If you are a native of Saint Louis, Missouri or the surrounding areas, you are lucky to know what a barbecued pork tenderloin is. The rest of the country is saying, “hey, what are you talking about?” Well really quick, a roast pork tenderloin is not really grilled. Now before the people of St. Louis go crazy, let me explain. The real roast is done with barbecue smokers, indirect heat, walnut or oak or another type of hard wood, it takes a long time, hours, and it turns out to be great pork shoulder, ribs, beef brisket and chicken. A pork tenderloin can be cooked this way in a barbecue smoker, but it is not necessary. Most people here in St. Louis will use a Weber Kettle Grill with direct heat or a propane gas grill. So barbecue pork steaks, actually, are technically speaking, grilled pork with barbecue sauce applied.
How to cook a pork tenderloin: five easy steps.
1. Get the meat. In St. Louis, that’s easy. Go to your grocery store, or neighborhood butcher go to the meat department, pick up the ones on sale, pay and take them home. If you don’t live in St. Louis or the surrounding areas, this could be a bit more difficult. Most other areas of the country don’t have pre-cut, packaged pork fillets waiting to be picked up from the meat cooler. They will have plenty of pork chops, pork shoulder, pork roast, pork ribs, etc. You may be tempted to substitute the pork chops. You could, if you want to grill pork chops, which are great by the way, but it’s not the same. You should ask the butcher to cut them to size for you. You may have to tell him how to do it. Have him take a Boston Butt (he’ll know what you’re talking about. If he doesn’t, buy a different butcher) and cut it into 1/2-inch to 3-quarter inch steaks. If it doesn’t do this for you, get a better butcher. You will need about one steak per person and an extra one or two for large ones.
2. Rub your meat. You should season the steaks before cooking them with a spice mix known as barbecue sauce. Many books and e-books have recipes for spice dressings. If you don’t want to use a barbecue seasoning, use salt and pepper. Be generous. Rub it all over the steaks.
3. Grill the meat. Grill the meat over direct heat, either charcoal, gas, firewood, whatever you have available. Keep the flame low, a cold grill works best. Cover with the lid and turn every ten minutes or so. Cook for about 35-40 minutes.
4. Put barbecue sauce on the meat. For the last ten minutes or so, generously drizzle barbecue sauce over the pork steaks. Use the sauce of your choice. In Saint Louis, most people prefer a local favorite, Mauls. Many people thin the sauce a bit with beer. They use the local favorite, Budweiser, of course, for this step. Beer isn’t necessary, but some people swear it makes their pork steaks taste better.
5. Serve the pork steaks. Pork steaks are served with whatever garnish you want to serve them with. St. Louis favorites are the yellow potato salad, cole slaw, corn on the cob, and baked beans. At least those are my favorites, and I’m from St. Louis, so it must be everyone’s favorite. Generally, one pork fillet per person is eaten with a knife and fork. However, they also make fine sandwiches.
There you have it, Pork Steaks, what are they and how to cook them.