Cast Iron Pork Tenderloin - This lean and juicy cut of pork makes for a quick, easy, and economical way to put an elegant and mouthwatering dinner on the table! Paired with an Asian style clementine sauce to give it a sweet and savory seasonal twist.
A cast iron skillet makes for the perfect way to sear and finish this under-appreciated, but fork-tender piece of pork. Pairing it with the juicy flavor of clementine mandarins is serendipitous, as they are in season, and very popular in the winter months.
This whole cast iron pork tenderloin recipe starts and finishes in one pan, making its simple and quick. The clean-up is super easy also!
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What You're Going to Need!
- Pork Tenderloin - This under-appreciated cut forms the the center of the plate here. They are most commonly sold in packs of two, and are very often a sale item. Snap them up when you see this, you won't regret it!
- Brown Sugar - Light brown helps to sweeten this sticky Asian style sauce.
- Ginger - Look below for a tip on how to use fresh ginger not only with ease, but also economically!
- Garlic - Fresh and lightly minced.
- Green onion - The subtle musky and vegetal quality of fresh scallions is essential in this clementine sauce.
- Clementine Mandarins - We decided to feature these seasonally popular fruits in a different way than just as a snack, as the flavor is soo tantalizingly sweet and juicy.
See recipe card for quantities.
Recipe
Cast Iron Pork Tenderloin with Clementine Sauce
Equipment
- 1 cast iron skillet
- 1 Mixing Bowl
- 1 tongs
- 1 Cutting Board
- 2 knives paring, boning, or thin blade preferred, as well as a chef knife
- 1 instant read probe thermometer
- 1 Measuring Cup
- 1 Measuring Spoon Set
- 1 Aluminum foil about 1 foot length
Ingredients
- 1 each pork tenderloin
- 3 Tbsp. vegetable oil light, flavorless, high smoke point
Marinade
- ⅓ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup rice wine vinegar
- 3 Tbsp. brown sugar light
Sauce
- 3 cloves garlic large
- 1 Tbsp. ginger minced or grated
- 2 each green onion small diced
- 3 each cuties clementine, two cut in half for juice, one peeled and segmented
- ⅓ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup rice wine vinegar
- ¼ cup brown sugar light
- 1 Tbsp. corn starch with a little water to form a slurry.
Instructions
Trim Pork
- Remove sliver skin from tenderloin with a thin blade and discard, (see post for instructions).
Marinate
- Combine marinade ingredients and stir to combine.
- Coat pork with marinade, allowing it to rest in it while heating the skillet in the next step. Can be done in advance, but total marinating time should not exceed 1 hour.
Sear and Cook Pork
- Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Heat cast iron pan on high heat over high heat for several minutes, until very hot.
- Add oil to pan and swirl to evenly coat the bottom.
- Remove pork from marinade and shake off excess.
- Carefully place pork into pan to sear.
- Turn tenderloin over after 2 to 4 minutes, once one side has a dark brown sear.
- Place pan into hot oven and cook until the thickest part of the loin shows a temperature of 140 to 145 degrees when inserting thermometer into the center, about 20 to 25 minutes.
- Remove the pork from the pan, set aside to rest, covering loosely with aluminum foil.
Sauce
- Return pan to stove over medium high heat.
- Add garlic and ginger, stirring to combine.
- Sauté very briefly, until garlic is just beginning to brown.
- Add green onions to pan.
- Squeeze halved clementine oranges into the pan.
- Add soy sauce and rice wine vinegar.
- Add brown sugar, stirring in to melt.
- Combine cornstarch with a small amount of cold water to form a homogenous slurry.
- Once sauce has come to a boil, stir cornstarch slurry in to thicken.
- Reduce heat to low.
- Add the clementine segments, stir to combine.
- Remove from heat.
Serve
- Slice the tenderloin into desired size portions.
- Drizzle sauce over, making sure each portion gets a few fruit segments.
Directions
- A pork tenderloin has one layer of "silver skin". the leathery connective tissue. Remove it using the method shown, using the knife in one hand to scrape the meat away from the skin as you pull it away. With the other hand, gently pull it gently to hold it in place for the knife to do the work.
2. Take off the silver skin but leave all of the remaining fat. There is not a lot of fat on the tenderloin, removing it will remove moisture and flavor.
3. A simple and brief wash with soy and rice wine vinegar is all that this meat will need. It will absorb the flavors of the mixture quickly. This is only for seasoning, as tenderness will not be an issue.
4. Heat the cast iron skillet over high for a few minutes, until oil flows very freely in the pan, almost to the smoke point.
5. Carefully lower the loin into the hot skillet to sear. Notice that we had to curl it slightly to make it fit. You can cut it in half to more easily fit it in, but the doneness will not be as even and may result in dry and over cooked pieces.
6. Flip it over and place the pan into a 350-degree oven and cook pork tenderloin until the thickest part of the loin reads right around 140 to 145 with an instant read thermometer. Remove and allow the pork to rest, loosely covered with foil, while you prepare the sauce.
7. Return the pan to a burner over medium high and add garlic and ginger. Stir and sauté for a brief moment, just until garlic is starting to lightly brown.
8. Add the green onions and stir to combine.
9. Juice clementine directly into pan.
10. Add soy sauce and rice wine vinegar.
11. Add brown sugar and allow to melt.
12. Once it returns to a boil, thicken the sauce with corn starch slurry.
13. Add clementine segments.
14. Stir citrus pieces in and remove from heat. Now you can slice the meat, and serve, drizzling the sauce over.
Why Cast Iron?
We chose to use a cast iron skillet for this recipe for a few reasons. Rather than explain it away with a sentimental story filled with imagery of grandma's kitchen, I would rather be more scientific about this preference, as it's based on a lot more than simple nostalgia.
When cooking a smaller piece of meat, and especially a lean one, it's very important that you achieve a nice, hard, brown sear really quickly. In order to accomplish this, the pan has to stay hot after adding the meat, or it will just steam and boil the juices away.
Cast iron is a very efficient heat resistor. Because of this, it takes longer to get hot, but holds this heat very well, and very evenly. As an example, an aluminum pan would get very hot quickly, but once the loin hits the pan, it would immediately cool down, and mostly in the specific area where the meat made contact.
With cast iron skillets being a single piece design, they easily and safely can shuttle back and forth between the stove and the oven. The cooking process of this pork tenderloin recipe, and many others, should be continuous, and this ability makes cast iron ideal for this purpose. Removing the meat from the pan and placing it into another would cause a delay due to the change in temperature.
Many times, the classics are the best. They have been around for a long time for a reason, quality, and consistency.
It is for this reason that we suggest Lodge brand cast iron over others., like this one, or this one. Make sure that the size is appropriate for whatever cooking you plan to do with it, in general, larger is better. Some folks would rather have a prettier pan to work with, and there are some very attractive ones, like this blue one, also.
Chef Tip
Cooking should always be based on results, not just instructions and timers. This is especially important when cooking meat. If you follow almost any meat recipe only based on timing, it's going to be next to impossible to have ideal results. Ovens and stoves cook at different rates, as well as the cuts of meat themselves. Timers are only guidelines in order to get the meat up to the right temp.
It's for these reasons that we consider an instant read thermometer to be vital when cooking meats. When you can know the internal temperature with surety, it's a game changer. You don't have to spend a fortune, we've used this one for years in commercial kitchens.
Make sure to take into account that there will always be a certain amount of "carry over" in the final temperature. The meat will continue to cook for a bit after removing it from the heat. This is why we suggest pulling this cast iron pork tenderloin at 140, which will come up to around 145 while resting, for a nice medium rare finish.
Pork Tenderloin Vs. Pork Loin
Pork tenderloin and pork loin are two very different cuts, but because of the similar names, and frankly, a lot of misinformation out there, they are often confused with each other. It is vital to understand the differences between them to cook them appropriately and therefore achieve the delicious results that are possible with each.
They do both have a very general anatomical location in common, as they are both from along the back of the pig. The loin runs from the shoulder all the way down to the leg, and very close to the skin. The tenderloin is located close to the backbone and near the hip joint, hidden within and under several other muscle groups. This is where the commonalities end, though.
The Pork loin is a dense and firm piece of meat, with a distinct cap of fat and cartilage running across the top. If sliced into medallions, it is referred to as a boneless pork chop. In a supermarket setting, they are anywhere from 2 to 5 pounds typically, with the entire muscle group averaging around 12. A loin is typically 5 to 6 inches wide and requires a relatively slow and extensive roasting time.
The Pork Tenderloin is a very tender and lean cut of pork, with a small bit of silver skin and no fat cap. It is 2 to 4 pounds in weight for the entire muscle. The tenderloin is 2 to 4 inches wide, and needs a quick, hot sear and cooking time in order for it to remain moist and tender.
Substitutions & Variations
This recipe is dairy free as-is, but with a few substitutions can also be. Using the recipe as a guideline or general formula, there are many other directions that you can go with it!
- Gluten Free - Using some tamari soy sauce instead of regular takes wheat out of the equation.
- Vegan - Any veggie-based protein substitute can be thrown in, like tofu, seitan, or portabella mushrooms.
- Spicy - add chili pepper flakes or some minced fresh hot chiles to the aromatics step.
- Tropical - try using some pineapple or mango in place of the clementine.
Storage & Helpful Hints
Store the pork tightly sealed in the refrigerator for up to four days. The sauce can be stored in the same fashion.
Reheat this tenderloin quickly and gently, so as not to dry it out or over cook it. We suggest slicing it thinly, and heating it tightly wrapped in the microwave for about one and a half minutes, or until just warm. This recipe uses fresh ginger. There are two difficulties to using this ingredient in most home kitchens, peeling it, and using it all before it goes bad.
First off, peeling. Most cultures don't bother with this step, by the way, as the amount of peel is really negligible, and not difficult to chew. I understand completely though, it you would rather clean it up a bit. See our curry chicken post for a tip on how to easily accomplish this step with a spoon!
Invariably, you'll have a chuck left over, and unless you do a lot of cooking with ginger, keeping it viable will become an issue. Just pop it into a bag and throw the whole "knob" into the freezer. When you need some in the future, just pull it out and run it over a grater. No need to peel, as it will pull away from the peel in the process. Any grater will work, but a microplane will make the quickest work of it.
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aelandry says
love me some pig meat...
Jason Miller says
Pork tenderloin is one of the most under appreciated pieces of pork, in my opinion.