Pork tenderloin is the most tender cut of pork, and also the easiest to dry out: it has almost no fat. The whole job is to brown it without overcooking it, and a pan is all you need, no oven.
Before cooking
- Take it out of the fridge 20 minutes ahead.
- Remove the silverskin if there's any left: a thin, shiny membrane on top. Slide the tip of a knife under it and pull it away along the flesh. It shrinks as it cooks and makes the tenderloin curl.
- Pat it dry with paper towel and salt it just before cooking.
The cook, for a 400 to 500 g tenderloin
- Empty pan, medium-high heat, until the water drop test works. A spoon of neutral oil.
- Sear each side for 2 minutes, leaving it alone in between: top, bottom and both sides. It releases by itself once the face is golden.
- Drop to medium and keep going, turning it every 2 minutes, for another 6 to 8 minutes. Add a knob of butter, a garlic clove and some thyme, and baste with a spoon.
- Take it out at 60 °C in the centre, at the thickest point.
- Rest for 5 minutes on a board, loosely covered with foil. The temperature climbs a few more degrees meanwhile.
Food-safety guidance for pork is generally 63 °C in the centre after resting: at that point the middle is still slightly pink and juicy. Check this figure against the official guidance in your country. Without a thermometer, cut into the centre after resting: the juices should run clear.
Why not high heat all the way?
A tenderloin is thick: on high heat from start to finish, the outside burns before the centre is cooked. The sear gives the crust; medium heat cooks the centre gently.
The sauce, while it rests
Pork leaves a good fond. Two sauces suit it especially well: wholegrain mustard and cream, or balsamic and rosemary. Pour off excess fat, deglaze with a splash of white wine or stock, scrape the base, then add the mustard and cream — deglazing: a sauce in 30 seconds.
The sauce chart gives pairings for every meat, and exact quantities for both sauces are in the 10 pan sauces in 3 minutes booklet.
The three mistakes
Cooking it “to be safe”. Beyond 65–68 °C, tenderloin turns dry and mealy.
Leaving the silverskin on. It twists and cooks unevenly.
Slicing it straight away. Without a rest, the juices end up on the board.
To serve
Slice into medallions a good centimetre thick and spoon over the sauce. With crispy sautéed potatoes or pan-fried vegetables. For a bone-in cut the method is similar: pan-fried pork chops.
Searing, then basting with butter, is where stainless is most at home: it handles the heat and keeps the fond for the sauce. The pan we film with is 304 stainless with no coating, with the 25-recipe book free.
