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Pork Tenderloins

Roasted pork tenderloin seasoned with powdered sage and cooked slowly with boiling water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Pork and sage are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,527 recipes. Both carry 2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Pork Tenderloins

Oven, in the book's wordsA very moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Score the pork tenderloin with a sharp knife in close lines down and across.

  2. Rub the loin all over with powdered sage.

Roast and serve

  1. Place it in a 350°F (175°C) oven with a little boiling water in the pan.

  2. Cook slowly for 20 minutes per pound, basting frequently.

  3. Serve with apple sauce.

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Pork tenderloin
Forms the main body of the dish, and its lean meat becomes tender with slow, moist cooking.
Powdered sage
Adds an aromatic, savoury flavour that penetrates the surface of the meat.
Boiling water
Creates steam in the pan, helping keep the meat moist during roasting.

The step that matters

Cook slowly for 20 minutes per pound, basting frequently. Pork tenderloin is lean and dries out quickly at high heat. Slow cooking with regular basting keeps moisture in the meat and prevents a tough, dry result.

“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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