This week on Pacific Palate, I talked Planking Secrets with Ron Shewchuk. Ron is a North Vancouver barbecue and grilling guru. Planking Secrets is his second book, in which you will find out how to grill with wooden planks for great barbecue flavour! Ron’s advice for grilling pork tenderloins on a cedar plank is listed below, and you’ll note that some of the advice uses techniques and ingredients from elsewhere in the book. So, you can enjoy all of Ron’s Planking Secrets by clicking here and ordering through Amazon.ca, where you will save 24% off the cover price.
CONTEST! (contest is now closed, winners announced on June 13th!)
You can also try winning one of two copies, generously provided by Whitecap Books, by entering my contest. All you have to do is scroll down to the bottom of the page and leave a short entry which tells me about your favourite barbecue or grilling recipe. Mine is now "chicken-on-a-beer-can" in which I coat the outside of a chicken with a spicy rub and slow roast it on the grill, stuck on top of a beer can half full of beer to keep things moist. Here’s a pic:
In this case I am using a special chicken ‘throne’ to hold the chicken. Contest closes on June 12th.
Planks and Pork Tenderloin: the Perfect Marriage (from Planking Secrets, reproduced by permission of the author)
When I set out to research this book I knew that planking worked great for fish and for summer fruits like peaches and pears, but I had no idea what a perfect match this cooking style is for pork tenderloin. These little cylinders of tender, juicy pork are a staple of Chinese cooking and are great on the grill, but they are ideally suited to planking. Their size allows 2 or 3 to fit nicely on a plank, and they have just the right amount of surface area to cook quickly without losing moisture. They go with all flavors of smoke, from cedar to mesquite. And they take to marinades and rubs extremely well. Here are some basic techniques and a little collection of ideas for how to flavor pork tenderloin, but use your imagination and experiment with your favorite rubs, marinades and basting sauces.
Technique:
1. Marinate and/or rub the tenderloin and have it ready to go before you start the grill. (Three tenderloins is usually enough for 4 servings.)
2. Preheat the grill on medium-high for 5 or 10 minutes or until the chamber temperature rises above 500°F/260°C. Rinse the plank (which you’ve soaked in water overnight or for at least an hour) and place it on the cooking grate. Cover the grill and heat the plank for 4 or 5 minutes, or until it’s starting to throw off a bit of smoke and crackling lightly.
3. Reduce the heat to medium and place the tenderloin on the plank. Cook for 10 minutes, turn, and cook for another 5 to10 minutes, basting if you like, until the pork is springy to the touch or has an internal temperature of 140°F/60°C. (This will give you juicy pork cooked to a medium doneness. The internal temperature will come up slightly when you let the meat rest.)
4. If you like, just before it’s ready you can move the tenderloin from the plank onto the cooking grate and char the outside, or caramelize it if it’s coated with barbecue sauce.
5. Take the tenderloin out of the grill, tent it in foil, and let it rest for a few minutes before serving. Carve the tenderloin into 1/2- to 1-inch/1- to 2.5-cm medallions and apply whatever sauce or garnish is called for.
Tasty Tenderloin Treatments (the recipes for all the rubs, sauces and marinades mentioned below are in Planking Secrets, but you can substitute your favorite versions):
Classic Barbecue: Coat with ballpark mustard, sprinkle with Championship Barbecue Rub. Cook on a hickory plank till nearly done and finish with a light glaze of Ron’s Rich, Deeply Satisfying Barbecue Sauce. Serve more sauce on the side for dipping.
Easy Asian: Marinate with Easiest, Tastiest Steak (or Anything Else) Marinade and finish with a coating of Asian Barbecue Sauce.
Spice-Crusted: Season with salt and pepper, drizzle with oil and coat with minced garlic, toasted fennel and cumin seeds, and a little cinnamon. Serve with chopped cilantro and your favorite chutney.
Balsamic: Coat with balsamic reduction. Marinate overnight. Sprinkle on some chopped fresh rosemary and granulated garlic. Serve with a drizzle of the balsamic reduction and some chopped fresh mint.
Harvest Time: Season with salt and pepper and coat with a rub made with light brown sugar, powdered ginger, a sprinkle of freshly grated nutmeg, a pinch of clove and a little cayenne pepper. Baste with melted apple jelly and serve with Plank-Baked Apples with Rum-Honey Sauce.
Southwestern: Flavor using the same seasonings as Spice-Crusted Pork Blade Steaks and serve with some salsa and cornbread.
Ron’s first book is called Barbecue Secrets, and I use it all the time. You can save 34% on this book by clicking on the link above and ordering from Amazon.ca.
My favorite grilling recipe is grilled vegetables. Cut zuchini, red/orange peppers in strips, sweet onions in large slices. Marinate in olive oil and spices. On the grill they require lots of attention to make sure they don’t burn or fall through the grill!
My favourite barbeque recipe is so easy it can hardly be called a recipe. I marinate one, two or three pork tenderloins in a little white wine and garlic for however long it takes to set the table and drink a glass of wine. I brush or rub (with hands) Dijon mustard on the tenderloins and season them with salt and pepper (usually some seasoning salt). I sear the loins flipping them to create a cross hatch design for prettiness then move them to a cooler, indirect heat part of the grill. If I think of it I spoon a little lemon juice over them as they finish grilling. I remove them from the barbeque when they are about 150° or so (they are still a little pink and very moist) and let them rest tented with foil while I quickly toss some grape tomatoes in a hot pan with a little olive oil for a minute or two. I add some fresh chopped parsley…. sometimes a little minced garlic and some coarse sea salt. I slice the pork on the diagonal – about 1 inch slices and pour any collected juices over the pork – then surround with the tomatoes. I pass some of the good crunchy sea salt on the side. Couldn’t be easier.
We love “Rub with Love” Tom Douglas: Bengal Masala Rub. I think it’s made in Seattle, but you can get it from the butcher on West 4th (by Shoppers). It is recommended to use with lamb chops, but we prefer it with boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Mmmm…I’m going to make some tonight. Delicious and easy!
The best recipes are often the simplest. My family loves the fireman’s recipe for salmon – mix together garlic, parsley, sundried tomatoes and olive oil. I do it in the food processor. Make slits in a fresh filet of salmon (very important that it is boneless. The fish vendors on Granville Is will do this for you). Pack in the garlic mix – the more the better – place salmon on a sheet of foil on a hot barbeque and grill 10 min / inch. Do not overcook. I did this for my son’s wedding rehersal dinner – 115 people and it seemed easy. Garlic can be bought frozen in mini ice cube containers – makes it fast and easy for large groups.
Use this recipe to B.B.Q. or broil salmon or chicken. It appeared in the Western Advertiser in Penticton years ago. The chef was at Cathederal Lakes at the time.
Patrick Krahenbuhl’s Salmon with GreenPeppercorn Sauce.
Ketchup–2 cups
Soya sauce1/4 Cup
Oyster sauce 1/2 cup
Worcestershire sauce 1 Tbsp.
Fresh ground peppercorns 1 1/2 Tbsp.
Green peppercorns{canned}3 Tbsp.
Fresh ginger i inch piece
Fresh garlic 4 cloves
Brown sugar 4 Tbsp.
Blend all ing. in a food processor. Marinate salmon in sauce in sauce two hours or more. Dot Fillets with butter and cook under broiler until meat is done to your satisfaction. I marinated chicken thighs in the sauce, then cooked, then not used until the next day,delicous. The only store I found the canned green peppercorns was at Safeway, but i am sure you could find them in Vancouver. It keeps for ages in the fridge’
Hi Don.
My favourite on the BBQ? Smoked/roasted Pork Loin Roast seasoned with Montreal Steak Spice. I find that the Jack Daniel’s Wiskey smoke pellets work the best. Make sure you get the smoke going first before you put the roast on so that you get the treasured ‘smoke ring’. Using indirect heat roast for 25-30 mins per pound or until the internal temperature is approx 155F/160F. Remove, tent and let rest. The taste is fantastic!
I would love to win the book for my brother whose birthday is in July. He lives in Edmonton and is a barbeque fantatic – barbequeing on his patio in minus 40 degree wheather.
My favourite BBQ is very simple.
Spread salmon steaks or fillets on tin foil. Cover each piece of salmon with smattering of thinly sliced onions and then smear enough mayo on top of the onions to cover them. Transfer the tin foil with the salmon to the barbeque. If you are using a covered barbecue, cook over medium heat until the fish starts to flake at its thickest part or milky juices start to form on top of the thickest part. If your barbecue doesn’t have a lid, cover salmon loosely with foil and cook slightly longer.The mayo flavour seeps into the salmon while keeping it from drying out. Very delicious.
My current favorite bbq recipe comes from S. Raichlen. It is coffee crusted pork tenderloin (with ground coffee, cumin, coriander, brown sugar and other spices) served with a Red Eye (coffee based) sauce. Very good.
My favourite BBQ recipe is muscles and clams on a cast iron grill.
Have enough clams and muscles to cover but not overlap or pile up on the cast iron grill (or frying pan).
Wash and prepare muscles and clams in their shells. Wash and dice a red, yellow and green bell pepper, and a small sweet onion. Mix in a couple of crushed cloves of garlic, a small handfull of fresh thyme, a generous handfull of flatleaf parsley, and a tablespoon of course ground salt in with the diced peppers and onion.
Put hot pads on the table to receive the grill later.
Heat the grill on the BBQ to a high tempurature, spread the shellfish over the grill and immediately top with the vegetable & seasoning mix. If heat on the grill is uneven move the shellfish around to ensure even heating. When the shells have opened put the sizzling grill onto the table and dig in.
You may sprinkle up to 1/2 cup of dry white wine onto the shell fish as you place the sizzling grill on the table.
Serve with good fresh bread and a side salad.