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In the May/June 2008 issue of The Iowan Taste
The pork tenderloin sprawls over Iowa’s identity like the sandwich’s meat overlaps its bun. Adored in every county in the state, it’s pretty much unknown beyond the Twin Cities to the north, Indiana to the east, and Iowa’s borders to the west and south. Tenderloins come to the table with more context than condiments; they’re served in some of the state’s most distinguished restaurants as well as in convenience stores, gas stations, and ice cream parlors. As popular in our urban centers as in our rural areas, the pork tenderloin is the darling of some of the state’s finest ethnic kitchens and the backbone of some beloved drive-ins and taverns. “It’s the food most identified with Iowa and with which most Iowans identify,” explains Iowa Arts Council Folklife Coordinator Riki Saltzman, who has spent years researching “place-based foods” in the state. While Iowans can be possessively provincial about this state icon, the tenderloin travels the world under other names. It barely differs from Lombardy’s cotoletta di maiale and Emilia-Romagna’s orecchio di elefante in Italy, Japan’s tonkatsu, Austria and Germany’s schwein schnitzel, and the Czech Republic’s smaen ?rízek. Other parts of America know it as breaded pork cutlet or chicken-fried pork, but online food forum Cooks.com refers to it as “the Iowa tenderloin,” and several Milwaukee restaurants call it “the Iowa skinny.” The myriad of monikers is only part of the confusion. “Most ‘pork tenderloins’ aren’t even made with the tenderloin,” says partner-butcher John Brooks of the 87-year-old B & B Grocery, Meat & Deli in Des Moines’ Sevastopol neighborhood. “That’s why we advertise ‘real pork tenderloin.’ We only use real tenderloin from pure pork. Other places just tenderize the entire loin, and a lot of them use pork that’s been chemically injected, like the stuff is at the big supermarkets,” explains Brooks.… READ MORE IN THIS ISSUE OF THE IOWAN subscribe now
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