Bourbon Pork Tenderloin

[jeff]

1lb (or so) whole pork tenderloin

1/2 cup bourbon (I use AAA)

1/2 cup orange juice

2 Tbs dark brown sugar

Crushed red pepper to taste

Salt to taste

Fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Mix ingredients together in a large zip-lock bag, add tenderloin and marinate for about an hour. Remove tenderloin, reserving the marinade, and grill to desired doneness. Reduce remaining marinade in a saucepan over medium heat until you have a loose syrup consistancy. Cut tenderloin into medalions and top with reduction sauce.

I like this recipe a lot! It has distinctive bourbon character with a sweet/spicy tang. You can increase the amount of sauce as needed, just keep the proprtions of Bourbon and OJ equal. Try it and let me know what you think.

[luv2hunt]

OK Jeff, I've got this marinating for dinner tonight! I'll have Jon give feedback!

Dawn

[jeff]

What did you think Dawn?

[luv2hunt]

I loved it!

The sauce was too sweet for Jon, but he loved the grilled tenderloin. (Atleast he said I could make it again!)

My girls of course turned up their nose before even trying the sauce when they found out it had bourbon in it! (just more for me!!!) It's unusual for either of my girls to take a second serving unless we're having steak.....and I think Anna had three!

Now, do you have a good recipee for bourbon chicken? I've tried several off the internet and haven't found one I like yet.

Dawn

[dougdog]

Jeff,

I put the recipe to test last Saturday night, my son and another invited guest were the tasters.

To say the least it was delicious! Between the three of us we cleaned up 1-1/2 pounds of BBQ pork tenderloin, a tossed green salad, grilled garlic bread and a bottle of nice Merlot....for desert, Ben and I had a glass of BMH 16yo.

I'm going to use this for an upcoming party next month where the theme/competition is to pair whiskey with a food dish...I intend to win!

Thanks, dog

[jeff]

Thanks Doug, glad you enjoyed it

[cowdery]

I made a modified version of this over the weekend and it came out great. I provide the modified recipe below, as the main modification is that I roasted it rather than grilling it.

Two whole pork tenderloins (1 to 1½ pounds each)

1 ½ cup bourbon whiskey

1 ½ cup orange juice

5 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Crushed red pepper to taste

Salt to taste

Fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Mix ingredients (except the meat) together. Reserve one cup of the liquid for sauce and use the rest as marinade. Pierce the meat with a fork and marinate it for at least one hour. Longer is better.

Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees and roast the meat, uncovered, for 1¾ hours. Baste occasionally with the reserved marinade.

In a saucepan, boil the reserved marinade until it is reduced by about half. Serve as a sauce.

Let the meat rest for at least ten minutes after removing it from the oven. Cut into slices ¾†to 1†thick.

One note: I didn't actually use bourbon. I used Rittenhouse Rye BIB.

I served the meat with a salad of baby spinach with hard boiled egg slices and a hot bacon vinegar dressing, and sliced boiled potatoes using the same dressing (i.e., hot German potato salad). The bacon was from Meacham's, in western Kentucky, which has a great smokey flavor.

The meal was a great success.

[ratcheer]

Chuck, are those fresh pork tenderloins or those things packed in the clear plastic bags with some kind of briny solution? I like both, I just want to know which. Thanks.

Tim

[cowdery]

I used "those things packed in the clear plastic bags with some kind of briny solution," which are fresh (i.e., neither pre-cooked nor frozen), though I assume you're talking about butcher-case-just-cut-from-the-hog fresh, which these were not. The "briny solution" is used to keep the meat moist and tender, and seems like a good thing. Are there arguments to be made against it?

[ratcheer]

No, no problem, I said I enjoy both types. Sorry if my wording sounded negative, I did not intend it.

Nine times out of ten, the ones in the clear wrap are what I buy.

Tim

[dougdog]

Jeff,

Earlier I'd written:

I'm going to use this for an upcoming party next month where the theme/competition is to pair whiskey with a food dish...I intend to win!

The party was held on December 10th. This year’s theme was to pair whisky with food. (This a SMSW crowd) I had started preparations on my dish earlier in the day. First thing in the morning (7:00 am) was to make the marinade (I combined equal amounts of AAA and WT 101 for the bourbon parts) and get the two fresh pork loin roasts soakin’ in the “sauceâ€.

Around 1:00 pm, I started the mesquite coals on the BBQ, when the coals were ready; the roasts went on for 45 minutes. (They were 2¼ pounds each) While the roasts were BBQ’n the marinade was being reduced. I took the roasts off early (par-cooked) for final preparation at the event.

Determined to make my presence known, I spent much thought regarding presentation.

I took a 24 inch white oval platter, and placed the re-heated, sliced medallions of loin in two rows, long ways down the platter. I placed 4 leafs of mustard greens, 2 on each side of the pork. I then filled in and around the mustard greens with mandarin oranges. After the oranges went on, I put a can of Planters, fancy, whole cashews over everything. Then, I ladled the simmering reduction sauce over the pork and the cashews. (Not on the greens and oranges) I placed about 6 or 7 maraschino cherries for a contrasting dash of color and served.

I did win the first place trophy.

I paired my dish with Caol Ila, 15yo, Faunna & Flora edition Islay Malt. The smoke on the meat cancelled the smoke and peat in the malt and allowed the luscious fruits and flowers not normally evident in this whisky to come to the forefront and interact with the pork tenderloin and garnishes. The playful exchange between the spicy bourbon sauce and the Islay Malt was superb. If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing. That doesn’t mean I won’t try other things, it just means that this combo is known to work!

There was a small awards ceremony, and a “photo-opâ€. In the picture, from left to right is JT in the blue shirt, John is the one responsible for introducing me to Single Malt back in 1994, which eventually led me to bourbon. Dave, in the red shirt, is also a malt freak, a very good cook and won the second place food dish, he’ll enjoy a glass of bourbon with me if JT is not around. In the back is George, he is the one who put a circa 1945 distillation Glen Grant 26yo in front of me and said,â€taste thisâ€â€¦that, has since, cost me a lot of money! (Happily so), George will drink Bourbon and/or Scotch…but just the good stuff!

You can see our host’s “Italian missile-toe†hanging in the doorway.

Thanks again Jeff for the recipe!

dougdog

[ratcheer]

I wish you had gotten us a picture of the completed dish. It sounds like it was awesome!

Tim

[luv2hunt]

Wow Doug! I'm impressed! You can cook for me anytime!

Dawn

[dougdog]

Tim,

You will just have to use your imagination...

My dish was the last one to hit the table prior to everyone getting started...there was absolutely no time to preserve the "Kodak Moment" in time....and, I had a camera there, and intended to take a picture...it was all planned...just didn't work out that way.

Literally in just moments there was a crowd...in just minutes, the plate was completely ransacked!

I'll make this plate again...maybe for D-Day if we ever get a larger group together...but in any event I'll get a photo and post it here in the future.

D-Day Dougdog

[ratcheer]

Completely understandable, Doug.

Tim

[jeff]

Congratulations Doug I'm glad everyone liked it, and it sounds like your presentation got you over the top! I wish I could have tasted it

[jspero]

1lb (or so) whole pork tenderloin

1/2 cup bourbon (I use AAA)

1/2 cup orange juice

2 Tbs dark brown sugar

Crushed red pepper to taste

Salt to taste

Fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Mix ingredients together in a large zip-lock bag, add tenderloin and marinate for about an hour. Remove tenderloin, reserving the marinade, and grill to desired doneness. Reduce remaining marinade in a saucepan over medium heat until you have a loose syrup consistancy. Cut tenderloin into medalions and top with reduction sauce.

I tried this last night on the grill. I let the tenderloin marinade for 4 days, though. All I can say is “WOW!†This was REALLY good. And the house smelled great after reducing the remainder of the marinade. Thanks for posting this. It’s a keeper.

Jay

[cowdery]

Four days apparently is good, but I have found it is possible to over-marinade this dish. When you do, it gets very bitter.

[jspero]

Four days apparently is good, but I have found it is possible to over-marinade this dish. When you do, it gets very bitter.

I didn't intend to let it marinade for 4 days, it just kind of worked out like that. I found that it had a nice "woody" flavor to it with hints of the orange juice. The bourbon was the dominant flavor. I used EW 1783 (10yo, 86 proof), which I think has a nice woody flavor to it straight. I cooked it over charcoal, which may have also contributed to the woodiness.

I think next time I'll try a 2-day marinade and see if I notice a difference. I tried it as leftovers a few days later and didn't notice any flavor change (like when Chinese food or pizza sometimes taste better the next day).

Jay

[Sijan]

I'm using a modified version of this for some pork chops tonight - they're marinating right now. Used a cup of OJ and a cup of bourbon, mostly WT101, and a large chunk of brown sugar, plus some salt, peppercorns, crushed red pepper, garlic & a few other misc. seasonings.

[Sijan]

The pork chops came out very good - I boiled the marinade and used it as a baste while they were cooking, and then also had it on the table for people to pour spoonfulls over their chop, if desired. This was probably the second best marinade I've tried for pork, with Stubb's still being the best. Quite impressive!

[Sijan]

Tried a variant of this (again w/ grilled pork chops) w/o the orange juice but with a bottle of Worcestershire, and it didn't come out nearly as well. Should have known that bourbon & worcestershire don't go well together...

[jeff]

I have actually started using a couple tablespoons of worestershire when I make this, but in addition to the OJ. Turns out pretty nice. Last time, a couple of days ago, I even added a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg; don't do that.

[Sijan]

alright, well, I'll give it a shot with the OJ & the worcestershire, but not a whole bottle this time!

[cowdery]

A little bit of worcestershire goes a long way. It is to this recipe what bitters are to the manhattan, an important ingredient but not to be overdone.