Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

When coming up with our Christmas dinner menu nothing was tempting me into the kitchen. I looked to Mr. Sideline Chef for his suggestions and after he sat there playing his video game I figured he was too deep in concentration that he had selective hearing. I had my back to him at the laptop doing my "research" when I hear, "Pork tenderloin. We haven't had that in forever." What? He speaks. Oh it's halftime on his game, figures. Haha!

After entering pork tenderloin into the search engine on my favorite recipe website, MyRecipes, there it was at the forefront, Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin. The search was over and I couldn't wait to eat bacon for dinner. Bacon makes me giddy.

This recipe was a snap to put together and with only 3 ingredients it didn't take much mental power or motor functions making this an ideal entree for our Christmas dinner. Mr. Sideline Chef would tell you the star of the show was the pork tenderloin but I would tell you it was the bacon after I stole all of the bacon off of the rest of the pork tenderloin. For dinner I had bacon with the Squash and Parsnip Gratin. The bacon had crisped and had such an amazing flavor combination from the Montreal Steak Seasoning. It was incredible. I'm drooling on the keyboard while typing this. The original recipe stated that this would take a total of 35 minutes to cook but all of my past pork tenderloin experiences had me scratching my head wondering what super oven they cooked theirs in. After cooking for the initial 25 minutes uncovered I had to cover it with foil to prevent it from drying out and lowered the temperature to continue cooking it another 30 minutes until it reached 160°.

Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

MyRecipes.com and Southern Living, April 2008

Makes 4 servings

Stars of the Show: (A standing ovation for BACON!!!)

• 1 (1 pound) pork tenderloin
• 1 tsp steak seasoning - I used McCormick Grill Mates Montreal Steak Seasoning.
• 3 bacon slices, cut in half - I went bacon happy and lost count after layering on slice number three. Who's counting anyway? I turn a blind eye when it comes to bacon.

And Action:

Trust the meat thermometer first and foremost for your cooking times. I found mine needed to be cooked longer. Preheat oven to 425°. Sprinkle the seasoning over the pork tenderloin. Wrap the pork with the bacon slices and secure with wooden toothpicks. I sprinkled more seasoning on top of the bacon but you can either do so or not. Place the pork tenderloin on a lightly greased aluminum foiled lined roasting pan.



As you can see I don't follow instructions and forgot to lay down the foil.

Bake for 25 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 155° in the thickest spot of the meat. Turn the oven to broil. Broil 5 inches from heat for 3-5 minutes until bacon is crisp. Remove from the oven and cover the pork with foil and let stand for 10 minutes until the meat thermometer reads 160°.