How To: Prosciutto-Wrapped, Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

For some cooking tasks, pictures are far more instructive than words. In fact, when I was a young pup teaching myself the rudiments of classical cuisine—I never went to culinary school; they did not exist back then—I learned a massive amount from Jacques Pépin to whom I owe a great debt. Chef Pépin published a photographic book of cooking techniques called La Technique that helped me learn so many things that were then new to me, all by way of pictures.

How to stuff a tenderloin and wrap it in prosciutto is such task that would benefit from a pictorial essay. For dinner the other night, I stuffed a pork tenderloin with spinach and goat cheese and then wrapped it in prosciutto, taking a few photos to illustrate the concept.

This stuffed pork tenderloin is a direct outgrowth of the prosciutto-wrapped rabbit loin that I used to make at the restaurant, pictured below with haricots verts, butternut squash cream, and black trumpet mushrooms. The rabbit loin is stuffed with a layer of leafy green (varied from season to season) and then a layer of fresh goat cheese, direct from the farm that supplied us with cheese and goat meat. This particular photo would have been a fall version of the dish as butternut squash and black trumpets are not in season until the fall.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Rabbit Loin

Because rabbits are so small, they have tiny loins. Two loins put together is barely enough to feed an adult, so stuffing a single piece as I did for the pork tenderloin is out of the question. The piece of rabbit would be too tiny to stuff and insufficient to feed an adult.

Loins run along the back of the animal from the shoulder to the tail. In rabbits, the shoulder end is fairly chunky while the tail end tapers to a fine point. When you open the loin up like a book with your knife and then gently pound it to flatten it, you get a very long and narrow triangular piece of meat.

To make a piece of meat that you can stuff and roll, you place the two triangles side by side with the large end of one loin next to the pointed end of the other, as you can see below.

Once you do this, you require a means to hold the two pieces of loin together once rolled. I hit upon the idea of wrapping the whole thing inside prosciutto. When protein cooks, it shrinks and tightens, so when the prosciutto cooks, it snugs the whole roll. It also tastes great and looks beautiful as you can see in the photo of the rabbit loin above.

A quick word about loin versus tenderloin. This post is about a pork tenderloin, but the discussion above is about rabbit loin. The loin runs from shoulder to tail on the outside of the back on top of the ribcage and is sometimes known as backstrap. The tenderloin runs the same way, but under the ribcage inside the body cavity. The tenderloins are much, much smaller than the loins.

By virtue of the large size of a pig, a tenderloin is sufficient to feed four people whereas two loins of rabbit are enough for one person. Regardless, this technique applies equally to loins and tenderloins.

Untrimmed Pork Tenderloin

First, remove the silverskin from the loin with a very sharp knife. I'm assuming that if you're reading this post other than for entertainment, you already own a good knife, have decent knife skills, and can find and remove the silverskin and excess fat from the tenderloin. 

Next, trim the really pointy last inch or so off the tail of the tenderloin and slice along one side of the loin about one centimeter (3/8") from the cutting board. Open up the tenderloin and continue to slice and unroll it until you have a rectangular sheet of meat one centimeter thick, as shown in the photo below.

Trimmed and Unrolled Tenderloin

Pound the tenderloin gently to ensure that it is even thickness and to enlarge it a bit.

Gently Pounded Tenderloin

Next, lay down a layer of film wrap on your cutting board and on top of the film, lay down a layer of overlapping slices of prosciutto as wide as the piece of tenderloin is long and tall enough to be about three inches more than the width of the tenderloin.

Lay Down Film First, Then Prosciutto

Place the tenderloin on top of the prosciutto with the tenderloin about at the edge of the prosciutto closest to you with all the excess prosciutto away from you.

Place Tenderloin on the Prosciutto; Season with Salt and Pepper

Season the tenderloin with salt and pepper, then put a thin layer of stuffing on top of the tenderloin, leaving some room at the edges. When you roll the tenderloin, the stuffing will naturally push out from the center.

In this case, I have used one 8-ounce stick of fresh goat cheese and a pound of baby spinach. I sautéed the spinach in olive oil with garlic, let it cool, squeezed out the excess liquid, and chopped it. Then I creamed together the cheese and spinach and seasoned it. You can use any filling you desire.

Spread on a Layer of Stuffing, Leaving Room at the Edges

Using the film wrap to help you, start to roll the edge of the tenderloin away from you. If you've ever rolled a burrito or maki sushi, you know the drill.

Start Rolling the Tenderloin Away From You

Continue rolling the tenderloin away from you. Use your fingers, protected by the film wrap, to snug the roll in on itself and keep it tight while you are rolling.

Continue Rolling the Tenderloin Evenly and Firmly

When you finish rolling the tenderloin, peel the film back towards you exposing the now prosciutto-covered roll.

Fully Rolled Tenderloin

Next, seal the roll. Use the film away from you to pull the tails of the prosciutto towards you to seal the roll. Alternatively, you can keep rolling the roll away from you to accomplish the same thing.

Seal the Roll

At this point, you are done. If you are using cheese in the stuffing, you might want to put the roll in the refrigerator to firm up again before cooking. Cooking is a two-step process for this pork tenderloin. First, sear the roll all the way around on the stove top and then roast in a moderate oven until done to your liking. If you don't have a pan wide enough to sear the entire roll, cut the roll in half as I did.

I don't bother with a thermometer when roasting a stuffed pork tenderloin because the center stuffing is already cooked and if you take your temperature in the stuffing, the thin layer of pork is likely to be overcooked. Rather, I give the loin a squeeze in the oven and take it out when it has firmed up all over. It should definitely rest for a good ten minutes or more before serving.

Final thought: if you stuff a rabbit loin, it really doesn't need much if any time in the oven after searing on the range top.

Finished Product: Stuffed Pork Tenderloin on Porcini Risotto