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Pork Tenderloin Stuffed

Stuffed pork tenderloins baked with a cracker crumb filling and served with gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Pork Tenderloin Stuffed

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Wipe the tenderloins clean with a damp cloth and lay them flat on a table.

  2. Cut a deep gash along the side of each tenderloin.

Stuff and close

  1. In a bowl, mix cracker crumbs, butter, salt, sage, pepper, and hot water to make the dressing.

  2. Fill the tenderloins with the dressing.

  3. Sew them up.

  4. Lard the tenderloins with thin strips of pork.

Bake and serve

  1. Place them in a baking pan.

  2. Add water, butter, minced onion, pepper, and salt.

  3. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 45 minutes, basting frequently.

  4. Serve with gravy made from the pan drippings.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,527 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Sage + oniontop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pork tenderloins
Provide the lean meat that is stuffed, larded and roasted as the main dish.
Cracker crumbs
Form the bulk of the dressing, soaking up liquid and giving the stuffing body.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the dressing and to the pan liquid for basting.
Sage
Contributes the herbal aroma that flavours the dressing.

The step that matters

Basting frequently during the bake. Pork tenderloin is lean and dries out easily in the oven. Regular basting with pan liquid keeps the surface moist and helps the meat stay juicy while it cooks.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, butter, sage, pepper):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, butter, sage, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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