Large Fierce Mammal

Grilled pork tenderloin, Large Fierce Mammal style.

My mother used to do an oven baked version of  “barbecued spare ribs” with a sauce I fell in love with. Introducing it to Mrs. LFM was one of the reasons she fell in love with me, and over the years we’ve  perfected it to where it’s now our signature barbecue sauce whenever pork meets the grill. Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium to large onion finely chopped
• Fat from frying a package of bacon
• One entire 455 ml bottle of  Heinz chili sauce
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 4 drops Tabasco sauce
• 1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 Tbsp liquid smoke
• 1 tsp salt, or to taste

On any day we make this sauce, we fry up an entire package of bacon, save the fat in the frying pan, and use it to cook the onions. Fry your onions until they are well caramelized, then drain the excess fat but don’t wring them out. Fat equals flavour!

While your onions are frying, mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and set them aside to meld. When the onions are done and drained, reduce the heat, pour in the sauce mixture, and stir well. Stirring occasionally, heat the sauce to just where it’s on the verge of boiling, then remove the pan from the heat. Your sauce can be used now or, if put in a covered container, can be kept in the fridge for up to two weeks.

This sauce is optimized for pork, and I’m proceeding on the assumption that you are  savvy in the arts of safely handling that most succulent of meats. I like to use it on pork tenderloin, and start by making shallow slices on  each face of the meat to a depth of about half a centimeter and roughly a centimeter apart to allow penetration of the saucy goodness. I start with a very hot grill, throw on the meat, and quickly apply a liberal coating of sauce to one side along with my chosen seasonings (ground roasted garlic, Montreal steak spice, and a dash of barbecue chicken seasoning – write me for details if you need to). I then immediately flip them over and repeat the process. The point is to quickly  sear the sauce onto the meat both to seal in the juices and prevent the sauce from melting and running away. When that’s accomplished, reduce the heat and finish the job, touching up any areas that require resaucing along the way. You can NOT have too much of this sauce!

As a throwback to more frugal times, the left over onion infused bacon fat is great on toast!