When in Georgia, You Cook with Peaches

Fun cookbook purchased on a trip to Atlanta
before we knew we'd end up living here..

Peach - Crusted Pork Tenderloin
by Atlanta chef, Virginia Willis.

This recipe comes from "atlanta cooks at home (Recipes for Entertaining from Atlanta's Top Chefs)" As noted in the photo caption, this book was a vacation memento from several years ago. This recipe was made a few weeks ago but I haven't had the time to blog. This morning I received a note from a dear friend from back home in Boston that said (in a nutshell: "Fer cryin' out loud, Kat, would you cook something new? I'm tired of your pepper picture!") This one is for you, m'dear!! :)


And here is the recipe:

3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup kosher salt
2 cups boiling water
3 cups ice cubes

Chef Fenway supervises.

2 pork tenderloins (I used just one)
1/2 cup peach preserves
1 tablespoon
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
freshly ground black pepper

First step is to brine the pork. If your pork has been injected with a saline solution, I still recommend this in this case only - since the brown sugar does add something salt alone won't. Place sugar & salt in medium heatproof bowl. Pour 2 cups boiling water over and stir to dissolve. Add the ice cubes and stir to cool - then place the meat in, cover the bowl and marinate, refrigerated for 30 minutes. Remove, rinse thoroughly, pat dry.

In a small bowl stir to combine the preserves, rosemary and mustard.

Season the tenderloins with pepper (there is already PLENTY of salt in this by now.) Either grill the tenderloins on a preheated grill or grill on a grill pan. The recipe calls for grilling until internal temp reaches 130. This is the way to go -but what I did was mark it on a grill pan (annoying but true: we cannot grill where we currently live but that's a story for another time). Then brush with the peach glaze and finished it in a 400 degree

I completely forgot to take a photo until...well. It was too late!

oven. 130 degrees to 135 is the temp for pork (some will say 145. This is good to be super safe but 135 is fine. The meat temp will rise about 5 degrees while resting so 135, which is the temperature that kills trichinosis (a nasty parasite that most pork products don't have these days) is absolutely fine. Pork should be light pink in the middle, moist and tasty.

Slice on the bias, against the grain of the meat.

The sweetness of the peaches works well against the heat of the dijon. Definitely a winner.