Midwestern Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches

A few weeks ago, my friend Craig and I were talking about home.  We’re both from Missouri but both live in California.  His dad and my parents both still live back there.  We were talking about what we miss and don’t miss about the Midwest.  Of course, we talked about humidity, snow, and reminisced about growing up there.  Then the subject turned to food.  One of the things we both agreed on, we miss those fantastic tenderloins they have in the restaurants back there.  So, yesterday, we and our wives got together and made some.  They turned out fantastic!

They are so easy to make.  It’s basically, flattened pork tenderloin, breaded and fried.  Yup, that easy.  Here’s our step by step.

Pork tenderloin sandwiches

One package pork tenderloin (NOT pork loin, it’s gotta be tenderloin)

Flour

Salt and pepper

Eggs

Milk

Ritz crackers

Corn oil

Ok, there’s the ingredients.  Here’s what we did.

First you gotta fight with that silverskin on the meat.  Scrape, cut, and pull ‘til it’s all gone.  Sounds difficult but only takes a few minutes.  Then cut the tenderloin.  If you’ve never had one, the tenderloin is a long muscle about two inches in diameter.  So, ya look at it and say, how in the world do I turn this into a bun sized patty.  I cuta piece off about 2 -2 ½ inches, then you butterfly it, meaning you cut a slit about half way but you only cut it about half way through.  Then fold it out and hammer it flat.  The thinner the better.   Repeat until you’ve either run outa meat or you have enough to make a sandwich or two for each person.  I layer these between some wax paper then put them back in the fridge.  Smashing them down is pretty easy.  We have one of those tenderizing hammers which work good, but I just use my fists and play Rocky music in the background.

Then you gotta grind the ritz crackers.  I use a Cuisinart food processor, but a mortor and pestle work good too.  A wooden spoon in a measuring cup does just fine.  Speaking of fine, that’s the way you want your cracker meal.  I guess you could buy it, but for some reason the stores where I live, don’t carry it..

Put flour in a bowl and mix in a little salt and pepper.  Then throw two eggs in another bowl and put in just enough milk to give it the consistency you’d want for scrambles eggs.

Heat some oil to 375 degrees.  I use an electric fryer but you can do it on the stove.

Take your tenderloins out of the fridge and separate.  Take them one at a time, coat in the flour, dip in the egg wash, then cover with cracker meal.

Put straight into the hot oil and let it cook until it’s a golden like fried chicken or chicken fried steak..  It’ll only take a few minutes.  Turn it to ensure you have cooked both sides.

Put them on a plate with a paper towel.

Then prepare a bun (we like sesame) with some mayo or miracle whip, lettuce, tomato, and if you like dill pickle slices.  Some like ketchup.

Eat, enjoy, and talk about Missouri!