Folks, mes amis, this is a dish that goes down well -perhaps a little too well. If your looking for a menu suggestion, say for dinner out on the porch when the weather is balmy in the low 100 degrees and the humidity hugs you like an old carpet then this dish is, as the medical folks like to say, contra-indicated. No you won’t get an allergic reaction just that it’s a slightly heavy dish even for pork but let me say that the cream, the Madeira and the Dijon together create a powerful punch – but one which I assure should not be missed. As I was toiling my way through its preparation, suffering as it were to accurately report, first hand, my culinary impressions, I thought the dish reminded me of one I had made some years ago, which I will repeat it in the Fall/Winter, God willing; it was a beef and mustard-lathered dish from Normandy – could just as well have been from Brittany as it had that certain hardiness necessary to keep things moving in that part of the country.
After having sea-salted and generously applied cracked pepper over le tenderloin, it was time for a healthy application of real Dijon mustard – can it get any better? The recipe calls for a couple of tablespoons and since I was working with only one tenderloin I used a couple of tablespoons, liberally speaking, of Dijon rubbing it in to the meat before introducing it to the frying pan. Once the tenderloin was browned, I transferred it to cooking dish then set it to oven and proceeded with the sauce. I added the cream and Madeira and some more mustard to the stock then brought the mixture down to about half. The color should be medium brown, rich looking and it’s about at that point that your arteries will start ringing the alarm bells to scatter until tomorrow! When the tenderloin was done (it was actually just a bit pink which was fine) I cut it into medallion’s and transferred it, juice included, to the sauce. Timing is an issue here as you don’t want to make the sauce as soon as you tuck the pork in the oven. Wait for the second round of timing. I tasted it, seasoned it some more, tasted it again and again just to make sure because quality is so important. I had a creamy Risotto dish alongside and together with a gently cooled Côtes du Rhône Village, “man o man dis deesh it some mighty good eating Mista Rick u like, I guarrantee!” He was right, too! I must get him his letters of transit. Until next time.