Persillade-crusted Pork Tenderloin

In searching through the FJ archives, I’m actually very  surprised to find that we haven’t written about pork tenderloin before. Admittedly, I don’t cook all that much meat, but pork tenderloin is affordable, easy to deal with, and delicious. It’s ideal for the young, broke, and hungry.

It’s taken us over two years to get around to it, but, finally, here it is. I got faux fancy with this one and crusted it with persillade, which is nothing more than a mix of garlic, parsley, bread crumbs, and lemon zest.  I’ll give you the recipe for it after the jump, but even if you don’t like parsley or just don’t like things with French names, this post will tell you all you need to know about cooking a pork tenderloin, however you want to season it.

There’s not much to know, but it’s well worth knowing.

A tenderloin is a relatively inexpensive and nearly fat-free cut from the lower part of the back of the pig. The low fat content is both a boon and a hazard: It means that you get a lot of meat for your money, but it also means that if you don’t put a little bit of thought into how you cook your tenderloin, it can wind up extremely dry. This is why many of the pork tenderloins you’ll find in the grocery store will come pre-marinated, and in fact, sometimes you can only find pre-marinated tenderloins in the store. My parents are very fond of these, so I’ve eaten more than a few in my day. Ideally, I’d always season my own, but pre-marinated tenderloins taste great, if a little overly salty.

You can braise a tenderloin on the stove or slice it and use it in stir-frys and the like, but for the purposes of this post, I’m going to focus on roasting.

Recipe for roasting a pork tenderloin: Season pork tenderloin. Place in 400 degree oven. Roast for 25-30 minutes.

Bam. That’s it. Unlike chicken, for example, pork tenderloins are of nearly uniform thickness, which means they cook in approximately the same time, regardless of poundage. This is great for cooks like me, who are a little paranoid about undercooking meat. If you’re lucky enough to have a meat thermometer – I suppose “luck” doesn’t really factor into it, but nevertheless, I don’t have a meat thermometer – you want the center of the pork to be about 155 or 16o degrees Fahrenheit. But 25-30 minutes really does the trick, and to be safe, just let the meat rest for 5-10 minutes and then cut into the thickest part to make sure it’s not too pink. Remember, though, that overcooked pork is the pits and that pork does not need to be grey in order to be done.

As for seasoning a tenderloin, you can crust it like I did here (which helps keep the moisture in the meat) or marinate it (which keeps it plenty juicy). Any crust or marinade that sounds good to you will work, but if you want to try persillade, the recipe is below. If you do go with persillade or with any other crusting option, you should roast the meat uncovered, but keep an eye on it. If the crust starts to get brown before the meat is done, just cover it in foil to keep it from burning. If you’re using a marinade, wrap the marinated tenderloin in aluminum foil and roast it that way.

(In case you’re curious, the sides above are (1) spinach, sauteed in olive oil with garlic, red pepper flakes, and dried cranberries and (2) sweet potatoes, thickly cut, tossed in olive oil, and roasted in a 400 degree oven until very well browned, about 30 minutes.)

Persillade
Adapted from Ina Garten

2 cups loosely packed fresh parsley leaves
1 tablespoon chopped garlic cloves (3 cloves)
1 cup fresh white bread crumbs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1. Place the parsley and garlic in the bowl of a food processor and process until they’re both finely minced.

2. Add the bread crumbs, lemon zest, salt, and pepper and process for a second until combined.