Pork Tenderloin

Tenderloin seared whole, rested, and sliced thin across the grain.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains pork.

Ingredients

• 2 pork tenderloins, about 400 g each
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Method

1. Trim the silverskin off each tenderloin — the pale tough membrane along one side. Left on, it shrinks and bows the meat into a curve in the pan.
2. Mix the soy sauce, wine, pepper, sugar and garlic, rub it over the tenderloins, and leave them 45 minutes. No longer: this is a lean cut and a long soak in salt makes it chalky.
3. Get a heavy pan hot with the vegetable oil and sear the tenderloins whole, 3 minutes on each of their four sides. WHOLE, not in medallions — a cut this thin loses its juice the moment it is portioned before cooking.
4. Turn the heat to low, cover, and give them 6 more minutes, turning once. The thickest part should read 63C.
5. REST THEM 10 MINUTES before touching them. Sliced straight off the heat they bleed out onto the board and go grey.
6. Slice 1 cm thick across the grain and brush with the sesame oil. The centre should still be faintly pink.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under China · All recipes