Grilled Pork Tenderloin Skewers with Teriyaki Sauce

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 2The red cup gives me plausible deniability if the police come by. Of course, the guys a few cars down are loudly doing shots, so I don’t know why I worry about this. 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

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• Author: Mike Vrobel
• Total Time: 4 hours 8 minutes
• Yield: 4-6 1x

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Description

Grilled Pork Tenderloin Skewers with Teriyaki Sauce recipe - Japanese Yakitori inspired skewers.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

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

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Instructions

1. 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.)
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.

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