Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich

I grew up in a town of 6000 people on the banks of the Illinois river. For as long as I can remember my favorite thing to order at the local diners was a breaded pork tenderloin sandwich.  BB’s restaurant had one on a single bun that was bigger than a mans head. They are so good. Now that I am online and blogging, I come to realize other states claim this beautiful sandwich as their own. Well I will always think of the BPT as an Illinois specialty. That being said, I recognize that Iowa, Indiana, and on occasion Missouri put out some great BPT’s.

My cousin Jennifer and her boyfriend Kyle just drove the Al-Can highway all the way back to Kyle’s hometown in Illinois. The very next day he texts me that he was eating a BPT. Thanks ASSHOLE! I am 4000 miles away from the real thing. Try ordering one in Alaska and be prepared for “huh”.

Well that text wasn’t going to leave me alone. It was sitting in my head all day just festering. So I went to the store and did some shopping. Whole pork tenderloins were like $33. I just wanted a sandwich. So I ended up settling on some boneless pork sirloin chops cut to about 1″ thick. Normally each chop would make one sandwich but I am not cooking on a flattop or using an industrial size fry machine. So I cut the chop in half and pounded it out between several sheets of plastic wrap.

This is how thin and about the size you are looking for. I seasoned with salt and pepper. Then coated in flour seasoned with black pepper and hot Spainish paprika. Then dip in an egg/milk mixture that is also seasoned. Finally into fresh bread crumbs mixed with lots of grated parmesan cheese and black pepper.

I also poached some fries in 325 F oil just to cook through.

Turn up your oil until it reaches 365 F. The pork tenderloin was then deep fried. Next time I would shallow fry so as to help keep it flat.

Season with kosher salt as soon as it comes out of the oil.

The fries were then crisped up in the 365-360 F oil for about 2 minutes. I also buttered and toasted a sesame kaiser roll for the sandwich.

I take my BPT with onion, dill pickle slices, and lots of ketchup and mustard. Put the mustard and ketchup on the side so you can dip your fries and sandwich in them.

This silly sandwich brings back so many memories. Although I now call Alaska home, I am proud to have been raised in corn country. This kind of honest simple food is part of my heritage.

Enjoy.

~ by climbhighak on February 23, 2010.