Recipe 8- Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

Recipe 8- Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin 

So recipe 8 was picked because I was trying to pick one of every section of the book.

(chicken, beef, fish etc)

It was a thursday night and I wanted something quick and yummy!

This fit the bill quite nicely.

This week my local "Dutchies Food Market" had pork tenderloin on sale at $2.99lb 

I wasn't really sure what one piece would cost, as this is the 

FIRST TIME I have ever cooked a cut of pork! 

I paid a whopping $2.73 for the piece of pork, what a bargain.

And for the record, I have cooked bacon.. but I don't know if that counts ;) 

I was a tad nervous as the last time I had pork, it was a pork chop and I think I was maybe 8-9 years old!  Pork has never really sat well after I have eaten it, so I have pretty much avoided it my entire life.

I was really hoping I wouldn't have a stomach ache after a BACON wrapped PORK TENDERLOIN! 

I was pleasantly surprised with this one... 

For this recipe, my ingredients were minimal. Mustard of choice, brown sugar, salt, pepper, herb of choice, pork and some bacon.

First I mixed up the 'rub' part of the recipe. 

Now Chef Michael says that you can use any mustard. Mustard is by far my favourite condiment in my fridge and I have a few varieties that I could of used, however I thought for the sake of being simple, I went with plain old yellow mustard. It was actually a really nice combo. 

I used rosemary as my herb of choice. Its been a really neat experience since starting this journey to have these types of herbs on hand. I literally only needed the meat for this recipe as my kitchen is becoming more equipped to make these recipes! 

Also, I have to say my chopping skills are really improving. 

One thing though since starting this whole book, I have had a chronic hand odour of onion and garlic.

Every recipe so far has included onion & garlic with the exception of the desserts.

No matter how many times I wash my hands, I curl up in bed at night and my hands are around my face and POW! Onions & garlic.

Thank you Chef Michael, I love me some oniony garlic fingers lol 

Anyways... back to the recipe! 

So next you are instructed to rub this concoction all over the tenderloin. 

I wasn't really sure how to take a pic of me doing this and every time I tried I had to laugh to myself thinking, " this looks horribly funny" 

But I will include one anyways so you can have a giggle too! 

So now that our pork tenderloin has been treated to a massage, you will have something that looks like this: 

Now as you can see in the background of this pic, I have a package of open spaghetti noodles.

But wait, I thought this was bacon wrapped pork tenderloin?

Don't fret my friends, here is where Chef Michael teaches you a magic trick! 

After wrapping the tenderloin in the beautiful thick cut bacon, you use the spaghetti noodles to secure the ends of the bacon to the pork! 

GENIUS I TELL YOU, GENIUS! 

And heres the best part, after cooking... the noodles just slide right out and you don't have burning skewers in your oven. 

What a beauty! and you can see the little noodle piece sticking out there securing my bacon strips. 

So this little baby will take a 20min trip to a 500 degree oven.

Now this step made me a tad nervous. I have never cooked ANYTHING in my oven at that temp. 

So in went my master piece and I waited the 20 mins... 

But wait.. whats the annoying familiar beeping sound at the 15 min mark..

OH RIGHT THE FIRE ALARM AGAIN! 

yes, once again my fire dept hates me. I set the darn thing off 4 times! 

What had happened, was some of the gooey brown sugar mixture leaked out on to my pan and burned. Well I took it out of the oven, changed the parchment paper and it went back in. 

At the 20min mark, my pork temp was at 125 degrees.

Its suggested to be cooked until the internal temp reads 146.

Another 10 mins and it was ready. 

I let the temp get a little higher then suggested, but I was busy wafting the smoke detector and opening my windows.. did I mention it was minus 30 here that day LOL 

Now when I took this out, it looked PERFECTLY cooked, however when I poked the meat with my finger it felt pretty soft still. I was expecting a very rare inside. 

But, rules are rules and if Chef Michael says to take it out.. out it comes! 

I was so excited when  I cut into the piece of meat.. perfection. 

I wish this picture was a 'scratch and sniff" 

This turned out better then I even expected. 

The meat was so tender and the bacon was perfectly crisped. 

The only thing I would change for next time.... MAKE MORE! 

My kids and husband absolutely loved this dish and already requested it for another night. 

And to my surprise, I didn't suffer any indigestion later :) 

I am so glad that this recipe was in the book and gave me a second look at making pork.

I paired this recipe with Recipe 7- Penne with Spinach pesto. 

It was TERRIFIC! 

As always my compliments to the chef and cheers to you, my friends! 

See you all next week for recipe 8&9

Below is a link to the recipe & instructions from Chef Michael Smiths website

http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/bacon-roast-pork-tenderloin/12886/