Stuffed Pork Tenderloins: a brief photoessay

Beaumonty · April 2013

I translated a cream cheese and jalapeno stuffed pork tenderloin recipe based on comments from the forum. The results were spectacular.
First off, I thought I wanted to wrap the whole tenderloin (butterflied and stuffed with cream cheese and "no heat" pickled jalapenoes with bacon). I was also going to use a rub, but a comment from forum member (henapple) made me second guess the wrapping part. He suggested that I egg the bacon and that's what I did. Good gracious, am I glad I followed his suggestion.
I was also cooking a spatchcocked chicken. I stuff whole cloves under the skin to separate it from the meat, use a toothpick to give the skin holes for the fat to render out. I snuck the bacon around the chicken:

Meanwhile, I was preparing the tenderloin: cream cheese straight out of the fridge (no need to soften) with sliced no heat jalapenoes (for the kiddos, can't wait to use the ones I am growing). I rolled up and attached with toothpicks (couldn't find my baker's twine). My rub all on the outside, which i should have done before using the toothpicks, right after I butterflied the tenderloin:

I added a bit of brown sugar (and cayenne pepper for my pieces) and let my oldest sample the bacon. All of them loved it. Frankly, the bacon was...in a word...transcendant. I cannot believe I have not been making it that way for the past few years. My sons absolutely loved it. I let the bacon cool a bit and this is all that was left of a pound of bacon

and then I put on the tenderloin and continued cooking the chicken:

And when i was done, this was the result:

The rub, in lieu of the bacon, was absolutely the way to go. We used the bacon for the baked potatoes and salad (the bacon that survived, that is) and the end of the day, my wife said she thought it was on of my best ever and would not mind if I made it for her birthday. High praise indeed.

MrCookingNurse · April 2013

=D> now I'm starving

ddegger · April 2013

Brilliant!

shtgunal3 · April 2013

Looks mighty fine!

Mickey · April 2013

Sweet meal. We're you using Pepper Works Candied Jalapeños? Tell a little about your home made rub.

Beaumonty · April 2013

Mickey said:
Sweet meal. We're you using Pepper Works Candied Jalapeños?
Tell a little about your home made rub.

I just used mild Trappey's jalapeños. The candied ones would be great.

My rub is equal parts dark chili powder, Montreal steak seasoning, kosher salt and white sugar with half parts onion, garlic powders and celery salt. Very yummy, all purpose rub that isn't too salty.

Solson005 · April 2013

Looks great and something I need to try out soon! =P~

SmokeyPitt · April 2013

Three coarse meal! Looks like it turned out great! I like what you did with the spatchy. Skin looks super-crispy.

I would still like to see a stuffed tenerloin with a bacon weave!

. I might have to just do this one myself sometime. One wrapped, one unwrapped for a side-by-side comparison.

Beaumonty · April 2013

SmokeyPitt said:

Three coarse meal! Looks like it turned out great! I like what you did with the spatchy. Skin looks super-crispy.

I would still like to see a stuffed tenerloin with a bacon weave! . I might have to just do this one myself sometime. One wrapped, one unwrapped for a side-by-side comparison.

Since two came to a pack, I was very tempted to do a taste test. I will eventually do the weave. i thought it looked super cool.

I lucked out a bit on the chicken because my butcher had chickens in the display fridge with the skin exposed; he did the hard part of prepping the skin to be crispy. I still think the whole garlic under the skin thing works well to get it crispy and uniform. Plus, the cloves are chickeny, roasty and spreadable.

BulldogNation · June 2013

This is exactly what I want to make tomorrow.....it looks like you did pâté setter feet up, correct? Did you use any smoking chips or chunks? What temp? How long was the chicken on before you added the pork and how long did you cook after pork was added? Thanks in advance for info....

Beaumonty · June 2013

BulldogNation said:

This is exactly what I want to make tomorrow.....it looks like you did pâté setter feet up, correct? Did you use any smoking chips or chunks? What temp? How long was the chicken on before you added the pork and how long did you cook after pork was added? Thanks in advance for info....

I have done this recipe again and I love it. I did do platesetter feet up. I typically do not use smoke for this type of cook. If i did, I almost uniformly use pecan chunks. Cherry chips may give a nice reddish color and not too much smoke. I believe i put the pork on about fifteen minutes after the chicken was on, perhaps a little less. basically the time it took to cook the bacon.

Although you may rotate the tenderloins, you do not need to flip since you're cooking indirect.

Let the tenderloins rest for at least ten minutes. If you don't, the cheese is molten and it flows out. Really, the longer it rests, the better the presentation. this is an argument for putting the tenderloins on at at the same time as the chicken and pulling when the pork is 155-160 and the chicken breast is 165 and the thigh 180. I don't like any pink in my pork unless it's a bit of smoke ring.

I usually aim for 375-400.

Make extra. The tenderloin is better the next day!

pwg56 · June 2013

Looks awesome! What color on that chicken!

So the bacon-

you just laid strips out of the package onto the grate? And they stayed there and cooked fine, until the picture you snapped above? No drip pan? The grease didn't catch fire at all, especially when you opened the egg?

Beaumonty · June 2013

pwg56 said:

Looks awesome! What color on that chicken!

So the bacon-

you just laid strips out of the package onto the grate? And they stayed there and cooked fine, until the picture you snapped above? No drip pan? The grease didn't catch fire at all, especially when you opened the egg?

I didn't even think about a drip pan. Blissfully ignorant. Don't forget too that rendering chicken produces a lot of grease. No, i did not have any flare up, but my plate setter was a mess. I did less than a dozen slices. I believe it was center cut bacon too so it was not an unusual amount of fat.

Also, per a suggestion here, i tossed with brown sugar and a little cayenne. It was incredibly good. you've never had better.

boatbum · June 2013

Looks fantastic.

Stuffed Pork Tenderloins: a brief photoessay

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