Pan-seared Pork Tenderloin with Chili-Cherry BBQ Sauce

Local (Richardson Farms via Greenling), pastured pork tenderloin fillets are rubbed with a mixture of toasted cumin & coriander, cinnamon, black pepper, garlic and salt, then pan-seared in mesquite-smoked bacon fat.  Served with a BBQ sauce made with red wine vinegar-deglazed pan drippings, crushed dark cherries, stock, tomato paste, chili molido, bay and onions..

 

Pan-seared Pork Tenderloin with Chili-Cherry BBQ Sauce

 

“The origins of both the activity of barbecue cooking and the word itself are somewhat obscure. Most etymologists believe that barbecue derives ultimately from the word barabicu found in the language of both the Timucua of Florida and the Taíno people of the Caribbean, which then entered European languages in the form barbacoa. The word translates as “sacred fire pit.”

“The precise origin of barbecue sauce is unclear.  Some trace it to the end of the 15th century, when Christopher Columbus brought a sauce back from Hispaniola, while others place it at the formation of the first American colonies in the 17th century.  References to the substance start occurring in both English and French literature over the next two hundred years.”