I brined a pork tenderloin, and I liked it.

We bought a huge pack of pork tenderloin from Costo last month, and I wrapped each of the 5 'loins in plastic wrap and froze them. I thawed one to cook on Saturday but hadn't thought of what to actually do with it, so we made something else for dinner that night and I pulled out some cookbooks to see what I could find. Not surprisingly, I found a nice sounding recipe in Bruce Aidells' Complete Book of Pork. The recipe called for brining and grilling the tenderloin, and at the end of the recipe, there was a note about butterflying the tenderloin to lessen the time needed for brining and grilling. We out of the house longer than we'd intended on Sunday, so butterflying the tenderloin was a perfect solution. The brine - soy sauce, ginger, orange zest, orange juice, salt, sugar, and Chinese 5 spice - soaked through that pork in about 3 hours. Once it was removed from the brine and blotted off with paper towel, I rubbed it with a dry rub - paprika, more 5 spice, brown sugar, and salt. It grilled up quickly, and had a great color and crust from the brine and rub.


So good! The orange was a strong flavor, but not overpowering. It was juicy and tender, and very excellent with a side of stir fried bell peppers.

I'm trying to get back in the habit of writing out a menu plan for the week, or even just for the few days ahead. I've been very unorganized in the kitchen lately, and have had to toss out more leftovers/moldy produce than I'd like. Which is why this week there was no farmers market post! I went to both markets this week - the Wednesday day market downtown and the Saturday market, and kept my hands in my pockets.

There will hopefully be a little less food to chop up for the worms this week (who seem to be all or mostly all still alive!). And I'll be able to start fresh next Saturday at the market, with more room in the fridge.