Layers of flavor secret to honey-mustard pork
I might have mentioned this before: I’m a slow cook. This has nothing to do with slow-cookers or slow cooking or the Slow Food movement. It has to do with not being speedy.
In part, I’m slow in the kitchen because I enjoy the process of cooking, and I get caught up in it. And, in part, I think it’s because I never had to be fast. Everyone I cook for can wait; there’s no maître d’ in my house hurrying diners along, no runner bringing more order tickets into the kitchen. That means I cook for the yum factor.
But then there are those s e re ndipi tous re c i pes i n which yum and quick meet. This is one of them. Even I can get this to the table in under 20 minutes. Someone with kids clamoring for dinner can probably top my personal best time.
Because the dish is based on pork tenderloin, it starts offff with an advantage. The tenderloin is a quick-cooking cut that, when sauteed, as it is here, should be kept over heat for only a few minutes. Because the meat is cut into two-bite morsels, its total cooking time is even faster than usual.
But speed is a convenience; taste is the reason to make this dish. The pork gets three layers of flflavor: a spice rub that includes chili powder, ginger, cumin and curry powder; a saucy gloss of honey and apple cider vinegar; and a couple of spoonfuls of Dijon mustard. Quickly mixed in the pan, these ingredients coat the meat and create a sauce that’s good straight or drizzled over what’s next to it on the plate.
My favorite go-along is a spicy salad, one with arugula and mustard greens, maybe some tatsoi, too, tossed with a little oil and lemon juice and spooned onto each plate as a bed for the pork and sauce.