By Nancy Pollard
After owning one of the best cooking stores in the US for 47 years—La Cuisine, the Cook’s Resource, in Alexandria, Virginia—Nancy Pollard writes Kitchen Detail, a blog about food in all its aspects—recipes, film, books, travel, superior sources, and food-related issues.
ONE OF MY favorite books for the the grill is actually a French one, given to us by Jacqueline and Jean Claude Panel. The Panels supplied hundreds of very thankful La Cuisine clients at Christmas with their superlative chocolates for over 30 years. As has happened with many wonderful European businesses, the Panel sisters now run this house of exquisite chocolates. Our families spent some wonderful vacations together. But I don’t think that their unerring sense of what makes a good chocolate came from their visits with us in the States! Check out their website, and if you are in Lyon, their two stores — one in Grigny and the other in Vienne — in either case “le voyage en vaut la peine”.
But back to this intriguing book on grilling. Barbecue Party was written by Jean-Francois Mallet, who has created cookbooks for a Francophone audience, including one that has recipes inspired by Disney characters. While that concept wouldn’t grab me by my whisk, Barbecue Party has been a real treasure for the Master Griller at our house and for me. It is filled with spice combinations and marinades that I, the assistant to the Grilleur de la Maison, had never dreamt of. Some of the recipes just would never fly here, but I have found some real juicy ones, and this one is one of our favorites.
Piggy in a Prosciutto Blanket
Easy to prepare earlier in the day or the night before and then about 20 minutes on the grill and voilà! If it rains, you can grill it on the stovetop and finish it off in the oven. In either case, we always use our Thermapen to make sure we get the temperature to around 140F. (Always make sure your instant-read thermometer is accurate by testing it in boiling water. The scientifically proven 212F temperature of boiling water will never let you down.)
We serve this with the Peach and Nectarine Salad from an earlier post and follow it with the criminally easy Lemon Ice Cream that Jean Hewitt and Maida Heatter made famous. Readers are still downloading this recipe since it was featured in our inaugural post in March of 2018!
Grilled Pork Tenderloin With Mustard and Prosciutto
- 1 pork tenderloin
- 4 tablespoons (48gr) classic French Dijon mustard (Fallot is my favorite)
- 10 thin slices of prosciutto or similar ham
- Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
- Lay the tenderloin out on butcher paper or parchment paper.
- Lay out the prosciutto slices on a separate paper so that they overlap.
- Salt and pepper the tenderloin on all sides and lay it in the middle of the ham slices.
- With a spatula, spread the mustard on all sides.
- Wrap the ham slices around the tenderloin and tie it with linen or cotton butcher’s twine at 2-inch (4.5cm) intervals.
- Place the tenderloin on the grill and turn it every few minutes so that all sides are evenly grilled.
- Insert a thermometer to check for the temperature you want—we like about 140F.
- Allow the tenderloin to rest a few minutes before slicing and removing the string.
- When the weather is not my friend, I have roasted this in a very hot oven (500F), and while it won’t have the nice smoky flavor from the grill, it is still delicious.
I don’t generally choose pork, but this looks great. And, it’s for the grill.
I have done this stovetop, on the grill, and it’s all great. I can hardly believe I got it out of a French book on bbq!
Oh, yeah! I live in a grill-less NYC apartment, but will try the stovetop oven variation for sure.
This sounds wonderful! My vegan, gluten-free, lepton-avoidant, eschew-meat-at-all-costs friends don’t know what they are missing. A simple BBQ preparation of clean pork tenderloin wrapped in a pig blanket! Yum!
Thank you!