Pork Tenderloin

Southern-style pecan rice and an escarole salad are great accompaniments.

You'll achieve fresh, fiery flavor for only a few calories with this Mexican stew. And although hominy isn't technically a whole grain (the germ and hull are removed), its high fiber makes it a bona fide waist-whittling carb.

Pear nectar gives the sauce a sweet, luscious finish.

A tangerine's skin is so thin that when it's cooked, you can eat the fruit—peel and all. Asian sweet chili sauce is an orange-colored, slightly spicy bottled Thai sauce; it's available in the As ian foods section of some supermarkets. Chinese five-spice powder can be found in the spice section of most supermarkets.

This dish has a spicy-sweet twist.

The compote here is a reminder that the tomato is a fruit, and its natural sweetness plays up that of peach. The combination is great with juicy curry-rubbed pork.

Travel the world's barbecue trail and you’ll find meat on a stick almost everywhere. South Africa's version goes by the Afrikaans name sosatie. Like all good Cape Malay meat dishes, fruit and curry are never far off—the former (usually apricots) interspersed with the meat on the skewers, the latter used to flavor the marinade and sauce. "Cape Malay," by the way, refers to the descendants of Indonesian and Malaysian slaves and indentured servants brought to Cape Town to work in farming. "There is perhaps no other single dish that can be regarded as more genuinely Afrikaans than sosaties," wrote South African poet and food writer C. Louis Leipoldt. Writing in the 1940s, Leipoldt was to Afrikaans food what James Beard was to our own. Like all great food writers, Leipoldt dispensed not only recipes but the wisdom gleaned from considering cooking a manifestation of culture. The following sosaties are based on Leipoldt's.

Cooking Method: Direct Heat Suggested Wood: Hickory, Pecan These pinwheels were developed in the kitchens at Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q as a part of a campaign for the National Pork Board. This is not your typical "low and slow" barbecue recipe, but rather an "ode to pork," a direct-grilled recipe that features both pork tenderloin and pork bacon. Add some pecans and a traditional Carolina mustard sauce and you have an appetizer or entreé with true Southern flair.

Because it's such a tender cut, pork tenderloin is relatively quick-cooking—and it's impressive to serve. Add steamed rice to complete the meal.

The combination of fennel and roast pork is an Italian classic. Here, fennel bulbs become a tender, almost silky partner for pork, but to create another layer of flavor, we’ve added some crushed fennel seeds.

Sizzling with fresh ingredients, this lively Asian stir-fry keeps prep time to a bare minimum without sacrificing flavor.

Crunchy on the outside, juicy on the inside, this pork tenderloin gets sultry flavor from smoked paprika, almonds, and Madeira.

Channel your inner charcuterie artisan with this rolled pork, which is stuffed with garlic, spinach, and bacon and served in thin slices, either cold or at room temperature. The end result is a sort of fancy cold cut that will have the guests at your next picnic raving.

Instead of being pounded together, as they traditionally are, the best parts of the classic Catalan sauce are left intact here—yielding the same comforting flavor with a terrific assortment of textures.

Here, a garlic-packed vinaigrette is infused with caramelized sucs—pan drippings—from the roast pork, creating an uncanny fusion of nutty, meaty flavors.

Food editor Maggie Ruggiero has taken lentils "from canned to Cannes" in this très simple—and très français—dish.