COOKBOOK REVIEW

This is the only non-baking recipe we chose, a nod to my mother’s standard dinner party dish of bacon-wrapped filet mignon. Today’s pork has been bred to be leaner than in years past, and doesn’t need to be cooked to as high a temperature as was once considered safe. If you cooked this pork tenderloin to the temperature your grandmother did, it would be way overdone. Wrapping the tenderloin in bacon keeps the pork moist, and as Cathy Swanson Wheaton, executive editor of“betty Crocker Best 100,”likes to say,“it adds an exclamation point on top of this delicious recipe.”

8 slices bacon

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

2 (1-pound) pork tenderloins

⅓ cup barbecue sauce

1 tablespoon finely chopped chipotle

chile in adobo sauce

¼ teaspoon ground cumin

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line a 15-by-10-by-1-inch roasting pan with heavy-duty foil. Spray foil with cooking spray.

Microwave bacon between layers of microwavable paper towels on microwavable plate 3 to 4 minutes or just until edges begin to brown but bacon is still soft and pliable. Remove from microwave, cool slightly and cut each piece in half crosswise.

In a small bowl, stir together salt and pepper. Season all sides of both tenderloins with salt and pepper mixture and arrange in roasting pan. Arrange 8 bacon slice halves diagonally over each tenderloin, pressing bacon over sides.

Make glaze: In a small bowl, mix barbecue sauce, chipotle chile and cumin. Brush tops of each tenderloin with glaze.

Bake tenderloins 30 to 35 minutes or until instant-read meat thermometer inserted in center of pork reads 145 degrees. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

Serves 8.

Per serving: 268 calories (percent of calories from fat, 50), 27 grams protein, 5 grams carbohydrates, no fiber, 15 grams total fat (5 grams saturated), 92 milligrams cholesterol, 510 milligrams sodium.

— Adapted from a recipe in “Betty Crocker Best 100: Favorite Recipes From America’s Most Trusted Cook” (Houghton Mifflin, $25).