Mustard-Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin

You know how people brag about their great steak recipe, their great chicken recipe but, who have you heard brag about their great pork tenderloin recipe?  We love pork tenderloin and I’m bragging about this recipe ~ it’s great!

The tenderloin is the leanest and most tender cut of pork and I love the way it almost melts in your mouth.  Dijon mustard is the perfect ingredient for it.  In this recipe, the mustard is brushed on the tenderloin, and then the pork is coated with a crumb mixture for a savory, succulent meat dish for dinner.  This has become our favorite way to enjoy pork tenderloin!

Here’s a little “pork” trivia for you:

Do you know?

… How Wall Street got its name?

 Free-roaming hogs were famous for rampaging through the valuable grain fields of colonial New York City farmers. The Manhattan Island residents chose to block the troublesome hogs with a long, permanent wall on the northern edge of what is now Lower Manhattan. A street came to border this wall -- named aptly enough, Wall Street.

… Where the saying "living high on the hog" came from?

It started among enlisted men in the U.S. Army, who received shoulder and leg cuts of pork while officers received the top loin cuts. So "living high on the hog" came to mean living well.

. . . What's the origin of the saying "pork barrel" politics?"
The phrase is derived from the pre-Civil War practice of distributing salt pork from huge barrels to the slaves. By the 1870's, congressmen were referring to regularly dipping into the "pork barrel" to obtaining funds for popular projects in their home districts.



. . . How "Uncle Sam" came to represent the U.S. Government?
During the war of 1812, a successful New York pork packer named Uncle Sam Wilson shipped a boatload of several hundred barrels of pork to U.S. troops. Each barrel was stamped "U.S." on the docks, and it was quickly said that the "U.S." stood for "Uncle Sam," whose large shipment seemed to be enough to feed the entire army. 



. . . What President Truman had to say about hogs?
"No man should be allowed to be President who does not understand hogs."

 Brushed, coated and ready for the oven

Here’s the recipe:

Mustard-Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:

1½ pounds pork tenderloin

½ cup panko bread crumbs

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1½ tablespoons olive oil

½ teaspoon dried thyme

½ teaspoon dried rosemary

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoon Dijon mustard, divided

Method:

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with nonstick foil.

On a sheet of wax paper, mix panko bread crumbs with garlic, olive oil, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper.

Brush the pork with 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard.

Coat with crumb mixture.

Brush bottom of tenderloin with remaining tablespoon of mustard and coat with remaining crumbs.

Place on prepared pan.

Roast pork 30 minutes until crust is golden and instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 160 degrees.

Let pork rest 5 minutes; slice.

Serve

ENJOY!!!

Be sure to enter the $65 CSN giveaway I posted on Sept. 15^th!

Check out my friend, Linda’s blog, at My Kind of Cooking for her great recipes and cookbook giveaway ~ 4 cookbooks she's giving away!