Meet the Crispy, Crunchy, Juicy Pork Sandwich That is as Massive as Your Head

For hundreds of years, the world’s culinary traditions have met and advanced within the Midwest. As a magnet for immigrant populations and their hopes and goals, with extra cultural flexibility than the long-settled East Coast and South however a stronger sense of group than the wide-open West, the area is a real melting pot—“probably the most American a part of America,” to borrow a phrase from the Midwest historian James Shortridge.

The Midwest is a spot the place cooks dare to ask questions like, “What if we served our Greek meat stew over spaghetti and piled cheddar cheese on prime?” or “May we flip Ozark hen and gravy right into a Chinese language dish?” or “Who’s to say that Particular Okay wouldn’t make a scrumptious dessert?”

And that intuition for experimentation can actually repay, like when somebody on this closely Germanic and pork-loving area requested, “What if we put schnitzel on a bun?”

Based on heartland legend, that somebody was Nick Freienstein of Nick’s Kitchen in Huntington, Indiana, opened in 1908, which claims to be the birthplace of the Midwestern breaded pork tenderloin sandwich. Is it actually? I’ll go away that to the teachers. Whoever got here up with it, it was a good suggestion, which is why it’s now a staple in Iowa and Indiana, the 2 states which have the strongest claims to the custom, and on menus nearly all over the place else within the area. 

Crisp, tender, and constantly satisfying, the Midwestern breaded pork tenderloin sandwich is a Midwestern cousin to the Southern fried hen sandwich that’s now a prime vendor at quick meals chains like Chick-fil-A and Popeyes. 

It’s additionally a terrific visible gag—one which represents heartland bounty and a great worth. Not all pork tenderloin sandwiches are big, however the plate-size variations are iconic.

“The bigness is the wow issue,” says Julia Spalding, an editor at Indianapolis Month-to-month who’s been consuming and writing about tenderloin sandwiches for many years. “There’s some enjoyable in determining the way you’re going to eat it—fold it over, make a triple decker, eat across the edges, or lower it in half and take half house… The bun is sort of like a punchline. It’s sort of humorous, simply sitting there on prime of an enormous sandwich.”

The Key Components for Frying the Pork Tenderloin

The breaded pork tenderloin is an easy sandwich. To make it, you pound a bit of pork till it’s solely a few quarter- or half-inch thick, brine it (which you must), bread it, fry it, and put it on a bun. There are countless alternatives for experimentation inside these easy tips.

To start out the recipe growth course of, I created a kind of breaded pork tenderloin matrix, itemizing out the varied prospects, from selecting the lower of pork to pounding to breading to frying to meeting. Total, I wished a sandwich that was juicy, salty, and intensely savory, with a transparent distinction between the crisp, crunchy crust and the ridiculously tender meat inside. I’ll stroll you thru a couple of of crucial issues.

The Finest Reduce of Pork for This Sandwich

A breaded pork tenderloin sandwich ought to begin with tenderloin, proper? Not essentially. Lots of the Midwest’s most iconic restaurant variations, together with the purported authentic at Nick’s and almost all these plate-size variations, are made out of tender loin, not tenderloin. 

It’s logical for eating places serving up lots of of sandwiches a day to pick loin over tenderloin. Pork loin is bigger, extra inexpensive, a little bit bit fattier, and fewer more likely to disintegrate when thwacked with a meat mallet. After it’s been completely tenderized, it actually isn’t all that totally different from tenderloin, anyway. It’s extra sensible in a restaurant setting.

That stated, by a number of rounds of side-by-sides, a slight distinction was evident, and it mattered. For cooking the sandwich at house, the “ridiculously tender” choice was tenderloin, certainly. Whereas shut in texture, pork loin nonetheless retains a slight chew even when tenderized. That might be a optimistic for individuals who like a extra assertive fillet, but it surely isn’t what I’m going for right here. The one texture I would like contained in the crisp layer of fried breading is tender.

As house cooks, we’ve got extra flexibility in our components than eating places extracting skinny margins from lots of or 1000’s of sandwiches every week. I don’t fry pork sandwiches at house typically, however once I do, I’ll spring for the tenderloin.

Why a Brine Is Crucial for the Finest Tenderloin Sandwich

In my first spherical of assessments, it was instantly apparent that skipping the brine wasn’t an choice. If you’ve pounded a pork loin into submission, it cooks rapidly—inside only a minute or two. Even a tenderized tenderloin can dry out and get powerful earlier than you possibly can pull it out of the scorching oil. A brine provides taste and helps the pork keep juicy and tender. I examined a line-up of brining choices:

• Buttermilk
• Pickle juice
• Salt-and-sugar
• A mixture or buttermilk and pickle juice
• A mixture of buttermilk, salt, and sugar

I assumed buttermilk is perhaps the reply, but it surely added a particular tang that distracts from the meat-and-potatoes enchantment of this straightforward sandwich, even when diluted. Similar for the pickle juice brine. These skinny, pounded-out cutlets take in taste quickly and completely, and I wished them to style like pork, not buttermilk or pickles. A salt-and-sugar brine accomplishes that, boosting fairly than overwhelming the meaty taste of the principle ingredient. 

You is perhaps questioning why I’m utilizing a moist brine right here, when Critical Eats has written that dry brining is one of the best ways to brine meat. As that piece acknowledges, there are exceptions. 

If you’re coping with a centerpiece-worthy piece of meat, like a turkey or a beef tenderloin, dry brining saves house. It means you don’t need to contaminate a superbly good cooler with gallons of uncooked meat tea. The alternative is true when working with these wafer-thin cuts. You can dedicate a shelf in your fridge to 4 pounded items of pork tenderloin laid out on a wire rack, or you could possibly stuff them right into a zipperlock bag and wedge them right into a nook.

Lots of the advantages of dry brining don’t apply right here. We’re browning and crisping the breading, not the meat, so the floor of the tenderloin itself doesn’t must be dry. Drying out the floor of the meat could be a damaging, truly, while you’re pounding it so thinly that it’s nearly all floor. The residual brine left on the fillets, even after patting them dry, helps the breading adhere. Flour gained’t persist with a bit of tenderloin with the outer texture of beef jerky.

Dialing within the Breading for Most Crispiness

In researching widespread variations of fried tenderloins, together with on the remarkably lively Pursuing Pork Tenderloins Fb web page, I got here throughout 5 essential breading choices that piqued my curiosity for testing: saltines, varied different crackers (Ritz, Cheez-It, Membership, City Home), cereals (corn flakes, Rice Krispies), potato chips, and panko. I went to the grocery store and loaded a cart with containers of crispy snacks and cereals. Saltine crumbs are the most well-liked selection, however I wished to imagine that I might discover a higher various—one thing that added bonus crunch and taste to the sandwich. 

After a number of rounds of assessments, I ended up again at saltines. As soon as once more, I wished to showcase the flavour of the pork, and saltines gave me the perfect crunchy however comparatively impartial breading, which I might taste with my very own mix of spices. 

If impartial is the aim, why not simply dredge in flour? Right here’s why: Cracker crumbs are coarser than flour, and their irregular floor traps tiny pockets of air throughout frying. Because the moisture contained in the crumbs evaporates, steam pushes outward, increasing these pockets and making a shattering crunch. Additionally, as a result of crackers are already baked, they’re decrease in free starch content material than flour, so that they take in much less oil. Meaning a lighter, much less greasy crust. And at last, they’re a part of the breaded pork tenderloin custom! That counts for one thing.

The Seasoning and Frying Oil

Consistent with my aim of creating a sandwich that was easy however intensely craveable, I added what I consider as basic fried hen sandwich seasoning—black pepper, paprika, a contact of cayenne, and (optionally available) MSG, for additional mouthwatering enchantment. There’s nobody solution to season a breaded pork tenderloin sandwich, however I believe the correct strategy is to go only a little additional than simply salt and pepper, including taste to a comparatively bland lower of meat with out distracting from it. (I had a improbable chorizo-spiced tenderloin not way back, with a chunky tomato salsa on prime. I help having extra enjoyable along with your spice combine, however that is meant to be a foundational recipe.)

I arrange a typical dredging station, seasoned every layer of the dredge for whole taste saturation, and fried in peanut oil at a excessive temperature, so the crust would brown earlier than the pork inside overcooked. I selected peanut oil for its smoke level of 450°F. When you can’t use peanut oil due to an allergy, search for one other oil with an equally excessive smoke level, corresponding to soybean or sunflower.

Constructing the Sandwich

As soon as your tenderloin is cooked, assembling it’s simple, however if you wish to keep true to custom, you do need to take a aspect the place toppings are involved. “It’s both lettuce, tomato, and mayo or mustard, pickle, and onion,” Spalding advised me. “These are two totally different camps.” The cultural divide is actual. I’m normally a mustard, pickle, and onion particular person, however I don’t choose.