Phew, you almost missed out on this one. I found a decent looking pork tenderloin fer dinner. Figured I’d roast it and serve it with some leftover southern greens I made the night before. No big deal, nothing any of you needed to really know about.
However, I decided to heat up a cast iron skillet super hot and sear the sucker first. And when I saw the little wedge of lard melt, smoke waft and then the severe sizzle of the pork hit … it was all I could do to get my camera & flash mounted.

Here we find the pork tenderloin right before I finished it off in the oven at 350 for 30 or 40 minutes.
Before this I washed and thoroughly dried the sucker. It was just screaming for some really green extra virgin olive oil, I obliged. I wanted something with an edge, so some Tony Chaceres Cajun something or other. I believe I put a bit of oregano on there as well.
At this point I was thinking, “ya know, if you get a decent tenderloin and don’t over-cook the darned thing, I could use nearly any spice and/or herb in here.” Pork rules.
But wait, it gets better. We had some kind of tomatoes ripening on the counter. I don’t know where they were from, being winter and all. But I figure, if you leave them out until they get bright red and soft, slice then sprinkle with kosher salt, rubbed oregano, ground pepper & extra virgin olive oil, well that would be fine enough. For winter. At this point I thought it would be a nice bright happiness to go along with the pork tenderloin & greens. What came next I was NOT ready for.
Being an advanced grazer, meaning I can just walk through and pick up something here and there to eat. This is usually while, during and after cooking. But you knew that. What happend is this, I picked up a tomato and popped a slice of pork tenderloin on top. Hmm, I’ve never done this before. I went through six slices in a few minutes LOVING every damned bite! It was fresh, a little acidic then the warm crusty spicy pork came in and brought it home. I believe a craker underneath the ‘mater would ruin it. Maybe using the pork underneath would be far prettier, yup.
You all have just been introduced to MeatHenge’s Pork Maters. Serve it up for the holidays !!!
Xo Xo