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Pork Tenderloins
Pork tenderloins are delightful, whether broiled or baked. For broiling they are usually split and brushed with butter. When cooked in the oven a delightful way is to split them almost through. Make a stuffing as for fowl, using fine crumbs, a seasoning of salt, pepper, a little fine thyme and grated onion and 2 tablespoonfuls of melted pork fat or butter for each cupful of the stuffing. Spread a thick layer of this over one of the opened loins, cover with a second loin and tie together in three or four places. Roast in a quick oven, basting often. This is equally good when cold, serving in thin slices.
A stuffed, tied pair of tenderloins is still one of the better ways to feed six people from about two pounds of meat. The main adjustment is temperature, since this was written when pork was cooked far past the point modern pork needs.
- A quick ovenGenerally taken as about 400-425F. At that heat a stuffed pair of tenderloins will be done in roughly 35-45 minutes depending on thickness; the original gives no time.
- Cook to temperature, not to timePork is safe at 145F with a three-minute rest, but the bread stuffing sandwiched between the loins should reach 165F. Probe the centre of the stuffing, not just the meat, and pull the roast when the stuffing hits its number.
- Tenderloins have grownSupermarket tenderloins now run 1 to 1 1/4 lb each and often come two to a pack. Two of them will take about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of stuffing between them. Trim the silverskin, which the original does not mention.
- Splitting them almost throughButterfly each loin lengthwise without cutting all the way, open it flat, then flatten to an even thickness with the heel of your hand or a mallet. Uneven loins are the usual reason the thin end dries out.
- TyingButcher's twine at three or four points, as written, is right. Tie snugly rather than tightly; overtightening squeezes the stuffing out of the ends as the meat contracts.
- Fine crumbsMost likely fine dry breadcrumbs, though period stuffings made "as for fowl" were often built on soft stale crumbs; either will serve, but not panko. If your crumbs are very dry, moisten the stuffing with a few spoonfuls of stock so it does not draw moisture from the meat.
- Melted pork fatLard or bacon drippings give the flavour the original intends; butter is the stated alternative and works. The recipe's ratio is two tablespoonfuls per cupful of made-up stuffing, and it is a sound one worth keeping.
- BastingLean tenderloin gives off very little fat, so there may be nothing in the pan to baste with. Brush with melted fat or a little stock two or three times, or lay a couple of bacon rashers over the top and leave it alone.
- Yield and serving coldTwo loins serve four to six. The suggestion to serve it cold in thin slices is a good one, but chill the roast thoroughly before slicing and keep the leftovers refrigerated, as stuffed meats spoil faster than plain roasts.
Pork tenderloin turns up constantly in American economy cookery of the early twentieth century: it is a small, boneless, quick-cooking cut that stretches with a few cents' worth of bread. Stuffing one lean piece against another and tying them into a single roast is an old butcher's and farmhouse trick, applied equally to flank, breast of veal and split loins, and it does two jobs at once, adding bulk and keeping a dry cut from drying further. The seasoning here, thyme and grated onion in fine crumbs, is the standard "stuffing as for fowl" of the period. The instruction to roast in a quick oven and baste often belongs to a kitchen with no thermometer, where doneness was judged by time and appearance, and where pork was cooked well through, a practice often attributed in part to fear of trichinosis, a concern that shaped American pork cookery for generations and has since largely receded in commercially raised meat.