Chinese boneless spare ribs are a staple in Chinese restaurants. The sauce is sticky delicious and red food coloring is used to give it that distinctive color. With this recipe, we take a different approach using butterflied pork tenderloin. We nixed the red food coloring and used few Asian ingredients, along with pantry staples like ketchup and jelly– that makes a salty-sweet sauce as marinade and glaze. On either a charcoal grill, or gas grill, we continuously flipand glaze the pork to create a charred, caramelized—not burnt—exterior. Incredible flavor!
Last week, our part of California got hit with a heatwave. For us, that’s temps in the 90’s to low 100’s. I would wilt in parts of the country where really hot temps are considered “normal”– Arizona, Texas, Florida… when I’m hot, I’m lethargic. Very few homes, on the Monterey Peninsula, have air-conditioners. That’s because the Pacific Ocean breeze and coastal fog usually gives us a perfect climate of average temps in the mid-70’s.
Coming home to a house that has internal temps of 86 and up didn’t perk me up, much. So, we resorted to firing up the gas grill and throwing on chicken and veggies– and cooling off with margaritas. I know, tough, huh? Fortunately, the high pressure system has moved on, and the temps are now in the comfortable 60’s and 70’s.
Memorial weekend becomes the kick start for barbecues, and I’m so looking forward to spending weekends in our backyard. My husband hasearned my admiration with his grilling skills.
We don’t grill pork tenderloin often, though we love it. Because this cut of meat is so low in fat, it can easily dry out, if overcooked. I saw this recipe on a recorded episode of “Cook’s Country” (on one of those lethargic hot nights, when I was almost comatose). The idea behind this recipe is to try and replicate the flavor of Chinese boneless style spare ribs.
Cook’s Country turns to pork tenderloins, that are butterflied, and pounded until thin. Since I was cooking for just the two of us, I “halved” the recipe ingredients. NOTE: Remove the silver skin but sliding a knife underneath and carefully cutting it, trying not to remove too much pork.
I got totally sucked into this episode, because of the marinade and barbecue sauce, and I had all of the ingredients! The marinade had ingredients of soy sauce, apricot preserves, garlic, freshly minced ginger, hoison sauce, dry sherry, toasted sesame oil, Chinese Five-Spice and black pepper. A portion of the marinade is set aside, to create the sauce that will “lacquer” the pork tenderloin.
To the reserved marinade, ketchup and molasses is added, and then cooked until reduced and thickened.
The pork tenderloin marinated for about an hour, while I prepped the sauce and, at the last moment, I decided to make an Asian-Style Slaw to complement this recipe. I didn’t plan on blogging this coleslaw, but it turned out to be so tasty, that I had to share it with y’all!
For the dressing, I used fresh lime juice, a splash of fish sauce (I know, it sound scary, but it’s good), sugar, rice vinegar, fresh ginger and toasted sesame seed oil. I added sliced cabbage (actually I used coleslaw mix, from Trader Joe’s), sliced bell peppers, sliced green onion, peanuts and cilantro. (Recipe also slightly adapted from Cook’s Country August 2007.)
I also started some sticky rice going…
So, now, Craig takes over. The pork tenderloin has been wiped dry, and rubbed with a little vegetable oil. He grilled it on one side, for about 2 minutes…
He flipped the tenderloin every two minutes, until the internal temperature reached 140F. I reserved about 1/3 of the sauce for later.
I
Chinese-Style Glazed Pork Tenderloin
Ingredients
- 2 12-16 ounce pork tenderloins trimmed
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup apricot preserves
- 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
- 1/4 cup dry sherry
- 2 tablespoons fresh ginger grated
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon five-spice powder
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
Instructions
- Lay tenderloins on cutting board with long side running parallel to counter edge. Cut horizontally down length of tenderloins, stopping 1/2-inch from edge so halves remain intact. Working with one at a time, open up tenderloins, place between 2 sheets of plastic wrap, and pound to 3/4-inch thickness.
- Combine soy sauce, preserves, hoisin sauce, sherry, ginger, sesame oil, garlic, five-spice powder, and pepper in bowl.
- Reserve 3/4 cup marinade.
- Place pork in large zipper-lock bag and pour remaining marinade into bag with pork. Seal bag, turn to coat, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 4 hours.
- Combine reserved marinade, ketchup, and molasses in small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until syrupy and reduced to 3/4 cup, 3 to 5 minutes. Reserve 1/4 cup glaze for glazing cooked tenderloin.
- Charcoal grill:
- Open bottom vent completely. Light large chimney starter filled with charcoal briquettes (6 quarts). When top coals are partially covered with ash, pour evenly over grill. Set cooking grate in place, cover, and open lid vent completely. Heat grill until hot, about 5 minutes.
- Gas grill:
- Turn all burners to high, cover, and heat grill until hot, about 15 minutes. Turn all burners to medium-high.
- Clean and oil cooking grate.
- Pat pork dry with paper towels, then rub with vegetable oil. Grill pork (covered if using gas) until lightly charred on first side, about 2 minutes.
- Flip and brush grilled side of pork evenly with 2 tablespoons glaze.
- Continue grilling until lightly charred on second side, about 2 minutes.
- Flip and brush evenly with 2 more tablespoons glaze. Repeat flipping and glazing twice more, until pork registers 140°F and is thickly glazed, about 4 minutes longer.
- Transfer pork to cutting board and brush with reserved glaze. Tent loosely with aluminum foil and let rest for 5 minutes. Slice and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Asian Style Coleslaw
Ingredients
FOR THE SLAW:
- 1 16 ounce bag coleslaw mix (I used just plain sliced cabbage)
- 1 red bell pepper seeded and sliced thin (I used orange)
- 1 cucumber peeled, seeded, and sliced thin (I didn’t use, and didn’t miss)
- 4 scallions sliced thin
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh mint chopped (I omitted this, as my husband doesn’t like mint)
- 1/2 cup roasted peanuts chopped
For the dressing:
- 5 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce I reduced this by half
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper I omitted this
- 4 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- Salt
Instructions
- Combine coleslaw mix, bell pepper, cucumber (if using), scallions, cilantro, mint (if using), and peanuts in large bowl.
Dressing:
- Combine lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, vinegar, ginger, and cayenne in medium bowl. Gradually whisk in oil.
- Drizzle dressing over salad and toss to combine. Season with salt. Serve. (Salad can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.)
Notes
Nutrition
I've never butterflied a tenderloin except for stuffing but it looks like a great way to get more even cooking and to have more area for the sauce. The fist shot made me instantly hungry.
This looks delicious! I haven't BBQ'd yet this year but this looks like a great recipe to start with, thanks for sharing it.
I saw the photos on FB and drooled. Well done!
Cooling off with marguerites, grilling ribs and making Asian slaw sounds good to me Debby.
The link for the baby backs is not working for me.
This looks wonderful. 🙂
Well, you did it again. We must share some DNA. I've been thinking about making this "Chinese BBQ Pork" again after some years without. And then you publish just the formula that I need. It looks wonderful and I'm sure wit will exactly what I'm looking for. Thank you,
Craig
Whoops, Mom24. I fixed the link. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Hi again, Debby. I sure hope that your blog allows double dipping in comments. I'll try.
This tenderloin recipe is not exactly "Asian Style Ribs" and not exactly "Asian Style BBQ Pork," but it IS the edition that we are after. Rested and sliced, the picture won 3 or 3 votes. Whether sliced warm, slightly warmed and sliced (mustard and sesame seeds?) or used in stir-fry or fried rice, this is want we want. Older trials of BBQ Pork were over cooked before I had a quick-read thermometer; I think I'd pull the split tenderloin at 125-130 and let it finish on its own. We're missing two essentials, so this will have to wait a week, but it is ON the project list. modest slices with rice, veggies (or the slaw) and leftover meat for many other uses – including our hot&sour soup – I'm getting pestered. The rules remain intact: no more that one town trip per week. Period. And the pressure is one. This is a keeper, Debby and thank you. -C.
P.S. Just after the quad picture, did you mean 'pork,' not the published 'chicken?'
This could also work for some kinds of chicken, but I think we were talking about pork… -C.
It all looks fantastic. I love Asian style pork dishes. I was obsessed with roast pork in Chinese restaurants when I was a kid. The slaw looks great too. I wish you had put up the photo of the full plate. I am not someone who will ever criticize anyone else's food photos when mine are notoriously bad.
@Cedar Glen, thank you for pointing out my typo. I fixed it….yes, the PORK marinated! I appreciate your bringing that to my attention. Fixed!