I honestly can’t recall if I ever had pork tenderloin before I cooked one this past Saturday. I’ve had plenty of other pork-based meals, but having tenderloin isn’t a familiar memory. If I have had it, the experience is tucked away somewhere in the back of my mind.
Easter was the next day, and I had a good-sized turkey breast in mind for that (stay tuned!), so I didn’t want to do chicken or some other kind of fowl on the smoker. Also, I’m thinking of my adoring readers… I want to mix things up a little from my regular meat selections. Looking for some inspiration, pork tenderloin happened to creep into my attention, so I thought this would be a perfect choice.
Tackling the Beast
The thing about pork tenderloin is that it either comes in either a really small or really big size. The smaller one didn’t look like it was nearly enough even for my small group. So I went with the big one. And I mean big. I knew this was going to be lunch for me for at least two or three days during the week.
Following a process provided by my old reliable barbecue source, Malcolm Reed, I brined the tenderloin the night before. I must say, brining turns the meat into a borderline disturbing shade of white. Given the shape, it looked like some sort of early-stage lifeform from an alien movie.
The best way to get past the aesthetic color issue was to get the rub on it. I applied a commercial barbecue rub, as well as an additional one created following the recipe in the video:
- 2 Tablespoons turbinado raw sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Kosher salt
- 1 Tablespoon garlic flakes
- 1 Tablespoon onion flakes
- ½ Tablespoon coarse ground black pepper
- ½ Tablespoon dried rosemary leaves
- ½ Tablespoon dried thyme leaves
I let the meat sit on the counter while I fired up my Weber Smokey Mountain. Using peach and cherry wood, I brought the temperature up to about 230. I knew the cook wouldn’t take too long, so I wanted to draw it out a little bit. Once the thermometer hit 230 degrees, I put on the tenderloin. As you can see, I needed to curve it a little so it would fit on the grill.
As I suspected, the internal temperature hit 140 degrees in under two hours, so off it came. I let it rest for about 20 minutes, then sliced.
I have to say that one of my weaknesses is that I tend to rush. When I’m cooking, that means I will predictably skip a few small, but important steps. For this cook, I forgot to apply a light coat of mustard to the meat as a binder for the rub. In addition, I didn’t spritz the meat with the apple juice/water mixture during the cook.
That probably means the meat wasn’t as moist and the crust wasn’t as hard as they should have been. But hey. This blog is all about detailing my journey in the barbecue world, so no tears were shed.
That being said, I was happy with the way the pork turned out. It was moist and tender, and the crust was both herbaceous and a little spicy. I got excellent feedback from my diners, so I’m satisfied with the way it turned out.
The Wine: 2018 Ruca Malen Sauvignon Blanc
Naturally, I was going with a white wine that night. Given the herbs and spice in the rub, I wanted a wine that could stand up to both. A Riesling might match the spice and a Pinot Gris the herb, but my instinct was that a Sauvignon Blanc would pair well against both.
Fortunately, I eyeballed the perfect one on my wine rack: a 2018 Sauvignon Blanc from the Ruca Malen winery in the Mendoza region of Argentina. It’s been a few years since I tasted this particular bottle, but since I’m not a huge Sav Blanc fan, I knew it must have had characteristics favorable to my palate.
As much as any other New World winemaking regions, I’m learning to rely on South America more often. The quality for the value is incredible. There are so many well-made wines that come out of Argentina and Chile in particular for prices that don’t make the jaw drop.
A little bit about the winery from its website:
Ruca Malen’s dream began in 1998 when Jean Pierre Thibaud and Jacques Louis de Montalembert confessed to each other the desire to build their own winery in Mendoza. Back then, Jean Pierre was leaving the presidency of Chandon Winery Argentina after 10 years, whilst Jacques Louis had acquired a solid knowledge of winemaking in the Bourgogne region.
Since its first harvest in 1999, Ruca Malen aims to achieve the highest quality in wines, focusing on style, elegance and distinction.
I have to note that when I visited the site, I couldn’t find the Sav Blanc. I’m not sure if they stopped making it, or maybe I’m not as savvy on the interwebz as I thought.
A visit to Wine-Searcher.com provides a good overview of the Mendoza region of Argentina:
Mendoza is by far the largest wine region in Argentina. Located on a high-altitude plateau at the edge of the Andes Mountains, the province is responsible for roughly 70 percent of the country’s annual wine production. The French grape variety Malbec has its New World home in the vineyards of Mendoza, producing red wines of great concentration and intensity.
On the nose, there were intense citrus and flint aromas, and when I sipped, there was a high acidity, bold grapefruit and lemon, as well as stone and slightly herbaceous notes. With the pork, it complemented the flavors of the rub perfectly. Much of the acidity would go away once the wine met the herbs on the palate. Overall, I can’t imagine I could have made a better pairing.
Now to prepare for the Easter meal: bone-in turkey breast. Look out for that upcoming post.
Cheers!