I think most people have had a food "event" that essentially ruins their ability to eat that food for months, years and in some cases, forever. For my wife, that event came at a town fair in her hometown of Sioux Center, IA. As any good rural town fair does, they traditionally cooked pork, entire pigs I believe. And unfortunately for her, she received a pork sandwich that included a bit too much of the "inedible", so to speak. She was young, it was gross, and the taste of pork has never appealed to her again. Unlike many people with food fears, she will try it from time to time, and even tolerate it, but she rarely enjoys it. If it "tastes like pork", it's a neutral experience at best, and often bad. If it tastes like bacon, sausage or ham, we're good.
So fast forward to my quest to cook everything in the Paulina Market main display case, and the pork cuts in particular, and you realize that I'm in an uphill battle. But I am to that challenge.
Enter the Pork Tenderloin, a personal favorite cut of mine. Prior to last night, I had only grilled them, sometimes marinated, sometimes only rubbed. But never for my wife.
I got a 1.25 lb pound cut from Paulina, put a rub on it of Salt, Pepper and Sage, browned it slightly in a skillet, and roasted it with a sauce of Dark Rum, Pecans, Brown Sugar and Maple Syrup. Well, thank you to the quality of the meat and an outstanding meat thermometer, the tenderloin was cooked perfectly and tasted delicious. The sauce (I won't point out the recipe since I don't want to trash anyone) tasted more like something I would want on pancakes as opposed to a dinner pork tenderloin. That said, it was delicious. I just couldn't get over the "breakfast" aspects of the sauce. As for the sauce, my wife agreed. But here's the good news, in her words, "it didn't taste like pork". So, I do believe that there is the possibility that we might enjoy pork tenderloin together, just not for breakfast anymore.
3 down, 54 to go!
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