Kosher Salt

Prior to doing a lot of cooking there was only two kinds of salt that I knew about. The first, table salt, always came in the blue Morton’s Salt container. The second was rock salt that was either used to melt ice off the sidewalk or used in the making of homemade ice cream.

When I started cooking quite a bit, I started seeing not just salt, but kosher salt. I assumed, like with other kosher items, that the salt was either blessed by a rabbi or was made in some fashion that corresponded with the rules of eating kosher.

Guess what? I was wrong. Kosher salt is really “koshering salt” which means it is an acceptable ingredient to help make meat kosher by removing the surface blood.

Spanish-Style Brined Pork Tenderloin

Like most brines, this recipe calls for salt. In this case, kosher salt.

There it is along with all the other ingredients.

Brining the tenderloins.

Dried and spiced.

On the grill.

Brining keeps the moisture and brings the flavor!

Spanish-Style Brined Pork Tenderloin

Servings: 6 servings (serving size: about 3 ounces pork)

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
1 cup ice cubes
1 (1 1/2-pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed
2 tablespoons paprika
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons olive oil
Cooking spray
2 teaspoons sherry vinegar

Directions:

Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring until the salt and sugar dissolve. Pour salt mixture into a 2-gallon zip-top plastic bag. Add ice and pork; seal. Refrigerate 3 hours, turning bag occasionally.

Combine paprika and next 5 ingredients (paprika through garlic).

Prepare grill for indirect grilling, heating one side to medium-high and leaving one side with no heat.

Remove pork from bag, and discard brine. Pat pork dry with paper towels. Brush oil evenly over pork; rub with paprika mixture. Place pork on grill rack coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat; grill pork 6 minutes, browning on all sides. Place pork on grill rack over unheated side. Close lid, and grill pork an additional 20 minutes or until thermometer inserted into thickest portion of pork registers 155° (slightly pink), turning the pork occasionally. Place pork on a platter. Cover with foil, and let stand 5 minutes. Uncover and drizzle pork with 2 teaspoons vinegar.

Nutritional Info: Calories 169
Caloriesfromfat 30 %
Fat 5.7 g
Satfat 1.6 g
Monofat 2.9 g
Polyfat 0.7 g
Protein 24.2 g
Carbohydrate 4.5 g
Fiber 0.6 g
Cholesterol 74 mg
Iron 2.1 mg
Sodium 343 mg
Calcium 18 mg

Source: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/spanish-style-brined-pork-tenderloin