A deliciously tender piece of pork tenderloin. First, we brown the pork tenderloin in the pan. Then we make a creamy sauce of mushrooms and red wine.
What is pork tenderloin?
Almost all mammal species whose meat we eat have a tenderloin. Just think of calf, beef, pig, lamb, deer and so on. It is one of the most luxurious pieces of meat, because there are only 2 tenderloins in a pork, for example.
If you know that these only weigh a few hundred grams and a pig weighs more than 120 kilograms, you will understand why this meat is so luxurious. Another reason is that this piece of meat is a so-called lazy muscle and therefore contains virtually no fat and is very tender.
Where does that name come from?
You will wonder why the most luxurious piece of meat is called tenderloin? There are several theories about that.
For example, a beef tenderloin would resemble a ready-to-cook tenderloin due to its shape and color or it could have to do with the fact that the butcher skins the meat from the back to the front.
In the supermarket, you sometimes come across “culinary pork tenderloin”, which may seem even more qualitative, but is in fact meat that has been extra salted and therefore becomes more tender.
However, if you opt for quality pork, this is not necessary at all and the tenderloin may even be just pink when served.
The whole pork tenderloin consists of a tenderloin, which has almost always been cut off by the butcher and is used for other applications. Then you still have the long pork tenderloin left.
If you cut these into nice slices, we are talking about filet mignon or, in the case of pork, about medallions.
Baked pork tenderloin with a creamy sauce of mushrooms and red wine
Ingredients
- 2 pieces pork tenderloin about 300 grams
- 250 grams mushrooms mixed
- 1 shallot
- 1 glass red wine
- 2 dl whipped cream
- 2 cloves garlic
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp parsley finely chopped
- splash sunflower oil
- lump of butter
- pepper freshly ground
- salt
Instructions
- Remove the pork tenderloins from the refrigerator about 15 minutes before cooking. Season them generously on both sides with freshly ground pepper and a pinch of salt.
- Clean the shallot and finely chop it.
- Brush the mushrooms till they’re clean and cut or tear them finely.
- Heat a dash of sunflower oil in a frying pan and fry the pork tenderloins on both sides on high heat. Lower the heat slightly and add the whole garlic cloves and bay leaves. Add a nice knob of butter.
- Continue to baste the meat with the butter and keep turning it so that it cooks evenly all around. This will take about 12 minutes in total (depending on the thickness).
- Remove the meat from the pan, wrap it with aluminum foil and let it rest for at least 5 minutes.
- Remove the garlic and bay leaves from the pan and add the shallot to the butter. Let it fry for a few minutes, turn up the heat and add the mushrooms.
- Fry them until they’re nicely brown, then season them with salt and pepper and deglaze them with the red wine.
- Let the sauce reduce very firmly until there is only a little moisture left. Add the whipped cream and let it reduce by half. Add the chopped parsley and season the dish with salt and pepper if desired.
- Remove the pork tenderloin from the foil and cut it into nice slices. If the meat is still a bit too pink, warm it up very briefly in the sauce.
