In a complete and joyous surprise, my wife gave me a sous vide at the end of the summer! The general principle of sous vide cooking is that you immerse vacuum sealed food into a perfectly controlled water bath so that it cooks evenly to the exact degree you are targeting. Because of that, it’s takes a lot of guesswork out of cooking meats by removing variables. For example, think about cooking a steak. The thickness of the cut, the temperature it starts at before you begin to cook, and the temperature of your grill/pan all determine the relative doneness between the inside and the outside of your meat.
Well, sous vide cooking removes all of those variables by assimilating the meat to a constant temperature throughout! If you set your water to 145 (as we did for this recipe), no part of your meat can exceed this…again, apply that to steak, and you can get your perfect level of doneness without any guesswork or having to stick a thermometer in, thus causing the loss of juices. Oh…speaking of juices, this method of cooking retains them in your meat, making it the perfect texture too…no more risk of dried out meat!
Anyway, now that I’ve introduced the virtues of sous vide, let’s get to this particular meal. My dad gave me a porcini mushroom dry rub, and since he was visiting for my sous chef’s first football game, we decided to use it! Add in the fact that the earthiness of porcini mushrooms complements the earthy sweetness of pork so well, and it was a perfect marriage. Then, we added some onions atop the pork so they would sweat and season the meat further while it cooked! Lastly, we seared our cooked pork to build some colour and caramelization on the outside. The result was an extremely tender and flavorful pork tenderloin.
We served our pork over couscous alongside Sautéed Beets (with scallions) and Greek Cucumber Salad!
Time: 2 Hours
Ingredients:
- Pork Tenderloin
- Onion
- Salt
- Porcini Dry Rub
Method:
- Set your sous vide circulator to 145 degrees F.
- Slice half an onion, and set aside.
- Pat your pork tenderloin(s) dry, and add a copious amount of your dry rub.
- Arrange your onion slices atop your tenderloin(s).
- Either use a vacuum sealer to seal your tenderloin(s) tightly in plastic, or use displacement to remove your air. To do this, arrange your meat in a zip top bag (preferably BPA free), and slowly place that into your hot water bath. Use a spoon to push the meat down into the water. Then, push the top of the bag down so the zip is just above the water, and seal. This will remove a lot of the air (but not quite as effectively as the vacuum sealer).
- Cook for 90 minutes, and then remove.
- Heat a cast iron pan with a tablespoon of oil (we like avocado for its high smoke point), and turn on your kitchen vent fan.
- When your cast iron is hot, sear all sides of your pork.
- Remove from your pan, and slice.
- Plate, devour, and enjoy!
