Sunday Supper 8: Sweet Bourbon Glazed Pork Loin

A recipe riff based on Best Glazed Pork Tenderloin, by Tiffany Azure, at delish.com

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Sometimes, in my Virgo producer perfectionist brain, I get too obsessed with following instructions to the literal letter and measuring success on the technical completion of each individual step and procedure without fully appreciating the value of the finished product. It's that thing about forests and trees. This applies to more than cooking, of course, and can really suck the joy out of the creative process. So, moving forward, I'm going to push myself to (occasionally) embrace a bit of kitchen chaos and use recipes as a starting point rather than set in stone. A written score for me to riff on. A #riffcepie.

In lots of ways, a pork tenderloin is a perfect place to begin embracing and creating riffcepies (oh yeah, I'm sticking with it). Pork tenderloin is an easy to cook protein that takes lots of different flavors pretty well. It's also a relatively inexpensive, approachable and easy to find piece of meat. So, even if your experimentation totally fails, you're not out that much time, effort or money. (But don't waste food, I'm sure there's some way you can dress up that less-than-stellar experiment).

In the meat section of your local market, you'll likely see plain, undressed pork tenderloin next to some vac-packed pre-seasoned and marinated tenderloins. Both are great, but go plain Jane for this one, you're adding the flavor yourself. As is, pork tenderloin is a lean, pretty mild-flavored cut of meat - so I goosed up the marinade and garnish a bit to try to impart some blockbuster flavors (or at least some of my personal favorites).

Note for Next Time: I didn't do it this time, but I'm excited to take a page from the vac-packed product playbook and marinate this next time. The recipe calls for pouring the marinade over the pork right before cooking, but I think cooking then cooling the marinade, then sealing the pork up in a bag with the marinade overnight would yield a more tender and flavorful pork. After an overnight marinating, place the pork on the garnish and pour the remaining marinade over the top. Voila.

Pulling this dish together is a pretty simple thing. So I took the opportunity to really enjoy each step of the process, getting a little artsy with my garnish placement, getting the meat prepared just so, tasting and testing my marinade concoction. Engaging all of my senses freed my mind a bit, and made the process much more fun than checking items off a list.

The flavor profile of the original recipe skewed sweet with the orange juice and brown sugar, with garlic and Italian seasoning to counterpoint with some savoriness. Since I was going to riff on this, I knew I wanted to add some heat in the form of crushed red chili flakes and some aromatic earthiness from rosemary. Plus, also, bourbon. I bought Italian seasoning because the recipe called for it, but I regret that. The amount called for is so small that I would say it's unnecessary to purchase it if you don't have it. Use a pinch of your favorite dried herbs and you'll be fine. Or omit it entirely. Because bourbon. So I set to work bringing it all together, and this is what I came up with.

Sweet Bourbon Glazed Pork Tenderloin

• 2lb Pork Tenderloin

• 4-5 Orange Slices

• 4-5 Sprigs Rosemary

• Kosher Salt

• Freshly Cracked Black Pepper

• 1/3 c. Orange Juice

• 1/3 c. Brown Sugar

• 2 t. Minced Garlic

• 1 T. Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

• 1 oz (about 2 T) bourbon

1. Preheat oven to 400˚. Cover a rimmed baking sheet with heavy duty foil.

2. Pat the pork dry with a paper towel and use a sharp paring knife to cut slits about 2 inches apart and halfway through the meat. Season generously with salt and pepper.

3. In a saucepan, combine orange juice, brown sugar, garlic, red pepper and bourbon. Whisk to combine then add 2 sprigs of rosemary. Bring mixture to a boil then lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes. (See Note Above about possibly doing this a day ahead and marinating your pork overnight).

4. While marinade is simmering, arrange orange slices and remaining rosemary on the foil-lined baking sheet. Place pork on top of garnish.

5. When marinade has simmered and reduced by half, pour over pork.

6. Bake for 25-35 minutes, until the tenderloin reaches an interior temperature of 145˚.

7. Broil the tenderloin for the last couple minutes to crisp it up, if you like.

8. Let the tenderloin rest about 3 minutes before cutting into slices on the bias.

NOTE: The marinade that runs off the meat onto the foil WILL BURN. Like all the way black burn. Don't worry about that. But that's why the foil is so important.

I served this up for myself with some jasmine rice (my favorite) and blistered brussels sprouts. But in the week since I made it, I've gotten creative with leftovers, making a fried rice (combining the pork with the brussels sprouts and rice and some soy sauce, sherry, ginger, garlic and egg) and with some leftover Thai takeout noodles. This could also make a tasty sandwich or even a mighty-fine addition to a packet ramen.