I've been following @bbq_bboy on Instagram for a few months now. His photos literally make my mouth water. When I saw his post on Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin, I went to fire up my Big Green Egg. I was making this even if it was the middle of winter!
While my final photo was not as pretty as @bbq_bboy, it was pretty damn delicious! I used his recipe as a guide but used slightly different ingredients.
Ingredients:
- 2 pork tenderloins
- 8 slices of thick cut, peppered bacon
- Killer Hogs The BBQ Rub
- 2 springs of fresh rosemary
Coat the pork tenderloins in The BBQ Rub. This a great rub, but you can use any of your favorite BBQ rubs. If you want to make your own, you can also combine one part each of brown sugar, garlic powder, sweet paprika and 1/2 part each of fresh ground black pepper, kosher salt, and cayenne.
Wrap the bacon around the pork tenderloin, slightly overlapping the slices. Tie the tenderloin and let it sit for about 30 minutes while you heat up your grill. I (obviously) used my Big Green Egg and cooked it on indirect heat at 275 degrees. I cooked it until the internal temperature was 140 degrees (I think it took about an hour), then removed it from the grill and then let it sit covered, for approximately 10 minutes.
Surprisingly, the bacon was pretty crispy, but if you want it crispier, you can always take the pork off at 135-140 degrees, crank up your grill to around 400, then put it back on hot grill for about five minutes, flipping once. The goal is to not let the internal temperature exceed 145 degrees. That is the perfect temperature for this tenderloin.
I served this with risotto, because I love risotto, but I think it would be great with some roasted winter vegetables (butternut squash, mushrooms, zucchini) rubbed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a bit of chili flake. A nice glass of bold Cabernet (we had a 2010 Cabernet from Angelo Cellars) and some lemon Italian ice for dessert make this meal complete.
Cheers!