenderloin Part III Hardwood Smoked

 

The idea began to seep into the back of my brain around 1:30 as the clouds thickened and began closing in and the winds that were drying my sheets earlier suddenly turned colder. My plan of dragging the Weber closer to the back door and setting out some chairs suddenly looked less appealing with every degree that dropped off the thermostat.  All day I had been considering the taste of a nice grilled pork tenderloin over some hardwood charcoal, but the idea of doing it in a coat and gloves just didn't appeal.  I have a gas grill in the kitchen, but i really wanted the smoke.  I looked over at my kitchen fireplace and the stack of hardwood in front of it and the wheels began churning.  

At first I started scouring the house for metal.  I was looking for something i could use to build a tripod in the firebox to hold up the grate to my Weber kettle grill.  I was wandering around muttering, metal, I need metal under my breath.  Husband looked up at one point and said, "Metal? What do you want metal for?" Never mind I said, you'll think I'm nuts.
As I was sitting at the table and watching the chipmunk race across the back garden over the stones it hit me.  Bricks!

I have tons of spare bricks around here from past gardening projects. They would be fireproof, for at least a few fires, and I could get the height I needed to be over the grate that holds the wood.
I donned my raincoat, grabbed the garden trolley and started stacking bricks.
I dragged them into the house and rinsed them all off in the sink and started building the structure.  I went out to the garden and got the grill from my Weber kettle and laid it on top. Husband just came up from the basement, shook his head and laughed.

I found my cast iron pan (I need to remember to bring Grandma's 20-inch one back from Maine after the summer) and even though it is fairly small I figured I could just put a curve on my dinner plans to get it to fit in the pan.

Then I had to decide what I was going to do with my tenderloins. 

I started raiding the fridge and I decided to take the two tenderloins and put a stuffing in the middle, wrap it in a bacon blanket to keep it moist.  I found some double smoked bacon  that I finely diced and it went into the pan with a little olive oil.  When it started to smell nice I added 2 finely minced shallots.  When they were translucent I added a few crimini mushrooms I had left over that I minced fine.  Over in the fruit bowl I spied an apple so I peeled and minced that and in the drawer in the fridge were a few clamshells of herbs so I chopped some fresh sage and thyme and tossed that in as well with some salt & pepper. 

While this cooked down I went to the upstairs fridge and brought down a bottle of French hard cider and popped the cork.  When the pan started to go dry I poured in a few TBS and let it reduce, stirred, added a bit more, let it reduce and then I tasted it.  I had some garlic confit in the fridge as well so I added a bit of that, but you could easily add a few minced garlic cloves.

While this cooled I made a bacon blanket and put the two tenderloins in a yin and yang fashion, thick end to thin, thin end to thick and seasoned them with some salt and pepper.  I pressed the stuffing on to the bottom tenderloin, laid the other on top and then wrapped the bacon around and tied it up to hold it together.

In order to fit this in the pan I had to give it a curve which made some of the stuffing fall out, but I figured it would all just become good pan fond in the end for a sauce.

I threw in the rest of the the thyme sprigs, some garlic confit and poured the cider in the pan and onto the grate it went.  In total I think it took a little over an hour to cook and I flipped it once, added chicken stock to the pan periodically to keep it moist and to prevent the fond from burning.  I did flip it once just to see what it was looking like underneath and to get a nice sear on both sides. That is the picture you see on top, the picture below is when it was finished and resting on the board.

When a thermometer hit 137F I pulled it and let it rest on the board.  I strained the juices in the pan and tossed in a little oil and 1 minced shallot.  When it was soft I poured in some calvados and reduced that, then in went the pan juices and a shot or two of cream to bring it all together.  I think I might have added a squirt of lemon juice to brighten everything up and they seasoned with some s&p.

I wish you had smell-o-vision because this was incredible.  Bacon-smoke-apple-scented heaven.  The inside was perfectly moist as you can see from the picture and the pan sauce, oh the pan sauce redolent of smoke and onion, garlic and thyme, bacon and calvados, a definite repeat. 

My only advice to anyone with a fireplace is to rig it up right now, cook in it, you just may never use your grill again.

**Stuffed pork tenderloin I and Stuffed pork tenderloin II

Comments

[margaret]

Well--how scrummy was that? I reckon it tasted as delicious as it looked and smelled.

[pam]

How clever of you! That looks unbelievably amazing. Seriously good!

[Eli Miller]

Truly Amazing!

I had the tenderloin recipe with a combination of delicate chocolate tort, presented in 2009 Taste of Home Annual Recipes. It was one of the BEST combinations I have ever indulged in.

THANKS

[Wing Nut]

Wow! That looks and sounds fabulous! The combination of criminis, garlic confit, calvados, and herbs with the pork and bacon is inspiring. Plus, I love your ingenuity - you still managed to cook over an open flame but in the warmth and comfort of your home.

[Dave Jones]

photos are stunning! sounds superb.. thanks for sharing ur recipe. it looks great.

[Hal Wagner]

The food looks great and as soon as I get my "smellovision" subscription renewed I'll be back!

If you are a "purist", the cooking process starts with charcoal selection. That's why lump charcoal is the best choice. I see that you were "winging it" because of the weather. Great job!

Whether cooking for the judges or cooking for your friends (like your friends aren't?), you want to start the process off right by choosing natural hardwood charcoal that will give you the best results!

[champagne]

I enjoyed the article. I found it to be very interesting well written and informative. Keep up the great work. You have helped me to learn more about this. Thanks