Pork Medallions with Brandy Cream Sauce

April's first week. The morel hunt is on. I checked patches every morning. By Saturday I had four pounds. The persimmons are blooming. The pawpaws are leafing out. The pecans are slow. The orchard is doing what it does.

The wedding is six weeks out. The food prep is starting in earnest. I smoked a brisket as a test for the wedding sauce — the bourbon glaze, fine-tuned over three years for special occasions. Hannah tested it Sunday. She said: yes. She said: that's the wedding sauce. I said: confirmed. She said: confirmed.

The cohort is at week ten. Final projects coming together. The 58-year-old's tree sculpture is a wall piece three feet tall and two wide, made of welded branches and leaves cut from sheet metal. It is beautiful. I told her so. She said: thank you. She said: it's for my mother's grave. The mother who died last year. The mother who said women don't weld. The 58-year-old is putting a tree on the grave of the mother who told her not to make trees. The work is the answer to the prohibition. The answer is the tree.

Caleb and Miriam Saturday. Miriam wanted to talk to me about something. She said: I want to take your last name. She said: not in a traditional Cherokee sense. She said: I know it's Cherokee for a wife to keep her own. But she said: I want to be a Whitehawk. She said: my sons know. They're fine with it. I said: are you sure. She said: yes. I said: welcome to the family, Miriam Whitehawk. She cried. Caleb cried. Hannah cried. I cried. I am crying twice a week now. I cry as much as I welded in 2018 — which is to say, professionally.

I’ve been in sauce-testing mode for weeks now, refining glazes and builds for the wedding, and that mindset doesn’t shut off easily — when Saturday night came around and the morel hunt was done and the emotions of the day had settled into something quieter, I wanted to cook something that felt like a reward for all of it: the confirmed sauce, the tree on the grave, Miriam Whitehawk. Pork medallions with a brandy cream sauce hit that note — a spirit-forward pan sauce is close kin to a bourbon glaze, and making it felt like staying in the same conversation the whole week had been having.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 40 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs pork tenderloin, cut into 1-inch medallions
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
1 shallot, finely minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup brandy
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped, for garnish

Instructions

Prep the medallions. Pat pork medallions dry with paper towels and season both sides evenly with salt and pepper. Allow to rest at room temperature for 10 minutes before cooking.
Sear the pork. Heat olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add medallions in a single layer without crowding and sear 3—4 minutes per side until a deep golden crust forms and internal temperature reaches 145°F. Transfer to a plate and tent loosely with foil.
Build the sauce base. Reduce heat to medium. Add remaining tablespoon of butter to the pan drippings. Add shallot and cook, stirring, 2 minutes until softened. Add garlic and thyme and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
Deglaze with brandy. Remove pan from heat briefly and add brandy, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom. Return to medium heat and simmer until brandy is reduced by half, about 2 minutes.
Finish the cream sauce. Pour in heavy cream and stir in Dijon mustard. Simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 4—5 minutes until sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
Return and glaze. Nestle the resting pork medallions back into the sauce, spooning the cream over them. Simmer 1—2 minutes just to warm through and let the pork absorb some of the sauce. Do not overcook.
Serve. Plate medallions and spoon generously with brandy cream sauce. Garnish with fresh parsley. Serve immediately alongside roasted potatoes, egg noodles, or crusty bread.

Nutrition (per serving)

Pork Medallions with Brandy Cream Sauce — Testing the Sauce Before the Big Day