Honey Butter Pork Tenderloin

While I'm usually tempted to cook for my friends a dinner of all appetizers (can I call them tapas just to sound less silly?), I do try to avoid that.

And occassionally when avoiding that, I make something that resembles a real, grown-up meal.

Last week, I made pork tenderloin.

But not just any pork tenderloin. Honey Butter Pork Tenderloin.

Mmm, pork.

I followed this recipe pretty much exactly. Although, I didn't have any honey in my place, so I used agave nectar. Because why wouldn't I have agave nectar? I mostly got a chuckle out of using a vegan substitute on meat.

So I put the tenderloin in the pan with the melted butter and agave nectar. I set the timer so I knew when to flip it, and start to set the table. I come back every other minute or so to spen the meat in the pan so the butter/nectar mixture doesn't have the opportunity to burn.

That's when I notice the loin is starting to split down the middle, length-wise.

Now, I've eat a lot of tenderloin in my day, but I've never seen one split. Perhaps it was too longer pieces cut and packaged together like that? And they were finally thawing enough to come apart? Perhaps that was a serious line of fat that melted in the heat? I really have no idea. But it just kept butterflying until it was time to actually put it in the oven, when it completely came apart.

Well, I thought, at least it'll cook faster.

I threw some carrots in the pan, too, to roast with the pork.

I brought the meat out at the suggested time, and saw it was still raw on the sides. I'm not scared of medium-cooked pork, but rare is a no.

I put the meat back in the oven. I think for another 10 minutes? I moved the pieces of pork further apart to cook faster.

When I took out the meat the second time, I busted out that nifty meat thermometer My Brother the Chef told me to buy. It said medium pork is 160 degrees, so when the thermometer wouldn't climb past 150, I put the pork back in the oven. I decided it really must be done, though, so I turned off the oven and let the meat sit until the last friend arrived for dinner.

I checked the meat again, and it came up to 158 degrees. I decided it was still time to slice the meat.

That's when the power for my entire apartment complex, and the surrounding area, went out.

So there I am, slicing meat, in the dark, hoping I don't need anything else out of the fridge.

I have an electric stove, so it's a good thing I didn't plan on doing anything with the sauce anyway. The recipe says add water, reduce and pour over meat, but I had added a little water to the pan, swirled it around to get all the honey and butter off, and poured that over the tenderloin before cooking it. And it barely reduced in the oven. There was no way I was going to add more water.

Not the prettiest slicing, but it was dark!

I didn't measure the Cajun seasoning or the pepper when I browned the meat, I just sprinkled it on. I think next time, more Cajun, less pepper. But we all really like the pork. My friend who doesn't even like pork tried a little piece.

She liked the sauce.

She still doesn't like pork.

But I will totally make this again. Making sure to thaw the meat all the way first, and then not cooking it as long.