Spicy Korean Pork Tenderloin

Made this meal a month or so ago, but didn't take any pictures, as I wasn't sure how it would turn out. It was delicious then, so I decided I had to do it again. I bought a twin pack of pork tenderloins and trimmed the silver skin off of them. I made a marinade that included the following, sorry, no measurements:

Soy Sauce
Cooking Rice wine
Gochujang
Korean Chile powder
Chopped fresh Garlic
Sliced fresh Ginger
Honey
Sugar
Corn syrup

Mixed that all up, put the tenderloins in a gallon bag, poured in the marinade, and let them rest in the fridge over night. Here's a pic of bag the next day:



Emptied the bag out on the platter as I wanted to reserve the marinade.



While the grill was coming up to temp, I had the wife show me how to make Cucumber Kimchi. She is going to go home on vacation for a couple months, and this is a dish I like to eat, so I needed to learn how to make it. She cleaned and sliced five pickling cucumbers and put them in a bowl. Added about two tablespoons of chopped garlic, and some Korean Chile Powder, mixed it up and let it rest while I was manning the grill:



I pulled the tenderloins out and shook the excess marinade off, making sure there were no slices of ginger attached, and threw them on the cool side of the 350* grill.



I flipped them a couple times and as they came up to 115*, I rolled them back in the marinade, and I started moving them closer to the direct heat.



I put them over the direct flame to char them up a bit, but all they really did was stick to the grill. I pulled them off when they hit 135* and let them rest while we finished up the Kimchi.



At this time, she added some sesame seeds, some of this Korean seasoning (I have no idea what it is called, light brown sugar color, tastes like it has some salt, beef flavoring, maybe some MSG), a little sugar and salt, and some Soy Sauce. Mixed and taste, add more of anything needed.

NOTE: she just showed me the bag of the Korean seasoning. It's a soup base. Maybe like Dashi powder.



Here's the final on the Kimchi:



Sliced, plated, and ready to eat:



Closeup of the pork.



This was so tender, I could slice it with my fork, and oh so juicy. Just a hint of heat from the marinade, tasted great, I kept wiping up all the extra flavorful juices from the plate.

You're welcome Sako. I figured I had shown pictures of it enough, I should share now that I had it...

Easy there Marty... :mrgreen:

Bigbears BBQ said:

Looks good, so you so your wife is giving you a vacation :-D

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Not really. I get to take care of everything from the house, to the animals, to the plants, to anything that comes up by myself for two months. It's ok at first, but does get a little old after a week or two...

Thanks Marc. I could eat fresh cucumber kimchi every day, as a side or as a snack...

Thanks y'all...

12ring said:

That's looks so good. Are you figuring the internal temp to continue to climb some when you pull it off? If so what do you expect it to get up to or are you ok with pork cooked that low? I've had food poising a few times and I'm not looking to get trichinosis. Weak stomach.

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My understanding is that with the way pork is bred now, a solid hunk of meat like a tenderloin (in other words, not ground pork), is safer to cook to a lower temp. They say 145*, I cook to a minimum of 135* and let carry over do the rest. It may not climb all the way up to 145*, but it has been close enough in my book. Plus, I don't pull it right at 135*, that's just my target. If I check it and it is 133*, I know it needs a couple more mins. If it's 137*, time to pull it.

http://blog2.thermoworks.com/2012/05/rethinking-thought-knew-about-internal-temperature-pork/

ModelMaker said:

Is reusing the marinade a good idea? I know it's not chicken and all but I wonder...
Ed

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I did the double dip right before moving it to the hot side. I am sure that external marinade got up to temp quickly. I wouldn't put it in a bowl and use it as a dipping sauce.

Mikebeme said:

Definitely going to try this one out, everyone likes spicy at my house and we have plenty of Korean supermarkets around. Might try spinning it.

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You should give it a try. This wasn't HOT, but between the marinade and the Kimchi, there was a little heat.

I am sure there are more exact recipes on the web. My wife doesn't measure anything, so it's difficult to get a recipe from her. Here's one that looks similar to the Kimchi:

https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/oi-muchim

And I would think the following recipe is close to what I mixed up, I just used it for a hunk of meat, not slices for Bulgogi:

http://www.beyondkimchee.com/spicy-korean-pork/

Good luck with it!