Recipe for Bourbon Pork Tenderloin

I was asked to post my favorite bourbon recipe. I hesitated, because I don't cook with bourbon very often, but this is one I love, and it's quite simple. It's appropriate that the meat is pork, since pig in all its forms is highly favored in bourbon country.

I prefer a simple and straightforward rye-recipe bourbon for cooking, but use whatever you like. I haven't used rye whiskey in this recipe but it would probably be great.

Ingredients:

Two whole pork tenderloins (1 to 1½ pounds each)
1 ½ cup bourbon whiskey
1 ½ cup orange juice
5 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Crushed red pepper to taste
Salt to taste
Fresh cracked black pepper to taste
1 tbsp butter

Directions:

Combine all ingredients except the meat and butter. Reserve one cup of the liquid for sauce and use the rest as marinade.

Pierce the meat with a fork and marinate it for at least one hour.

Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees.

Discard the used marinade and roast the meat, uncovered, for about 1 hour and 45 minutes, until done. Baste occasionally with the reserved marinade.

In a saucepan, boil the rest of the reserved marinade until it is reduced by about half. Finish with butter. Serve as a sauce.

Let the meat rest for at least ten minutes after removing it from the oven. Cut into medallions ¾” to 1” thick.