Oh, I’ve made a most fabulous discovery, diverging from Eating Well’s recipe for homemade taco shells by cooking them right on the grill. (I posted the directions on Voracious.) Tonight we filled them with juicy, flavorful chunks of grilled pork tenderloin flavored with a cocoa-spiked rub, cheddar cheese, and green salsa.
I think I could eat tacos every day.
Recipe for Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Cocoa Spice Rub
Recipe 125 of 365
Spice rubs are a fast, easy way to give meat a lot of flavor with little additional fat. When the charismatic chocolate maker at Theo, Autumn, mentioned she’d been experimenting with a chocolate-tinged barbecue sauce for ribs, I immediately thought of rubbing pork with a little cocoa powder. My first attempt – a quick rub with a few spices, some unsweetened cocoa, and a bit of brown sugar – yielded pork with a hint of sweetness, a bit of spice, and a faint-but-detectable chocolate flavor.
Slice the pork and serve it as is, or pile it into burritos or tacos.
TIME: 5 minutes active time (really)
MAKES: 4 servings
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon chili pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 small pork tenderloins, about 1 1/2 pounds total
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
Preheat a grill over medium-high heat.
In a small bowl, mix the cocoa powder, spices, salt, and sugar with a fork until well blended. Pat the tenderloins dry, rub with the oil, and pat the rub mixture into the tenderloins on all sides. Let the meat sit while the grill heats, about 15 minutes.
Grill the tenderloins for about 5 minutes per side, or until nicely seared. Reduce the heat to medium-low (or move them to a cooler part of the grill) and continue to cook an additional 5 to 10 minutes, or until the meat registers about 140 to 145 degrees on an instant-read thermometer when measured at the thickest part.
Transfer the meat to a cutting board and let rest for a few minutes, covered with foil, then slice and serve.
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