Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin with BBQ Glaze

As my summer draws to a close, I have to admit that I have not yet accomplished all of my goals. Yes, I made our patio furniture (an 8-person table with built in drink coolers and a matching coffee table), I taught summer school for four weeks, and my wife and I purged nearly two truckloads of our unused stuff, but for some reason, I feel like there’s more to do. I have an entirely new curriculum to plan, of course, and I obviously have to work with my colleague to re-vamp my AP Literature curriculum for our incoming classes. On top of it all, my blog has not yet sold for millions of dollars. Can you imagine?

The HORROR!

And yet, a modicum of emotional appeasement floated my way late last week when the good people over at Rufus Teague featured a picture of this post’s titular meal on their Instagram feed.

 

Apparently it doesn’t take much to appease me emotionally. Anyway, having been particularly happy with the meal itself, not to mention the *ahem* immense fame I’ve now had showered upon me (OMG 478 likes!!!), I thought I’d share my recipe with the world, or at least with the 15 people who will read this.

Ingredients:

• Pork tenderloin (2 pieces)
• 1 lb natural applewood smoked bacon
• Rufus Teague BBQ sauce (I prefer “Touch O’ Heat”)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tbsp onion powder
• 1/2 tbsp black pepper
• a whole bunch of toothpicks

Set your grill up for indirect cooking. This is actually pretty simple: put one burner on low (that’s where the meat cooks) and the other on high. This produces a convention effect, which allows you to cook your food slowly. “Slow and low” is important with a bacon-wrapped product, as direct heat under greasy bacon tends to cause flare-ups.

Mix all of the sugar and spices together in a small bowl, and rub them liberally over the tenderloin pieces. The meat should be thoroughly coated. Use it all.

Beginning at one end, wrap the strips of bacon around the dry-rubbed meat so that the edges of the strips are just overlapping. Hold the bacon in place with toothpicks.

Note: I apologize that I don’t have pictures of this process, but as you can imagine, this gets your hands pretty gross. 

Place the bacon-wrapped meat on the cooler side of the grill, and baste it with your BBQ sauce. Check and turn the tenderloin every 10 minutes or so, adding additional sauce each time you open the grill. Oh, but keep in mind that doing so will extend your cooking time: all of your heat escapes when you pop that top open.

Your total cooking time will vary depending on your grill, and whether or not you choose to turn the burner off (rather than keep it on low) directly below the meat. Mine took about 45 minutes to reach a safe internal temperature, and by then the bacon was crispy, and the Rufus Teague had cooked into a flavorful glaze.

Slice the tenderloin into rounds for serving and PLEASE don’t forget to remove the toothpicks, you don’t want to have to rush your dumb kid to the emergency room and explain to the doctor that you forgot to pick the wooden shards out of his food before you served it to him. That’s just embarrassing.

I served this to my brother in law with some simple grilled corn and an ice-cold beer. Because, seriously, what more do you need?