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Broiled Pork Tenderloin
Trim and wipe meat, split open and broil. Season with pepper, salt and one freshly powdered sage leaf for each one. Place on hot broiler and brown thoroughly, but do not turn. Serve on hot platter with melted butter. Allow half a tenderloin to each serving.
A three-line method from an era when broiling meant a hot rack under or over direct heat and pork was cooked hard. Two details need attention: the size of a modern tenderloin, and the internal temperature.
- Split open means butterfliedCut the trimmed tenderloin lengthwise almost through and open it flat, then press it out to an even thickness of about half an inch. That is what makes a whole-muscle cut cookable under a broiler in minutes.
- "Do not turn"The recipe has the meat placed on a hot broiler and assumes heat strong enough to cook a thin butterflied cut through from one side. On a modern electric broiler or a grill, position the rack 3-4 inches from the element; if the surface is browning faster than the interior cooks, turn it once regardless of the instruction.
- Temperature, not timePork is safe at 145F with a three-minute rest, and a butterflied tenderloin reaches that in roughly 4-6 minutes total. Older guidance took pork much further, with figures as high as 185F appearing in period and mid-century advice, which is what gave these cuts their reputation for dryness.
- Portion size has changedPortion size -- A pork tenderloin sold today runs 1 to 1.5 lb, so half of one is a generous portion. Figure one-third to one-half of a modern tenderloin per person rather than a flat half.
- Fresh sageSage -- "Freshly powdered" points to a leaf crushed at the moment of use; either way, one leaf per portion is a light hand by modern standards. Dried rubbed sage substitutes at roughly an eighth of a teaspoon per serving, added with the salt and pepper before the meat goes under the heat.
- Season and finishSalt the cut surfaces just before broiling so the exterior dries and browns. The melted butter poured over on the platter is the whole sauce; about a tablespoon per serving, with the resting juices stirred in, is enough.
- YieldAt half a tenderloin per serving, two tenderloins serve four.
Sage is the traditional aromatic for fresh pork in English and American practice, going back to the sage used in pork sausage and forcemeat. Pork tenderloin was a small, boneless, quick-cooking cut in a period when pork otherwise meant roasts, chops, and long-cured ham and bacon. American recipes of the era pushed pork to high finished temperatures, in part out of concern about trichinosis; modern hog raising and inspection lie behind the current 145F standard.