Reasonably Random Rants and Raves

For some reason, Sunday’s have always been the day where I make time to cook at home rather than dining out. Today was a classic example: went digging through the freezer last night and discovered a pork tenderloin that I forgotten I had purchased.

So I remembered a recipe I had seen a few months ago in an issue of Cooks Illustrated that I had been mean meaning to try. However, I figured I’d just modify the recipe a bit rather than leaving the house to go buy the ingredients I was missing. So, here’s how I modified Cooks Illustrated‘s version to match what I had in the pantry:

1       Pork Tenderloin Roast (about 2 lbs)
1/4 c.  maple syrup
1/4 c.  Steen's cane syrup (orig. recipe used molasses)
2 TB    Bourbon
2 t.    Cayenne Pepper
1 t.    Cinnamon
1/2 t.  Cloves, ground
1/4 c.  Cornstarch
2 TB    Sugar
1 TB    Salt
2 t.    Black Pepper
2 T.    vegetable oil

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Mix together syrups, bourbon, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and cloves in a small bowl. In larger bowl, mix together the cornstarch, salt, and black pepper.
• Use paper towels to dry the roast completely and then dredge the roast in the cornstarch mixture. Use paper towels to remove excess cornstarch mixture. This is important as you want just enough left on the roast to provide something for glaze to adhere too. The magazine article made a really big deal about this.
• Heat the oil in a skillet large enough to fit the roasts. Brown the roast on all sides and place on a rack in a baking sheet.
• Add syrup mixture to skillet, deglaze the pan, and then allow mixture to reduce to about 1/2 c.
• Glaze roasts with 1/3 reduced mixture and place in oven. Roast until instant read thermometer reads 130 degrees. Glaze again with 1/3 of mixture. Return to oven until roast reaches 140 degrees. Glaze with remaining mixture and allow to rest uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes. Slice and serve.

Notes:

• The original recipe had you reserve some of the glaze and mix with dark mustard and more maple syrup to do a final glaze before slicing. That didn’t seem to add much for me so I removed it from my modified recipe.
• Just taking the dry spices, salt, cayenne, and black pepper would make a pretty decent dry rub for pork.
• Line your baking sheet with some tin foil. It’ll make the clean-up a lot easier.
• Reserve some of the pork roast to make sandwiches the next day.

Selah.

Eating