The day my pork tenderloin dressed up like a taco and it was delicious

I'm sort of iffy with pork.

Don't get me wrong; when my dad makes it, I eat it up.  When the Sous Chef prepares it, I can't get enough.  When I go to a BBQ joint, I always get the pulled pork and douse it in tangy barbecue sauce.

But when it comes to me cooking it, I don't have a whole lot of experience with it.  It's not that I have anything against it, it's just one of those things I haven't mastered.  That, and portion control.

I'm working on it.

I've made great strides with the pork side of things, thanks to my slow cooker.  We had a pork tenderloin in the fridge and thanks to our CSA share every week we have nearly enough apples to open a lazy orchard (in case you're wondering, that's an orchard with no trees - just full-grown apples sitting on the ground, because they're too lazy to grow anymore).  One night last week, I scoured Pinterest using the search term "pork, apples"and came up with about six different recipes, all of which I combined into this:

*****

Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin

Step 1: Put all of the following into a slow cooker, in this order:

• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and sliced
• 1 - 2 pork tenderloins (I guess about three pounds?  I suck at weighing things)
• 3 small apples (doesn't matter what kind), peeled and diced
• 1 medium yellow onion, sliced
• Salt and pepper

Step 2: Make the sauce:

• ~⅔ cup apple cider vinegar
• A few hefty splashes of Worcestershire sauce
• ~2 Tbsp mustard (I used deli style, but Dijon would have been inherently fancier)
• ~1 Tbsp maple syrup (yes, real maple syrup - it's worth it)
• ~1 cup water

Step 3: Pour the sauce over the other stuff in the crock pot, cover it, and cook on low for ~8 hours.

Step 4: Go to work and endure eight hours of worrying about whether the slow cooker is going to short circuit and burn your house down.  Oh, and try to get some work done.  And call the Sous Chef as soon as he's home to make sure that 1) The cats are alive and 2) It smells amazing in your house.

Step 5: Come home and eat.  You've had a very stressful day, what with all that worrying, so you deserve a night off from cooking.

*****

The best part about this recipe is that it easily morphs into leftovers, and you can do pretty much anything you want with super-tender, super-juicy, super-shreddable pork tenderloin.

Like add some raw onion, red cabbage, sharp cheddar cheese, and parsley, wrap it up in a soft flour tortilla, and call it a taco.

Because it's Halloween, and everyone likes to dress up as something different.  Even pork tenderloin.

The sweet potato/apple mash makes for a great side dish.  Yes, it's pictured here in a cute little cabbage leaf boat-bowl, because I thought it made for a nicer picture and I'm trying to get this thing on foodgawker.  I have no shame.

So this Halloween, let your food dress up as something else - you might just like the results.  And if not, just slap it and tell it to get out of that ridiculous costume and back on your plate where it belongs.

Eat well.

hocofood@@@