A great tasting pork tenderloin sandwich without all fat and mess of frying.  A healthier version of that great Iowa comfort food that is easy enough to do at home over and over.

After the success of my oven fried chicken, my wife really suggested this recipe. I didn’t know she was a fan of Iowa comfort foods. This is my Crispy Oven Fried Chicken meets my Iowa Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich with some great taste in an easy recipe to make and scale to your needs.

Rating

This is a double five. For me a nice solid lower 5. My wife (who will almost never rate) gave a strong 5 after she ate two sandwiches with the second being a “double”.

Notes: The deep-fried version is much fattier and that is part of the taste but this version really gives that taste too. Not the dried out oven baked taste recipes like this are pronged to have. The spicing is a bit bland… OK very bland but that is the norm for these. Feel free to go wild with the spicing since this can handle it.

This recipe uses pork tenderloin for the meat. That may sound obvious to most of you but you’re wrong. Most of these are made with pork loin that is mechanically tenderized. In most grocery stores in Iowa (I’m thinking of you Hy-Vee) and some other states the tenderized pork loin is common but not where I live. Those would be fine but the tenderloin is more “tender”, tastier and definitely my preferred meat here.

Lastly, the “done end point”. I have been know to be attached at the hip to my thermometer. Not here. The meat is done long before you have the right browning. It stays moist in the breading so all is well but go by crispiness not temp on this one.

Preheat oven to 350 convection or 375 conventional.

Trim a pork tenderloin of any visible fat and the silverskin. Cut the tenderloin into 4 approximately equal pieces by weight. Next “butterfly” the pieces. Do this by cutting 3/4 of the way though and fold it back to double the size. On the thinner end which would be longer do two cuts one third on opposite sides of the meat.

Next cover with plastic wrap or place in a zip lock bag and pound to 1/4 – 1/2 inch thick.

Place 4 tablespoons butter on a large baking tray and place in oven for a few minutes to melt the butter.

Set up two pans. In the first, combine one egg and 1/4 cup milk. Whip well. In the second pan, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs, 1 tablespoon seasoning salt and 1/2 tsp pepper.

Start with coating the meat with the egg wash. Shake to remove excess.

Coat well in the flour mixture and shake off excess.

Place on the tray with the melted butter.

Place in oven for 20 minutes. Flip and bake another 10 minutes until golden brown. Serve hot.

Update
March 8 2014

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