We made a Vitello Tonnato, cooking the beef sous vide, and it turned out well but wasn't quite the right cut. While searching for other cuts, we found a pork tenderloin that looked like a great shape. While unconventional, it turned out well and is worth repeating. Nothing in this recipe requires precision except the sous vide temperature: it resulted in a beautiful pink texture while being cooked through.
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| Garnished with red bell, capers |
The Pork came in a cryovac bag (wet cured) had only a little "meat diaper" in the bag, which is food-safe, so we cooked it right in its bag. The Tonnato sauce was basically a home made mayonnaise with intense flavors folded in. We used a mixture of oils from some smoked salmon and anchovies packed in oil, but you can use a mix of olive oil and lighter vegetable oil to prevent it being too heavy.
This amount seemed at first to be too much for a two person dinner, but we polished it off: we were ravenous after our 10 Km (6 mile) walk from Montjuïc Castle back to our apartment.
500 g Pork Tenderloin, in its cryovac bag
1 Egg Yolk, room temperature
15 ml Lemon Juice
5 ml Dijon Mustard
Oil (olive and sunflower)
20 g Capers
2 Anchovies, salt-packed
104 g Tuna packed in olive oil, with its oil (2 small cans)
Cook the Pork in its bag at 58C (136F) for 2 hours; this is low enough to keep it pink, and long enough to heat through the 5cm thickness of the cylindrical meat.
Put the bagged pork in an ice bath in the fridge to drop temperature; once chilled, you can leave it like this until you're ready to prep and serve.
Remove Pork, wipe dry, wrap in film, and freeze for an hour to make it easier to slice cleanly.
Sear in a ripping hot cast iron pan filmed with some oil and salt, and hit the top with a Searzall torch if you've got one.
Remove and slice thinly.
Let return to room temperature.
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| Kullenschliff knife made for clean slices |
Whisk Egg Yolk and Lemon Juice with a stick blender and whisk; whisk in Mustard.
While whisking, drizzle in the oil until you have a thick Mayonnaise -- don't make it too thin.
Combine Capers, Anchovies, and Tuna and its oil, and whiz with a in a mini-food processor to a mush.
Fold the zesty, salty mush into the mayonnaise.
We plated out red endives, topped with the Tonatto sauce, then added the Pork, and garnished with thinly sliced red bell peppers and caper berries.
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| White wine worked fine with this |
What Worked, Improvements for Next Time...
The Pork could have been more firm for even slices, but it was tender enough that it sliced cleanly with my good kullenschliff knife.
If we didn't have pre-bagged pork, I would salt it before bagging and cooking -- our unseasoned pork really benefitted from the hit of salt.
The Tonatto sauce pooled on the plate; next time, lay out the endive base and pork, use a squirt bottle to dress the pork with the sauce, so it's more attractive and evenly applied; then garnish as you like.
My garnishes still appear a bit heavy, perhaps a finer dice would be more appealing.
Some grilled bread would go really well with this, and provide a balancing starch.
