Culinary Skills

My turn to take over the kitchen this evening. Well for that matter, when it comes to any dish which includes meat, it usually is.

So a thinly cut steak from a pork tenderloin is easy enough. The secret is to see that it is sufficiently cooked, yet not too much so that it becomes overdone and loses its tenderness.

It’s a regular favourite of ours, because it is quick and straightforward to prepare, and also relatively inexpensive. My wife enjoys it cooked this way, in butter in a pan on the hob, with a splash of olive oil, my preference is to roast the tenderloin whole in the oven and then serve sliced with a fruit based sauce. But either way you can easily combine it with a salad or vegetables, and a variety of potato dishes.

In France you will usually find this on the menu in restaurants as filet mignon, although in this country filet mignon is strictly from a cut of beef. Either way a filet mignon is cut from the tenderloin, which lies in the middle of the animal's back, and produces meat which is particularly tender.

While this makes it an attractive cut, the lack of fat or marbling in the filet means that it is so easy to overcook and thereby lose the tender flavour Which is where a variety of sauces come in handy, or when cooked in the pan can benefit by being served with the pan juices.

Oh, my turn in the kitchen? Well while I do not pretend to be an expert, I always enjoy time in the kitchen with food. I can very rarely match the photographs in the glossy foodie magazines, but I think I can do a reasonable job.

And enjoy it when it is prepared and ready to serve!