Maple Glazed Pork Tenderloin

Pork tenderloin is the Psoas major muscle along the the central spine between the shoulder blade and hip joint of the pig. This muscle supports the inner organs and is not used for locomotion. As a result it is the most tender part of the pig. One of the local, smaller grocery stores often puts pork tenderloin on sale so whenever I stop there I aways check.

Sliced Pork Tenderloin

Pork tenderloin is very easy to cook. My preferred method is braising. Braising is simply searing the meat then cooking in a liquid or sauce. This is an excellent way to cook tougher cuts of meat which really isn't necessary for pork tenderloin but it gives lovely results.

To sear: Heat vegetable oil in a cast iron or stainless steel fry pan on medium-high heat. The oil should sizzle with a drop of water. Add the meat and brown on all sides. Remove the meat. Deglaze the pan. Add to whatever sauce you are using.

To moist cook: Place the seared pork tenderloin into a 9" X 9" baking pan. Pour the glaze (recipe follows) over the meat. Cover tightly with tin foil. Bake at 350ºF for 1 hour. Partially remove the foil to allow the sauce to reduce for about 15 minutes. Remove the meat from the pan. Allow to rest 5 minutes. Slice on the diagonal.

Maple Glaze

½ c maple syrup
2½ tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp butter
sea salt
fresh ground pepper

Sprinkle the pork tenderloin with salt and pepper. Mix the maple syrup and lemon juice together and pour over the meat. Add butter in smaller chunks. After cooking the remaining sauce can be thickened with a cornstarch slurry if desired.


Pork Tenderloin Dinner

Pork tenderloin is one of my favourite meats because it is small enough to thaw quickly, it's easy to prepare and simply by changing the sauce you can quite lovely results. It is a small enough cut of meat that if feeds the two of us with little or no left overs.

Thursday's dinner was maple glazed pork tenderloin. The flavour of maple just melds so nicely with pork making maple syrup the perfect accent ingredient for pork. I served the pork tenderloin with steamed potatoes and home frozen cauliflower as pictured. The cauliflower was boiled just to heat through then drained, lightly buttered and sprinkled with nutmeg. Nutmeg enhances the flavour of the cauliflower and it goes well with the flavour of maple syrup. Butter is a must! As many of you know I use only butter but in this case butter rounds out the overall flavour of the meal. It was a lovely winter meal!