Editor’s Note: Elite Series pro Terry Scroggins has long been known as a great cook. In this column, he shares instruction on how to cook some of his favorite foods. See his other recipes for Pork tenderloin, Tequila chicken, Venison kabobs, Mustard fried venison, Beer can chicken, Peanut butter cup pie, Smoked ribs with red pepper jelly, Shrimp-stuffed jalapeños, Crab-topped grouper, Grilled spaghetti.
It seems like most everyone who cooks has a signature meal that is easy for them to prepare and comes with a high level of confidence for the desired outcome. Just like many anglers often have a “go to” lure, I have a “go to” dish that I like to make when having friends, family, or even sponsors as my dinner guests.
When on the road, we like to make our stay feel as much like home as possible and it seems like a familiar home cooked meal helps puts me in the right frame of mind for the most important task of the week — catching fish! This year during the Bassmaster Elite Series event at Toledo Bend Reservoir I grilled up one of my signature dishes, the almighty tenderloin.
I like the tenderloin because it feeds a lot of people, and we’re all going to eat a great meal. I like to experiment with what I cook, and this is no exception. I’ve found that I get the best flavor when injecting the tenderloin with Lawry’s Teriyaki sauce. I love that stuff, and it’s the game changer for many of my dishes. Take a look at how we cooked this thing up, and you’ll probably see a few faces from the Elite Series that you recognize.
TERIYAKI INJECTED TENDERLOIN
Ingredients: 1 Tenderloin, 1 Bottle Lawry’s Teriyaki Sauce, Steak Rub of choice.
Special Tools: Sauce Injector
I start by trimming the fat off of the tenderloin. If I don’t, it adds a certain amount of grit to the dish.
Realistically, you can’t trim every piece of fat from the tenderloin, but you want to trim all of the excess fat off where possible.
I put Swindle to work making sweet potato fries from scratch to have as a side.
He said it was healthier than eating baked potatoes, but I don’t know if I believe him.
Now that we have the excess fat trimmed from the tenderloin, we’ll get ready to inject it.
I’m going to use one bottle of Lawry’s Teriyaki for this entire tenderloin. I inject each quarter of the tenderloin, and then use the excess teriyaki to cover the top.
After injecting the tenderloin, I like to go get my grill prepared. I place the charcoals in the front so I can place the tenderloin in the back to get indirect heat.
Right before I put the tenderloin on the grill, I season the tenderloin with McCormick’s Steak Rub.
Set on the front of the grill for 20 minutes before flipping the tenderloin over and placing it on the rear side of the grill and letting it continue to cook for 15-20 minutes.
When the ends start to crisp, cut the tenderloin in half.
After cooking for 35-40 minutes total, slice your tenderloin into filet cuts, and then let them cook to your desired degree of wellness.
When done, take your filets off the grill and prepare to serve.
My tenderloin came out great, and we got to enjoy it with some great friends. The only bad part is getting a picture of your finished product before you can eat it. J Todd Tucker had to keep me distracted long enough to get a great shot!
Terry Scroggins’ column, Big Show’s Big Eats, appears monthly on Bassmaster.com. You can also find him on Twitter or Facebook.
