Fries Pork Tenderloins - Indiana Tradition

Royal Coachmen

Wanting to make a food centric to where I live and grew up I was drawn toward making a fried pork tenderloin since that has been a staple here in north central Indiana.

First things first. I cut the pork tenderloins into medallions. I used a rubber mallet to pound the medallions flat between two pieces of parchment paper. 
 

After they were pounded pounded out I was read to bread them. Three part creasing breeding process. First into the flour, then into the egg/buttermilk mix, then into breadcrumbs. They turned out like this. 

Letting the breaded beauties sit on the rack allows the bread to better adhere prior to frying. 

Now you're ready to put em on the egg. 

I prefer to use peanut oil when I fry so that's what they're cooking in. Also don't ever ever drop water into a hot skillet of oil. I thought I read somewhere that is how you tell the oil is ready to fry...well that's not correct. It causes just something short of an oil explosion. The more water the worse the reaction. DO NOT DO this. Apparently what I read was to drop a little piece of breading in the oil not water. SMH. 

Final product is this:

This recipe was loosely based off of that of Kevin Gillespie's found in his book Pure Pork Awesomeness. It was simple, delicious, and made enough for sandwhiches for two days and a salad topping for a third. Very economical. The pork loin I used was 2.5 lbs. 

mshump

Those look good

johnmitchell

Oh my Gawd.... That looks awesome..

Wolfpack

i would eat the leftovers in the morning- pork tenderloin biscuits are one of my all time favorites. 

Chubby

 Coachmen said

 I was drawn toward making a fried pork tenderloin since that has been a staple here in north central Indiana. 

First things first. I cut the pork tenderloins into medallions. I used a rubber mallet to pound the medallions flat between two pieces of parchment paper. 
 

After they were pounded pounded out I was read to bread them. Three part creasing breeding process. First into the flour, then into the egg/buttermilk mix, then into breadcrumbs. They turned out like this. 

Letting the breaded beauties sit on the rack allows the bread to better adhere prior to frying. 

Now you're ready to put em on the egg. 

I prefer to use peanut oil when I fry so that's what they're cooking in. Also don't ever ever drop water into a hot skillet of oil. I thought I read somewhere that is how you tell the oil is ready to fry...well that's not correct. It causes just something short of an oil explosion. The more water the worse the reaction. DO NOT DO this. Apparently what I read was to drop a little piece of breading in the oil not water. SMH. 

Final product is this:

This recipe was loosely based off of that of Kevin Gillespie's found in his book Pure Pork Awesomeness. It was simple, delicious, and made enough for sandwhiches for two days and a salad topping for a third. Very economical. The pork loin I used was 2.5 lbs. 

Mosta my family is from Southern Indiana  and growing up...I've eaten a ton of those...mostly from the Marathon station (just outside of Nashville in Knaw Bone).  

I'm sure Nick over in Huntington would be right proud of you !!

PS...Please be careful frying over an open flame!!! Ive seen very serious burns happen just like that!!
My old neighbor almost burned his house down from an oil fire on his deck...just sayin!!

Philly35

Nice new egg you got there too!

Royal Coachmen

Thanks for the word of caution @Chubby. I will be a little more mindful next time. I tried to keep the amount of oil in the skillet minimal. 

Boileregger

You're making me homesick man!  Best tenderloin I have ever had is at Sahm's on the north side of Indy.  They serve it with fries and some deep fried cauliflower - purely awesome.  Yours looks just as good.

Chubby

Boileregger said:

You're making me homesick man!  Best tenderloin I have ever had is at Sahm's on the north side of Indy.  They serve it with fries and some deep fried cauliflower - purely awesome.  Yours looks just as good.

Is that like Purdue Boilermaker...egger?
I think I see what you did there...lol!
He's making me homesick too!!

Chubby

Royal Coachmen said:

Thanks for the word of caution @Chubby. I will be a little more mindful next time. I tried to keep the amount of oil in the skillet minimal. 

Well they look great no matter what!!

Just be careful...and at least make sure you have a fire extinguisher for oil fires handy !!
Thank you for the throwback!!

QingEsq

Great idea for the pork.  Nice cook!

Hairless_Hand

Brave first cook. Looks good. 

stlcharcoal

There used to be a restaurant at the mattoon, IL airport that would make pork tenderloins the size of a 10" inch dinner plate.  They called them elephant ears.  We would fly up there on Sundays and it would always make two meals.

Boileregger

stlcharcoal said:

There used to be a restaurant at the mattoon, IL airport that would make pork tenderloins the size of a 10" inch dinner plate.  They called them elephant ears.  We would fly up there on Sundays and it would always make two meals.

That's right...I had flown in there a couple of times as well but had forgotten about it.  Is the restaurant still there?

Royal Coachmen

Hairless_Hand said:

Brave first cook. Looks good. 

Not my first rodeo @Hairless_Hand. The clean innards of the MiniMax are deceiving. The innards of my large look like the inside of a diesel locomotive engine. ☺️

stlcharcoal

Boileregger said:

stlcharcoal said:

There used to be a restaurant at the mattoon, IL airport that would make pork tenderloins the size of a 10" inch dinner plate.  They called them elephant ears.  We would fly up there on Sundays and it would always make two meals.

That's right...I had flown in there a couple of times as well but had forgotten about it.  Is the restaurant still there?

No idea......Last time I was there was in a Robinson R44, so it would have had to have been 2003-2004.  Been in Bell 206L since then.

Boileregger

stlcharcoal said:

Boileregger said:

stlcharcoal said:

There used to be a restaurant at the mattoon, IL airport that would make pork tenderloins the size of a 10" inch dinner plate.  They called them elephant ears.  We would fly up there on Sundays and it would always make two meals.

That's right...I had flown in there a couple of times as well but had forgotten about it.  Is the restaurant still there?

No idea......Last time I was there was in a Robinson R44, so it would have had to have been 2003-2004.  Been in Bell 206L since then.

Would've been more recent than me...Cessna 172 in 1999.

bettysnephew

This is most definitely one of the best contributions to the food culture that apparently came out of the Midwest. In Iowa this seems to be a standard go to sandwich at many Mom and Pop restaurants. Two places that serve them here have been vying for "The best tenderloin in Iowa" for many years. Joensy's restaurants in Solon, Cedar Rapids and Center Point and the St. Olaf Tap in, obviously, St. Olaf, Iowa. These places serve huge, tasty tenderloins on oversize buns. My personal preference is the one served at the St. Olaf Tap, it is about the size of a hubcap off of a 1953 Cadillac and 1/2" or more thick. It overhangs the edges of full size plates all around and the taste is marvelous. Joensy;s are not quite as large and the breading is very good but the S O T is just a bit better to my taste. However Joensy's is local here and S O T is an hours' drive. Whenever I get to the Northeast quadrant of Iowa there is a stop scheduled at S O T. Their tenderloin is usually good for about three meals for me so I always take a cooler along.

B727

Don't forget the pork chop sandwiches at the famous "Snappy Lunch" in Mayberry (Mt. Airy, NC). Andy and Barney had them every day............