Brined Pork Tenderloin

This was very good but not great. I wanted to make this on a work night but knew that I would never have the time to brine it and cook it after work so I made the brine ahead of time and froze it in a Ziploc bag. Then I defrosted it and brined the meat the night before.

Based on the other reviews, I was really careful about the brine time. I ended up leaving the pork in the brine for just under three hours and rinsed it off right away. Then I dried it off and left it in the refrigerator overnight. All I had to do after work was take the meat out of the refrigerator thirty minutes before I cooked it.

I was so worried that I would overcook the pork that I took the temperature after 15 minutes instead of 20. I am glad I did. It was 137 degrees in that time which was perfect.

I did make the Cured Lemons two weeks ahead of time. I wasn't sure I was going to like them because I didn't love their smell. On their own, they tasted a little too sweet and salty. However, they did taste really good with the pork so I am glad I made them.

Given all of the salt in the brine and in the lemons, I did not add any additional salt to the pork. I am glad about this because it was plenty salty but not too salty.

Delicious. I'm a big pork tenderloin fan and have tried lots of recipes. This one is easy, with two exceptions -- the brine and the cured lemons. I recommend the cured lemons whole heartedly, but am not sure if the brine is worth the effort.

Keller's recipe stands apart because of the cured lemons. Go the whole nine yards and make the cured lemons in advance. They are well worth the effort and add a unique, exciting taste to the pork. I used Keller's recipe, but made a half batch of the lemons. I can't wait to find more uses for the leftover cured lemons.

I also made the pork brine, and found the pork very slightly over salted. Even with Diamond Crystal, I would recommend cutting the salt by 10% (I may have sprinkled too much salt on before searing, so that may have been the problem). At the end of the day, I'm not sure if the brine is worth the effort. I might do brine and no brine pork side by side in the future so I can see if it really makes a big enough difference to warrant the extra step.

Other than an unfortunate brining error on my part, this was absolutely delicious. Yes, it's a bit more work than just throwing a tenderloin in the oven, what with the brining, but the mix of flavours the brine adds is wonderful. And coooking it a little rare keeps it very tender and juicy. My wife said 'wow' with her first bite. Oh, and I didn't use cured lemons (I didn't have 2 weeks to wait...).

About that error: I'd never brined pork before and in my ignorance, I didn't weigh the salt. I used a brand of kosher salt (Windsor, a Canadian brand) which was quite a bit more dense than Diamond Crystal, which is what Keller uses. I neglected to look at the weight in the recipe, just using volume (he specifies 5 oz for 8 cups of water; I ended up using closer to 8 oz) and it was a bit salty for my taste, though it didn't bother my wife. Next time I'll use 4 or 5 oz.