Apple Cider Glazed Pork Tenderloin

Big looong day today.

I decided several weeks ago that my apple item for the Apple Contest today would be some kind of pork with apples. I tried out several ideas. My original idea was a breaded pork cutlet with some apple butter between the pork and the breading - sorta like apple fritter meets breaded pork. That did NOT work! By the time I got the apple butter and breading on, I couldn't get the pork in the middle to cook without burning off the breading. Sigh...

I finally settled on a pork tenderloin. In the process, I did get to learn how to cooking a pork tenderloin to perfection (and I think my family is sick of pork tenderloin!) I got the apple taste with an apple cider glaze and cooked apples. Rules of the Apple Contest state I have to have Domino Sugar in the product so I used it in the glaze. Here's my recipe...

Apple Cider Glazed Pork Tenderloin

Glaze:

1 1/2 cups apple cider

1/4 cup cider vinegar

4 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon ClearJel

In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar and ClearJel. Dissolve in 1/2 cup apple cider. Pour remaining cider and vinegar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour in brown sugar mixture. Stir until thick and remove from heat.

Tenderloin and Apples:

2 pork tenderloins (about 2 pounds total)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon whole grain mustard

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

6 Granny Smith apples, cored and sliced

1 Vidalia onion, sliced

1/4 cup apple cider

Mix your apples and onions together and set aside

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large oven safe frying pan over medium heat and rub tenderloins with remaining oil, the sprinkle with salt.

Most important step to a moist tenderloin here! Cook tenderloins in pan until evenly browned, about 12 minutes, then remove from pan.

Add apples and onions to pan and cook until lightly browned. Add apple cider and cook for 2 more minutes then remove from heat.

Rub tenderloins with mustard, thyme leaves, and pepper. Place on top of apples and pour half the glaze over tenderloins.

Second most important step here - roast for 10 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 150 degrees - do NOT overcook your tenderloin!

Remove from oven and transfer tenderloins to a cutting board. Tent with foil and let rest for 10 minutes.

Place apples on a serving platter. Slice tenderloins and place on top of apples. Drizzle with remaining apple cider glaze as desired.

The Apple Contest check-in wasn't until 1 pm but I knew Sunday at the Fair was going to be a parking nightmare and was worried I wouldn't get into the fairgrounds if I waited til 1 pm to get there. I got up at 8 am to make the tenderloin. My younger daughter and I left the house at 11:15 am. We got to 35th and Keystone by 11:45 am (this is about 2 miles from the entrance). We didn't get to the back of the Home and Family Arts Building to unload our food until 12:45 pm! ... and that was only because I cut some guy off with my SUV because I was in the right lane to get into the gate, then they blocked my lane and I switched lanes, then they unblocked the lane I was in so I had to switch back. After unloading, I still had to park my car and walk back to the building to plate my food. The whole infield was full and cars were parked completely around the track itself. I finally just created a space for myself in the grass and called it good.

My daughter entered an apple pie in the contest. Neither of us placed. Rosalind Boyd who is another regular won the contest with an apple soup. She got to the fairgrounds at 8 am this morning and kept her soup in an insulated container. She was the last person to plate her dish and served her soup in a bread bowl that was lined with cheese slices to keep the soup from soaking into the bread too quick. What a great idea! My daughter begged a cup of it off of her and said it was simply wonderful - sweet, then spicy, had some onion and peppers in it too. Hopefully I can get that recipe. My friend Kenda's daughter Klaine (who is a middle schooler) got 4th. She made an apple salad type dessert that featured apples with chopped up Snickers. As you can see, there are some really creative people out there.

My Tie-Dye T-Shirt Cookies didn't place either. Oh well, it was fun anyway.

Tomorrow is Clabber Girl. Rules are, make any kind of quick bread i.e. breads, biscuits, muffins, scones, etc. using Clabber Girl baking powder. This is a hard contest because quick breads are easy to make but hard to make well for a contest. The judges are very picky about how brown or moist or how well mixed your product is.

Remember all that bacon from yesterday? Yup, that's going into my product. Everyone loves bacon, right?