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First time cooking pork tenderloin on the egg

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d16lee
d16lee Posts: 46
in EggHead Forum
Hello all.

Long time lurker.  Still learning.  With the egg dome thawing out, and pork tenderloin on sale at Cisco, I thought we try it.  This is my first time doing such a lean meat - only done spatchcock chicken and simple steak sear on high temp before.  
A bit disappointing overall.  Hapster was encouraging me to share some photos, so here we go. :)  

1) Here is the meat that has the poor knife work. :)  It was way too thick...



2) Here is the pork loin stuffed


3) Here it goes on the egg, raised direct.


3) Here it is cooked.  Temperature was not even.  When probing, some parts went to 160 while others were still at 120...



4) Here it is plated.  Wife made a palo salad(?), and I bought some ACE olive bread.




One piece was a bit dry, second piece I give a grade of B-/B.  Learned some valuable knife lessons on how to cut the tenderloin for rolling and especially need to keep keen eye on temperature.  My wife's feedback was - "lean pork is a hard meat to cook...".  Not a ringing endorsement, and especially I'm pretty much the only one eating it now. :)  I'm thinking next time...

- Need to do 1-2 flips and move around on the egg.  
- Cook indirect.  Direct dried out the bottom as I did not flip at all
- Try to do a reverse sear instead of the raised direct

Your feedback is welcome.  

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Comments

  • grege345
    grege345 Posts: 3,515
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    Every cook is a learning experience. Doesn't look bad from here that's for sure. I think you answered your own questions. I didn't have the balls to stuff a pork tenderloin recently. I did a  por loin instead. Looked easier to do. Wrapped in bacon too cuz it was lean. Thanks for posting
    LBGE& SBGE———————————————•———————– Pennsylvania / poconos

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  • grege345
    grege345 Posts: 3,515
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    Oh and welcome
    LBGE& SBGE———————————————•———————– Pennsylvania / poconos

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  • AD18
    AD18 Posts: 209
    edited March 2015
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    I'm no expert on pork loin by any means, but indeed it is very lean and has to be cooked carefully or it will ruin quickly.  I was wondering what your Egg temps were and how long you cooked.  Did you go real hot and fast or lower and slower?  I was always told to do regular loin, no stuffing, real hot and fast.  And be carefull not to over cook.  If you add the stuffing, which in turn makes it even thicker, to cook the rest you may have overdone the meat to get the stuffing to temp.  Maybe try again with lower temp for longer period of time.  Again, never done this before, but may help.  Sure more experienced chaps will help more.  Best of luck next time!!
    Large BGE, Weber 22.5 kettle, Weber Genesis
    Cobourg, Ontario
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  • d16lee
    d16lee Posts: 46
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    @grege345 Thanks.  Looks nice. Didn't taste great.  I gave one to my neighbor but realized it's not my best cook.  Guess what I'm eating tonight (4th meal in 3 days.) :)  

    @AD18.  I cooked at raised direct, 375 F.  I'll try non-stuffed next time w/ a marinate or brine.  The "fillet-ing" to unroll the meat is not as easy as it looks on Youtube...



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  • jtcBoynton
    jtcBoynton Posts: 2,814
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    Just some thoughts to consider:

    leave it whole - save the roll action for the loin.
    fold over and tie the thin end to make a more uniform piece.
    pass on the brine - it's plenty juicy if not over cooked.
    treat it like a fine steak.


    Southeast Florida - LBGE
    In cooking, often we implement steps for which we have no explanations other than ‘that’s what everybody else does’ or ‘that’s what I have been told.’  Dare to think for yourself.
     
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  • theyolksonyou
    theyolksonyou Posts: 18,458
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    Agree with @jtcBoynton leave it whole and pull around 140. Porky goodness awaits. 
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