When I’m asked to bring something to a tailgate, my first thought is “on a stick.” When I’m standing around in the Muni parking lot outside the stadium, with a red cup 2 of tasty beverage in one hand, skewers fit the bill perfectly.
My goal was short, yakitori style pork skewers, with small bites of pork tenderloin. Unfortunately, I looked at the pack of 6-inch bamboo skewers at the store and thought “No, I have a ton of those at home.” Wrong! Luckily, I did have a couple of packs of 8-inch skewers, so bigger bites were now on the menu.
My only regret? Twelve skewers of pork is not enough for a crowd of hungry guys. I should have doubled this recipe. Or tripled it.
Recipe: Grilled Pork Tenderloin Skewers with Teriyaki Sauce
Equipment
- Grill (I love my Weber Q for tailgating)
- 12 (8-inch) Skewers or 16 (6-inch) skewers
- Basting brush
Grilled Pork Tenderloin Skewers with Teriyaki Sauce
- Total Time: 4 hours 8 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 1x
Description
Grilled Pork Tenderloin Skewers with Teriyaki Sauce recipe - Japanese Yakitori inspired skewers.
Ingredients
Brinerade and sauce
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled
- ½ inch piece of ginger, peeled
- 2 green onions, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 cup soy sauce
- ½ cup mirin
- ¼ cup peanut oil
Everything else
- 2 (1-pound) pork tenderloins, silver skin removed, cut into 1 inch pieces
Instructions
- Brinerate and skewer the pork: Drop the garlic cloves, ginger, and green onions into a running food processor or blender, and wait for them to be completely minced. Turn off the motor, add the soy sauce, mirin, and peanut oil, and process for a minute to completely combine. Reserve ½ cup of the brinerade as a basting sauce. Put the pork tenderloin cubes in a gallon zip-top bag and pour the brinerade over the cubes. Squeeze out the air, seal the bag, and massage the bag to coat all the pork with the brinerade. Refrigerate in a baking dish for one to four hours, turning the bag occasionally to redistribute the brinerade. Skewer the pork, letting the excess brinerade drip off. (At this point I put the skewers into a double layer of zip-top gallon bags and refrigerated them overnight, then kept them on ice in a cooler until it was time to cook.)
- Set the grill up for direct medium heat cooking: Set the grill up for cooking with direct medium heat. I preheat my grill with all burners on high for ten minutes, then turn the burners down to medium and brush the grill grate clean.
- Cook the Skewers: Put the skewers on the grill over direct medium heat. If cooking on a gas grill, cook with the lid closed as much as possible. Grill until the pork is browned on the bottom, about 4 minutes, then flip the skewers and grill on the other side until browned, about 4 more minutes. Brush the skewers on both sides with the reserved basting sauce, then let them sizzle on the grill for another minute.
- Serve: Remove to a platter, brush with any remaining basting sauce, and serve.
- Prep Time: 4 hours
- Cook Time: 8 minutes
- Category: Grilling
- Cuisine: Japanese
Notes
- I make my own teriyaki sauce for this recipe - it’s easy with a food processor or blender. But, if you want to take the easy way out, replace the Brinerade and sauce with a bottle of store-bought teriyaki sauce. I like Soy Vay brand teriyaki sauce for my last minute teriyaki needs.
- In the end, “just” teriyaki skewers wasn’t exciting enough for our tailgate, so brought a bottle of Korean Gochujang, and a bottle of Thai Sweet Chili Sauce to go with my teriyaki sauce. That way, everyone could pick from a few different flavors.
What do you think?
Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
Related Posts
Grilled Pork Tenderloin Skewers with Thai Sweet Chili Sauce
Grilled Shrimp Skewers with Knob Creek Pineapple Glaze
Grilled Pork Shoulder Kebabs with Peppers, Onions, and Spice Rub (with Tailgating Tips)
Enjoyed this post? Want to help out DadCooksDinner? Subscribe to DadCooksDinner via eMail or RSS reader, recommend DadCooksDinner to your friends, and buy something from Amazon.com through the links on this site. Thank you.
Comments
No Comments