This recipe comes with a disclaimer. It was without a doubt in the top 5 of dishes I have ever made, Mike agrees. So if you make it and don’t like it, please don’t tell me. I might be forced to defend it fiercly and who really wants that? It started with a pork tenderloin slated for a pork noodle dish. But I really wasn’t feeling that recipe, there was a lot of slicing and dicing to be done and eh, I wasn’t in the mood.

Instead, I sprinkled my pork tenderloin with copious amounts of kosher salt, cayenne pepper and ground cumin. I preheated the oven to 400′ and put the cast iron on high heat with about 1 Tbsp of veggie oil. I still wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do but I had a bag of fresh green beans and a bowl of yummy Sichuan cucumber salad. A flash of brilliance, I would make hoisin pork with brown rice as the starch. So here it goes, hope you enjoy it as much as we did! And I apologize for the first picture, I’m aware it looks like an alien baby and not a pretty one at that. If you see other similarities, please keep them to yourself. And make this recipe!

Ingredients:
(for pork)
1 pork tenderloin
1 Tbsp veggie oil
1 Tbsp hoisin sauce
seasoning: kosher salt, cumin, cayenne pepper

(for green beans)
1 lb fresh green beans
1 Tbsp olive oil
seasoning: garlic salt

**We served ours with brown rice but you could serve with noodles also. Prep your starch of choice according to the package directions.

Preheat oven to 400. Take your pork loin out of fridge and season with kosher salt, cumin and cayenne pepper. I used about 1 or 2 tsp of each but we love spicy, salty and savory pork so adjust to your personal tastes. As the pork is coming to room temp, heat your veggie oil in a large oven proof skillet or cast iron. Let it get really really hot, close to smoking. Gently lay the pork seasoned side down. Let it sizzle and pop for at least 4 or 5 minutes. Check to see if a crust is forming, flip if the meat is dark brown and easily releases from the pan. Again, let the other side cook without moving it for another 4-5 minutes. Slather the top of the tenderloin with the hoisin sauce and stick in the oven. (Safety tip: don’t stick anything that touched the pork back into the hoisin container. You’re dealing with raw pork so no contamination!)

I prepped my green beans at this point, just cut off the ends and toss on a cookie sheet. Add olive oil and toss to coat. Sprinkle with garlic salt and you’re good to go! The pork should take about 30-35 minutes to finish in the oven, plus 5 min resting time, depending on the size of your pork loin and how hot your oven runs. The beans take about 8-10 minutes, so use your own inner timer. Now, I have to admit something. I’m a bad cook, I don’t use a meat thermometer, so all of you food scientists are going to hate me. I’ve developed an inner meat timer over the years and it drives Mike nuts. But please, forgive me and try to develop your own. Realize there are going to be times you take it out too soon and have to put your dish back into the oven, not the end of the world and all part of the learning process!

A few clues: the meat should be in the oven for at least 25 minutes, it should have no appearance of raw meat, juices should run clear, it should be firm to the touch. My tenderloin took about 30 minutes and I let it rest for an additional five. Reason being, the meat cooks a little bit more but also that time allows the juices to redistribute. If you cut it right when it comes out of the oven, all of the flavor is going to run out with the juice. So patience is a virtue! Once the resting period is up, slice into the thickest part of your tenderloin and if it’s pinker than you’d like, toss it back in the oven for another 5 minutes or so!

Once my ingredients were ready, I cut the tenderloin on the bias into bite size pieces, filled bowls with brown rice, added the green beans, laid the best pork ever over that and then put a few spoonfuls of sichuan cucumber salad on the side. I could have this again tonight and the next and the next….and the next! mmmm!