Porky Pork with Fig and Prune Sauce

Why do I dig pork tenderloin more than any other piece of the pig? Because pork tenderloins are super lean and tender, they cook quickly and you can get them at any decent market. The fig and prune garnish is not really a sauce, not a chutney, but a sweet condiment that goes with hot or cold pork (like in a pre-Pearl Jam concert sandwich, dude!) More like a compote, which is a fancy French way of saying savory sweet jimmy jam. Rock on dudes. Prunes rule!

 

BTW – Pork with prunes is a classic French dish that I ate at Au Pied de Cochon in Paris a long time ago. I’ve never seen pork with prunes on a restaurant menu, and that’s why this dish is so cool. It’s a forgotten classic which I’ve updated with a little somethin’ something. When I cook my porky pork tenderloins, they come out perfectly moist and delicious every time, and with this condiment, it’s awesome. This recipe makes 6 servings.

 

Equipment

A charcoal grill, a Weber kettle grill is ideal
A bag of real mesquite charcoal (Matchlight charcoal or cheap briquets are for amateurs. Get real, lump charcoal that looks like burned wood chunks.)
A griller’s chimney starter
A few pieces of newspaper
¼ cup vegetable oil

A super-sharp big knife – for carving the pork
A clean, sanitized cutting board (the bigger the better)
A big platter
A small metal bowl
A strainer
A metal chef’s spoon, for stirring your compote
A 2-quart saucepan with a lid (AKA “a soup pot”)
A rubber spatula, to get every last bit of this sauce
Aluminum foil, to make a skirt
Spring-loaded tongs
A wire whisk
A wooden spoon
A ramekin
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

Ingredients

For my chili rub for the pork:

2 tablespoon brown sugar, preferably organic
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 ½ tablespoons freshly cracked black or white pepper (that’s 4 teaspoons exactly for you anally retentive cooks)
1 tablespoons chili powder- the darker the better
2 tablespoons paprika – the good red stuff
1 ½ tablespoon granulated garlic (again that’s 4 teaspoons, “mas o menos”). Don’t use garlic salt. That stuff is crap. Any self-respecting grillmaster uses granulated garlic exclusively.
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, for some heat. (That’s not much in comparison to everything else, but that’s plenty. This is a case where more does not necessarily mean better.)

2 fresh pork tenderloins, 3 ½ - 4 pounds total weight, trimmed of the nasty silver skin.

 

If you don’t remove the silver skin, the porky pork will curve like a donut. Ask your friendly neighborhood butcher to take it off for you. As a matter of fact, you should insist on it. It’s no biggie for those unsung rock stars of the food service industry, the butchers of this world, believe me. They have super sharp knives which are a lot sharper than yours. My point is: get rid of the silver skin.

 

The Procedure

1. Fire up the grill. Pour a ton of mesquite charcoal into the chimney all the way to the top. Scrunch up a few single pieces of newspaper into balls. Add a few drops of vegetable oil on top of the paper and light it under the chimney. If conditions are perfect, you can light the charcoal with one piece of paper. (This takes practice, so give yourself a few tries to master the technique.)

 

2. Make my chili rub for the pork. In a small metal bowl, mix together the brown sugar, salt, the chili powder, garlic powder, the granulated garlic, the paprika, and the cayenne and fresh cracked black (or white!) pepper. Mix it well with a spoon.

 

3. Cut the tenderloins in half, right down the middle. You should have four pieces about 6 inches long and 2 inches thick. (I do this so they’re easier to handle on the grill.) Sprinkle the trimmed porky pork tenderloin pieces all over with the rub and massage it the meat with your fingers. Don’t be skimpy or a pussy about it. Use all the rub. Set the pork aside till your grill is ready. Now go to the stove.

 

4. Make the compote:

Fig and Prune Compote Ingredients:

10 fresh figs, trimmed and quartered (or ½ cup dried figs, if you must)
10 prunes, preferably natural or organic (aka “dried plums”)
2 tablespoons light agave syrup
1 heaping tablespoon apricot jam (that’s almost 2 tablespoons for you measuring people)
1 heaping tablespoon brown sugar, preferably organic
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (you don’t need to measure – a “splog” is all you need – as Nigella Lawson, Goddess of Food Porn, used to say)
Juice of 1 lemon – yes - real lemon juice that you squeeze from a lemon. A strainer is helpful here
S and P (that’s kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper)

 

Preheat the sauce pan till very hot over medium heat. Add the chopped figs, prunes, apricot jam, agave syrup, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, pinch each s and p and stir well to combine. If your pan is hot, this should sizzle right away. Stir everything a few times so it boils gently and doesn’t scorch. Partially cover that sucker and let it cook 5 minutes. (That’s called sweating.) Let it do its thing.

The fruit will get soft and the liquid will evaporate a bit and thicken up. Reduce the compote until it coats the back of a spoon, 3 minutes more over medium heat. Boom, you’re done. Go back to the grill.

 

5. Grill the porky pork tenderloins over direct medium-high heat on a clean, hot grill grate for a 2-3 minutes till charred with grill marks. Turn, flip and grill the other side. (You will find the sweet spot on your grill grate that’s not too hot and not too slow, maybe off to the side of the coals.) Don’t burn the crap out of your pork. Nice and easy over medium-high heat. And whatever you do…don’t walk away from the grill.

 

While you're at the grill, pull off a big rectangle of aluminum foil and fold it into half (shiny side up) and make a double thickness landing zone “skirt” over indirect heart on your grill, away from the coals. Use your trusty spring loaded tongs and transfer the porky pork tenderloins to your landing zone.

 

Cover the grill and use it like an oven. Grill-roast those suckers’ till just firm to the touch. Don’t overcook them or I will come after you and find you. Get them on a platter and tent with foil and hold them 10 minutes in a warm place until you are ready.

 

Chef Willie’s Note

The pork can also be cooked in a hot, preheated cast iron grill-pan (or even a cast iron pan) on the stove. Mark the pork with grill marks on all sides and toss the pan into a fast oven (450 degree) for 10-12 minutes, take them out, tent with foil and let them sit for a bit until you're ready to serve.

 

Either way, carve the pork tenderloins on the diagonal with a super sharp knife and rearrange the slices on your big platter. Spoon the fig and prune compote over top, and pass a ramekin full of the compote on the side, so your guests can go nuts with the compote. Lean, mean and prune-y! Porky pork tenderloins rule!