Maple-Garlic Marinated Pork Tenderloin

Yes, more food. We've been cooking a lot recently, as evidenced by our string of recipe posts. Think you can deal with that? Well I hope so, because if we keep trying recipes that turn out as good as this one then you'll be seeing a lot of cooking posts. This recipe is found here on Allrecipes.

The Recipe

Maple-Garlic Marinated Pork Tenderloin

1 Cup Maple Syrup

2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard

1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil

1 Teaspoon Soy Sauce

3 Cloves Garlic, Minced

Pepper to Taste

1-1/2 lbs. Pork Tenderloin

Combine all ingredients but the tenderloin in a large plastic bag. Add the tenderloin, massage it to coat it thoroughly, and place in the fridge to marinade overnight. When you're ready to cook it, heat a grill or grill pan on medium-low heat. While the grill is warming up, remove the pork from the bag and place the marinade in a small saucepan. Reduce the marinade over medium-low heat for about five minutes. Brush the grill with oil and start cooking the tenderloin, brushing it with the reduced marinade occasionally. Be sure to keep the grill from getting too hot as the marinade burns easily. Cook the pork until it reaches an internal temperature of at least 145 degrees (about 20 minutes). Remove the pork from the grill and allow to rest for three minutes before cutting.

The Results

Pork is such a fun meat. It takes flavors well and can easily be enhanced without being overpowered. This marinade was great. It gives the pork a rich sweetness that's balanced out well by the soy and sesame. Yes, the soy sauce wasn't called for in the original recipe, but some reviewers recommended it and I wanted to add a bit of umami. The whole thing turned out great and was pretty easy - a double winner, I'd say.

Now, just to clear one thing up, pork can be pink now. If you saw the pictures of our pork and thought we were going to die, you're wrong. Well, not entirely... we probably aren't immortal. But this pork won't kill us. USDA recommendations changed in 2011 from a minimum internal temperature of 160 to 145. I hate overcooking food, so I pulled our tenderloins off the grill pan when they were at 145. I also knew that we'd have plenty of leftovers that would get reheated in the microwave, so by keeping them as moist as possible now they hopefully won't turn into rubber when we reheat them later. Leslie still said that she would prefer hers cooked through a little more, but she also likes her steak well done... so if you still want to cook it to 160 (no pink in the middle) then go for it. I'll just be over here enjoying my juicy, melt-in-your-mouth-tender, pink pork.