Too Much Pork For Just One Fork
Pork. Food of Champions.
Over the weekend I ventured into the magical land of pork tenderloin again, a place where there are always rainbows, sunshine, peace, quiet and nice cold beer. I usually dress up the pork with an Asian wet rub/marinade, but I thought I’d change it up this time and go dry rub. So I referred to our house bible, the Cook’s Illustrated 1,021 page “New Best Recipes” and went with the Basic Spice Rub:
- 1 Tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 Tablespoon chili powder (reduced down to 1/4 tablespoon for my wimpy mouth)
- 1 Tablespoon curry powder
- 1 Teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 Teaspoons of brown sugar (be generous with it)
So I got the skin off the terderloin (ick) and soaked that baby overnight in water with 1/4 cup of salt and 1/4 cup of sugar, then patted it dry and applied the dry rub and put it back in the fridge for a couple of hours. During the kids nap on Sunday, I decided the pork with the dry rub wouldn’t be enough, so I got the materials I needed for a Black Bean/Mango Salsa as well (of course, per the house bible). I must tell you, the salsa made the meal. It came out awesome! If you’re doing a dry rub, any of the salsa’s in the house bible will work, but this one was spectacular!
- 1/2 cup of cooked black beans
- 1 medium mango, peeled, putted and cut into 1/4 inch dice
- 1/4 of a red bell pepper, diced small
- 1/4 of a green bell pepper, diced small
- 1/4 medium red onion, diced small
- 6 tablespoons of pineapple juice (I subbed OJ)
- 1/4 cup of fresh lime juice
- 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro leaves
- 1 tablespoon of ground cumin
- dress with salt & pepper
You just mix it all together and let it sit in the fridge for 2-4 hours before eating it. Grill the pork until it gets to 170 degrees on the thermometor. You pile that salsa on top of the pork, make yourself whatever sides you want (we had rice pilaf and roasted green beans) and you have yourself a masterpiece. Rock it.