Iowa Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich

An Iowa classic. A tasty tender fried pork tenderloin sandwich. The perfect recipe for the opening day of the Iowa State Fair.


For you non Iowans, this is a small town classic. Almost every small town in Iowa has a restaurant who will claim to have the best, most award winning or the biggest tenderloin sandwich. You don’t need to say pork, it is understood. The pork producers have a yearly contest to pick the best restaurant version. There are web sites dedicated to this much celebrated delicacy.

Rating:

Maybe it is a 4 without the memories but it’s a 5 to me.

This recipe started with what I wanted and then I read lots to get to the final recipe. Here is the summery of what I found.
1) The meat: Many actually use tenderized pork loin or a boneless pork chop. I believe this is ok but if you want the meat to be melt in your mouth, I suggest a pork tenderloin.
2) The wash: most use egg or egg with milk. Several used milk or buttermilk alone. I went with egg with some milk added.
3) The coating: There was flour without even any salt or pepper. There was onion powder, onion salt, garlic powder, garlic salt, oregano, paprika and a few other spices I don’t remember. There was cracker crumbs, bread crumbs, Italian bread crumbs, panko bread crumbs and corn meal.
4) Cooking method: Most did pan frying like I did. Several truly deep fried and two “oven fried”.

From all the above you should conclude…. do what you want. Everyone will swear by their method and I’m sure they are all fine. Mine is simple tasty and melt in your mouth good with not much work.

Start with about a quarter inch of oil in a large pan. I used a 12 cast iron chicken fryer but any heavy large fry pan would work. Preheat oven and a tray to 200 to use to keep batches warm while you do additional trays. Put the oil over medium heat and heat to 365. You need to check temp and a good instant read thermometer is great here.

Trim a pork tenderloin of any fat and silverskin. Now cut into 4 equal size piece. You are going for approximately equal weight. Next “butterfly” the pieces. Do this by cutting 3/4 of the way though and fold it back to double the size.

Next cover with plastic wrap and pound to 1/4 inch thick. Some go to 1/8 inch but that becomes huge.

Set up two pans. In the first, combine one egg and 1/2 cup milk. Whip well. In the second pan, 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup bread crumbs, 1 t salt, and 1/2 tsp each of pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. Start with coating the meat with the egg wash. Shake to remove excess.

Coat well in the flour mixture and shake off excess.

Place in the 365 degree oil.

Fry for 3-4 minutes per side. About a minute into each side, shake the pan a little to move the meat a little, this will keep it from sticking and help it be crispy. See the color change at the edge in the picture. The meat is saying “turn me now”

Cook until golden brown and internal temp of 160 plus. You will need to adjust heat to keep the oil in the 365 range. You will not be able to keep it perfect but be aware you need to turn up the heat. Between batches, you should turn the heat down to keep it from overheating.

Transfere the completed tenderloin to the heated oven and pan to keep warm for serving.

I like mine on a bun with mayo.

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4.33 from 43 votes

Iowa Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich

An Iowa classic. A tasty tender fried pork tenderloin sandwich. The perfect recipe for the opening day of the Iowa State Fair.

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time16 mins

Total Time26 mins

Author: Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan

Course : Main Course

Cuisine : American

Servings/Adjust Amount: 4 servings

4

Ingredients

• 1 pork tenderloin - trimmed
• 3/4 cup oil
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup AP flour
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Start with about a quarter inch of oil in a large pan. I used a 12 cast iron chicken fryer, but any heavy large fry pan would work. Preheat oven and a tray to 200 to use to keep batches warm while you do additional trays. Put the oil over medium heat and heat to 365. You need to check temp, and a good instant read thermometer is great here.
• Trim a pork tenderloin of any fat and silverskin. Now cut into four equal size piece. You are going for approximately equal weight. Next “butterfly” the pieces. Do this by cutting 3/4 of the way through and fold it back to double the size.
• Next cover with plastic wrap and pound to 1/4 inch thick. Some go to 1/8 inch, but that becomes huge.
• Set up two pans. In the first, combine one egg and 1/2 cup milk. Whip well. In the second pan, 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup bread crumbs, 1 t salt, and 1/2 tsp each of pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.
• Start with coating the meat with the egg wash. Shake to remove excess. Coat well in the flour mixture and shake off excess.
• Place in the 365-degree oil. Fry for 3-4 minutes per side. About a minute into each side, shake the pan a little to move the meat a little, this will keep it from sticking and help it be crispy.
• Cook until golden brown and internal temp of 160 plus. You will need to adjust heat to keep the oil in the 365 range. You will not be able to keep it perfect but be aware you need to turn up the heat. Between batches, you should turn the heat down to keep it from overheating.
• Transfer the completed tenderloin to the heated oven and pan to keep warm for serving.

 

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Calories: 540kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 44g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 14g | Cholesterol: 164mg | Sodium: 736mg | Potassium: 748mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 150IU | Vitamin C: 2.5mg | Calcium: 90mg | Iron: 4.3mg

 

Nutrition is generally for one serving. Number of servings is stated above and is my estimate of normal serving size for this recipe.

 

All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.