Balsamic Pork Tenderloin

Balsamic pork tenderloin: tasty (but nothing special, at least on my first try) and could work with any cut of pork (tenderloin is honestly an odd choice for slow cooking, but it was available and is fast, which is why I bought it).  All credit goes to addapinch and all blame to me. See her post for beautiful pictures.  

Calorie Estimate (assuming tenderloin): 900

Ingredients

• 1 T cooking oil
• 1.5 lb pork tenderloin
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 T soy sauce
• 1 T Worcestershire sauce
• 1 T honey
• 1/2 t ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar (if using the thin, salad dressing stuff) or 1/4 cup of the good ($30 bottle, delicious on vanilla ice cream and strawberries) stuff
• 2 t red pepper flakes
• salt to taste

Preparation

1. In a dutch oven, season the tenderloin with some salt and brown in the oil.
2. Mix the everything else marinade together.  Warm it first if you like.
3. When the meat is browned, add the marinade (well, pre-sauce/cooking liquid, since we didn’t soak first, it’s not really a marinade).
4. Cook low and slow until it hits 160 in the center, the lower the heat and hold it there until you’re ready to break it down and are 10 minutes from putting dinner on the table.  (Original recipe calls for a slow cooker, but I don’t have one.  Alternative is to marinade in the sauce first.)
5. Remove the meat, reduce the sauce.
6. If you’ve been patient enough that it’s falling apart and you want a pulled pork texture, pull it! Or slice it, up to you. Either way, serve with the reduced sauce.

Served with roasted rosemary red potatoes and an arugula salad with simple garlic vinaigrette.

This wasn’t bad, but would be a lot better with a pork shoulder and 5 hours of slow cooking!

Tags: balsamic, honey, pork