Juicy Pork, No Scary Ingredients Required

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

In a Sunday night pinch last weekend, my boyfriend and I found ourselves at the local Safeway staring at a bunch of plastic wrapped logs of meats wondering what to cook for dinner. In an ideal world we had planned to go to the butcher and get pork tenderloin, the perfect quick Sunday roast for two people. But since normal people apparently do their Sunday grocery shopping before 7:30pm, we found ourselves staring hopelessly through the darkened windows of the local meat shop, sadly considering our few remaining cooking options.

And so we found ourselves at Safeway contemplating the relative merits of various cuts of plastic wrapped meat. Pork still seemed to a be a good option but rather than the beautiful pink hued logs of the butcher we were forced to choose between teriyaki, lemon and herb, or plain pork tenderloin, all pre-marinated in some scary sounding things that appeared to involve a lot of sodium. The plain version, albeit with mysterious ingredients, seemed the best option.

From what I could tell, the goo that came out of the plastic wrap once we were at home seemed like a fancy brining solution, thickened for some reason with corn starch. Brining is nothing new to the world of pork and pork chops so even this rather suspicious looking goo wasn’t enough to make me write off the potential of this standard grocery store-issue meat. I made a quick glaze with some plum jam by melting it over a medium heat with a splash of balsamic, a bit of soy sauce, and a spoonful of chopped rosemary.

Rinsed of its gelatinous brine, patted dry and seasoned, I had to admit the pork didn’t look half bad. In it went to the hot oven for a bit over 20 minutes, getting a brush of the glaze at 10, then 15 minutes time for well coated, but not burnt tasting, flavoring for what was once a humble pork tenderloin wasting away in a plastic sleeve. I have to admit, it tasted pretty darn good.

I’ll always prefer to buy meat from a butcher counter that hasn’t spent its shelf life confined in suffocating plastic. But it was good to know that even in a pinch the least artificially manipulated of the plastic wrapped stuff can still be great. And there is something to be said for meat that has had time for the seasoning, namely salt, to sink all the way into the deepest part of the tissue. It just tastes better.

So when I go to recreate this plum glazed pork tenderloin with my butcher’s free-breathing meat, I’ll be sure and give it some non-gooey brine time to get that same moist and flavorful taste of the Safeway version but without the extra chemical ingredients.

The reason brining is so important is that with large cuts of meat, just salting the outside before cooking does not give time for the season to be absorbed into the deepest parts of the meat. Most people still think of brining in terms of the giant plastic jug full of water, salt, and sugar needed to season the Thanksgiving turkey. A pork loin or tenderloin can be done much the same in a deep pan with a solution of water, sugar, salt, and seasoning for anywhere for 6 hours to overnight depending on the size of the meat.

But for a quicker take on brining without adding any real cooking time, try just salt curing the meat for a few hours before putting it in the oven. For my plum glazed pork tenderloin, the meat needs little more than a light rub of Kosher salt, cracked pepper and some chopped rosemary. This can be done in the morning before heading to work, or on a Sunday afternoon a few hours before dinner time. When it is time to eat, rinse off the meat and pat it dry then proceed as normal. The meat will be naturally juicy and flavorful, no special goo required.

Now that I know the butcher closes at 7:00 pm on Sundays, I’ll try and be more conscious of not missing the cut-off time. But in the event that we do, even suffocating Safeway meat can still make for a wonderful meal. But since in an ideal world I’d like a nice pork loin the all natural way, with no scary ingredient list, I can rest assured that the same juicy meat can be had with a quick dry salt brine, no extra work required. That pork payoff might just make thinking about dinner before 7:00 on a Sunday worth the extra effort.

Serves/Makes: 4

• 2 pork tenderloins
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 tablespoons chopped rosemary, divided
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup plum jam or jelly
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce