Easter grill meal: Pork Tenderloin

Occasion
Easter Sunday Meal

Partakers
The M4 Crew (that's my family btw)

On The Grill
1 1/2 lb pork tenderloin
Squash, Zucchini, and onions

(The tenderloin looks small on my new grill)

Preparation
Basically no prep for the pork tenderloin.  I cheated this time and bought one from WalMart.  I rarely buy meat from WalMart, but I made an exception.  Two reasons, we wanted pork and I haven't done many pork tenderloins.  So no big loss if it wasn't good.  I got the garlic and pepper one pre-marinated.
Melanie cut up the squash, zucchini, and onions.  She sprinkled a little Tony's on them, and I believe some olive oil.  We wrapped them in foil.

Grilling
I decided that I would turn the pork tenderloin only once.  I have heard of others not having to turn them at all.  I cooked on indirect heat for an hour.  (Indirect heat being my left and right burners on medium and my middle burner off...with the meat sitting over the middle burner).  No flame up with indirect heating, and no burning the outside of the meat.

My grill temp stayed around 350 degrees.  I didn't "smoke" the meat, but didn't try to cook it too quick.  If I would've had more time, I probably could've dropped the temp some too.  The tenderloin took about an hour to cook.  The main thing is getting the inside of the meat to about 165-170 degrees

The veggies were wrapped to begin with, but I wound up grilling them over direct heat for a short time, then put them back in the foil. 

Results
Meat was very tender.  The pre-marinade was decent.  A little too much pepper in it.  And we like pepper.  Still was a little much.  The tenderloin was tender enough to cut with a fork.  So all was good.  Micah LOVED it.  I think he wound up eating more of it than any of us.  

Improvement
I really should spend the extra few minutes to do my own rub and marinade.  It probably would've turned out better.

First meal on the new grill

Occasion
Breaking in the new grill. 

Partakers
Melanie, Micah, Malaree, and me.

On The Grill
--1 in. thick center-cut pork chops from Seal's Meat Market in Lucedale.  When I grill chops, I get them between 3/4 in and 1 in.  This seems to make them big enough to be juicy and not dry out.

--Pineapple.  Melanie cut it up into slices.  One of our favorite non-meat items to grill.

--Onion.

Preparation
Meat seems to do better when it is close to room temperature.  However, these didn't get to complete room temperature before grilling.  Here's what I put on my chops....and many other things for that matter:  Lea & Perrins Worchestshire sauce (don't use another brand.  To me, other brands seem to have too much of a soy flavor.), Lawry's seasoned salt (reduced sodium), and Garlic powder.  I put the Lea & Perrins on first, so the Lawry's & garlic powder don't roll off. 

Pineapple prep--just slice vertical, not horizontal.  It keeps you from getting the "hard" part of the pineapple when you are grilling.

Onion--Put some butter, a little soy sauce, about 2-3 drops of Texas Pete hot sauce, and some garlic powder, and a little pepper.  Wrap in aluminum foil. 




Grilling
I grill my chops on high heat for 4 min. on each side, and then I flip them on each side for another 3 min each.  I then just check it.  I usually back the heat down a little after each side has been grilled once.

The pineapple.  I only grill this for 3-4 min.  Long enough to get it hot and it starts to semi-caramelize with the sugar in it.  

Results
Everything was great for the first run on the new grill.  I was reminded how much I like the cast-iron grates.  This is one of our favorite meals.