Don Genova's Blog

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.

This week on Pacific Palate I offered a look-ahead to the EAT Vancouver show taking place this coming weekend, and introduced you to a new product that helps you make authentic Punjabi-style dishes, from the people at Indian Elements.  I made the two dishes you see here, a chickpea and tomato stew, along with a potato and cauliflower dish called Alu Gobi.  It’s called Punjabi Palette, and its core is a dish of highly concentrated, cooked-down mixture of garlic, ginger and onions.

Both dishes were very easy to make and delicious, according to the members of my weekend test kitchen panel!

Eat Vancouver is a huge foodie’s paradise of a consumer show that takes place this time of year at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver.  Graze to your heart’s delight and meet celebrity chefs, ice sculptors and more!