Chef critique
Grilled Mustard-Caraway Pork
This is an appealing, well-conceived grilling recipe with accurate timing and good use of equipment (like the grill basket). However, both the pork and the vegetables are substantially underseasoned based on standard salt-by-weight ratios, and there is a mildly confusing instruction shift in step 2.
Score: 7/10
Suggested fixes
- Increase the kosher salt applied to the pork tenderloin in step 3 to 1 teaspoon.
- Increase the kosher salt applied to the grilled vegetables in step 4 to 1 1/2 teaspoons.
- Update the total kosher salt in the ingredient list to 1 tablespoon plus 2 1/2 teaspoons to reflect the changes.
- In step 2, explicitly state what is being cooked: 'Once the saucepan with the potatoes boils, cook them for 8 minutes, then drain thoroughly.'
Issues
- high / flavor: The pork tenderloin (12 oz / 340g) is seasoned with only 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt in step 3. This provides roughly 1.5g to 3g of salt, which falls substantially short of the 1.25% by weight starting point (4.25g) for boneless meat.
- high / flavor: The vegetable mixture (24 oz total / 680g) is seasoned with only 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt in step 4. This is far below the 1% by weight starting point (6.8g) needed to properly season this volume of vegetables.
- medium / clarity: In step 2, the instruction 'Once the saucepan boils, cook for 8 minutes...' is abruptly placed right after whisking the dressing. The subject (the potatoes) is dropped, which makes the sentence slightly confusing to read quickly.
Strengths
- The punchy mustard and dill dressing provides an excellent acidic and herbal contrast to the rich grilled pork and potatoes.
- The 50-minute time estimate accurately accounts for boiling the potatoes, preheating the grill, and grilling the components.
- Parboiling the potatoes before grilling ensures they cook evenly without burning on the grill.
- Specifying a grill basket for the green beans and onions prevents them from falling through the grates.