Herb crusted pork tenderloin overly simplified

Cooking a herb-crusted pork tenderloin sound fancy and complicated. We shall approach it in the most simplistic way possible so you and your cooking skills are not challenged.

Before I go on with the recipe, let me explain in general terms what we plan to do today. You can use this technique for almost all types of fillets/tenderloins or meats.

1. The tenderloin is usually fairly “fat-free’ which means it needs help with juices to keep moist. Other cuts of meat that are fairly fatty, need fewer juices. We will use butter and a pre-sear to cook it so it becomes tender.
2. The tenderloin as you would normally get it in the supermarket tends to come with a lot of tissue and sinew. Once exposed to the heat, those will shrink and not let the meat cook unevenly. We have to remove most of the covering tissue. It is a process that will require a very sharp knife and patience. I humbly believe that it is the most important. Obviously, if you do not remove them, the pork tenderloin will still be eatable – but this covering tissue and sinew are hard to chew, making this big piece of meat lose its value
3. For simplification purposes, I usually cut the tenderloin into two or three equal pieces. It makes handling is so much easier.
4. When you put a big chunk of meat in the oven, it will release juices. In a non-fatty piece of meat, we don’t want that. So we shall pre-sear this meat in a pan beforehand. The formed “crust” will keep those juices in instead of them being released.
5. As we are cooking the meat, let’s utilize this heat and cook some veggies. Pick whatever you want, but if you pick potatoes, cut them fairly small as they tend to take the longest to cook. We will be cooking this for just 30-40 minutes so take that into account.
6. We use the herbs for taste. This big chunk of herb-crusted pork tenderloin can be “rubbery” if not properly covered with herbs. You can use whatever fresh herbs you have.