Four Little Pigs Sous Vide Pork Tenderloin for the 4th

When shopping recently for some MEAT, I came across the following in the meat cooler at Costco:

1. St. Louis cut pork spare ribs, for $5.99 /lb
2. Pork baby back ribs, for $2.59 /lb
3. Pork tenderloin, for $2.39 /lb

This means that the best-quality meat was actually the cheapest, so I walked out with 8.49 lbs of a whole pork tenderloin.  As they say, "we're eating high on the hog tonight!"

Approximately 5 lb. of pork tenderloin.

I saved about 3 lb. to either grill and/or smoke and cut the remaining tenderloin into 4 equal "chunks" for sous vide.  The filets were flavored with the following: (from left to right)

My four little pigs for the 4th of July.

1. Wild dried rosemary with salt and pepper.  The rosemary came from the lighthouse keeper's garden at Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego, CA.  Don't worry, the ranger was giving away excess trimmings to visitors since they were worried the rosemary bush was taking over too much of the garden.  It was just luck we were there at that time.  Unfortunately, I took the photo prior to seasoning this filet, so it's shown pristine.

2. Pink Himalayan sea salt and freshly-ground pepper

3. Brown sugar, honey and tarragon

4. Byrons' Butt Rub, my go-to pork dry rub

Pink Himalayan sea salt and freshly-ground pepper.

Brown sugar, honey, and tarragon.  An additional squirt of honey was injected into the bag before vacuum-sealing.  Photo taken prior to tarragon being added.

Byrons' Butt Rub.

Results:

The 135 F was a much better temperature than the 145 F I used previously for pork.  The meat was nice and tender.  The only two I prepared were the Rosemary and the Brown sugar, honey, tarragon.  The consensus was that the Rosemary yielded much stronger flavor.  The latter was far more subtle, though I would continue to experiment with that flavoring in the future.

The pork was removed at 5pm, having been in the water bath at 135 F since 10:30am.  Two were immediately frozen and two were seared and served.

Pre-seared.  The Rosemary pork is on the bottom.

Nice searing.

More nice searing.

Post-searing.

Sliced and served.

Nice color, very tender texture, good flavor.

Nice slice of the tenderloin.

Pork Chop Sous Vide, Strike 1

While I had been planning to smoke a pork shoulder and duck this Sunday, a trip to Los Angeles this coming week made me rethink my leftover plans and switch to sous vide pork chops.  This actually turned into a big disappointment and was the first time I was not happy with my sous vide.

I selected six, very lean-looking, boneless pork chops from the grocery store.  Four were seasoned with a mustard-tarragon sauce and two were left to just salt and pepper.

Temperature: 145 F

Time: 6 hrs

Mustard-Tarragon Sauce

4 tablespoons brown spicy mustard

1 teaspoon tarragon

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

1/4 teaspoon olive oil

The sauce was mixed and placed in the vacuum bags.

I was very disappointed in the results, specifically the tenderness and texture of the pork.  They were very dry and appeared overcooked.  I'm not sure if that was a result of remaining in the water bath for so long, or the cooking temperature.  This was also the first time I attempted to sear the meat on the propane grill.  That worked better since I could do them all at once and was easier to clean up than Canola oil splashed on the range.

Next time, I think I will try 141 F and I would like to test 3 hrs vs 6 hrs in the water bath.

The mustard-tarragon sauce.  I think this would actually make a good glaze if reduced in a sauce pan.  That's something for next time.

Vacuumed up and ready for bath time.

When I opened the bags, I poured out the sauce into a pan.  I was thinking about heating it and serving it, but didn't get around to it.  I will next time.

Notice the colorization difference between the plain and those cooked with the sauce.

After searing on the propane grill for about 30 sec each side.  I achieved some nice colorization.

Kinda tough, kinda dry, kinda "overcooked".  I don't consider it a success.