A Toast To George

Yesterday my wife and I threw our annual Christmas egg nog party. This egg nog recipe has been a part of her family's Christmas traditions for decades, and she and her extended family used to go to her Great Uncle George's every Christmas morning for the nog, special "s" cookies, and spiced pecans. As somewhat of a tribute to uncle George, we now throw an annual holiday party for our families, where we make a ton of food and the egg nog, and the party is called "A Toast To George."

But that's not what this post is about. I don't have any responsibility for the egg nog, as my wife handles those duties wonderfully and all I do is taste it to make sure it has enough bourbon. No, my responsibility for the Toast To George is to make the BBQ pork tenderloin. I really enjoy making BBQ, and the BBQ pork tenderloin is always a hit. My parents owned a BBQ restuarant for several years, and my Dad is an absolute expert. My father-in-law is also a fantastic BBQ man, and he is the one who set me up with my offset smoker, so I owe my abilities to both of them.

First, we start with our pork tenderloins, that have come out of the refrigerator for about a half-hour to come up to room temperature.



No wet technique is used. The tenderloins are dry-rubbed with a simple combination of salt, black pepper, and paprika, in equal amounts.


Now they're ready to go on the smoker. I shoot for around 225 on the temperature, but it's not rocket surgery, and going a little below or above is fine.


Here they are in the smoking chamber, sorry the camera flipped the picture:

Here they are, done after about an hour and a half on the smoker. I look for an internal temperature of around 165. Yeah, I know that's below what the FDA recommends. But flavor is key, and the pork tenderloin is such a lean cut of meat that overcooking tends to dry it out pretty badly. But these came out perfect:

The slices closest to the flash are overexposed, but on the ones that I've already plated, you can see the smoke ring. These were moist, tender, and delicious.

Somebody has to do the cutting...



Merry Christmas, and here's to Uncle George!