Recipe #8 - Pork Marinade

44 degrees out on our deck, and the snow falling reminds both the hummer at our feeder and I in my shorts and tee that we are somehow misplaced. God be praised! I have already seen Mr. Bluejay, Mr. Red Bellied Woodpecker, Mrs. Starling, Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal, the entire Sparrow clan, and Mr. Hummer (chatting much more than normal, I might add). Mr Copper Kitty next door has a beautiful sheen to his coat and our Otis loves talking to him through the glass.

I decided to go ahead and grill in spite of the chill in the air. I had some chicken breast that had been in Italian dressing overnight, and I made up a marinade for a 5 pound pork center cut tenderloin. I made shallow cuts across the fatty side, and also stabbed the meat all over with my carving fork. The marinade was simple - about 1/2 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 2 large cloves of minced garlic, a squirt of Dijon mustard, a couple shakes of Louisiana Hot Sauce, a pinch of ground black pepper, two or three pinches of salt, and dashes of dried herbs: lemon thyme, pineapple sage, rosemary, parsley.
The meat sat in the sauce for two hours in the refrigerator, and then about a half hour at room temperature before going on the grill.

On one side of the grill, I piled up a large pyramid of Kingsford charcoal briquettes, doused it slovenly with Gulf Lite fluid, placed the cast iron grates above the charcoal, and lit the pyramid. It warmed me well as I wire brushed last weekend's ground chuck off the grates. When the coals were about half way gray, I threw my bag of diced potatoes (with some diced mushrooms, pepper, and onion and a couple pats of butter) on the top rack. I seared the pork loin for just a couple minutes on all sides, then let it cook offset from the coals (coals on the right, meat on the left, taters on top).
I flipped the potatoes several times, then also put my bag of asparagus on the top shelf with the taters. I let the pork go about 15 minutes, then brought the side away from the coals to the coal side - a horizontal 180 degree rotation, not a flip yet. After another 15 minutes or so, I flipped the meat, and threw my boneless chicken (for our salad) on the top rack with the taters and asparagus. 

When I first threw the pork on, the grill temperature was about 500 degrees Fahrenheit. It cooked for about 50 minutes total - I pulled it off when the meat was about 150 in the middle, and the grill temp had dwindled down to about 250. But I didn't have to add any coals during the cooking; my initial pyramid did the job!
I covered the meat with Great Value Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil and let it rest for a bit while I plated the potatoes and asparagus. It was a fine meal and we are mighty thankful.

The Tigers finally won, and we are mighty thankful.

My fantasy baseball team won - outscored everybody in the league this week - and we are mighty thankful.

The garbage is at the curb, my clothes are clean and ready for the week ahead, and we have ample food and ice cream for the week. We are mighty thankful.