Tenderloin Stuffed Sausage

This recipe came from my friend Sam Ott, who is a certified barbecue judge, and a longtime griller and smoker, so I knew if he liked it it had to be good. There were no quantities given for the marinade, so I swagged it and was pleased with the results. This turned out to be so good that we plan to make it again later this week! The tenderloin was moist, the sausage had all the fat cooked out. It was incredibly flavorful.

Ingredients:

• 2 lb. sausage
• 1 pork tenderloin
• 1 can whole green chili peppers (El Paso brand) — or roast your own Anaheim chiles, skin them, de-seed them (Yeah, go buy the can. You see what I mean.)

Marinade for pork tenderloin:

• 1 c. apple cider vinegar
• 1 heaping Tbsp. minced garlic
• 2 Tbsp. sugar-free maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
• Dash of salt
• 1/4 tsp. cracked black pepper

Glaze (optional)

• 1/2 cup sugar-free peach or apricot preserves
• 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

You need to start this recipe hours in advance. I recommend mixing up the marinade for the tenderloin and marinating it overnight, then doing the rest the next day.

Since it was our first time, we did things a little backwards. We pressed the sausage into shape first, then did the tenderloin marinade. Since you can’t do anything with the sausage until the tenderloin is ready (and it should marinate several hours), I’d recommend waiting to do the sausage and pepper part until later. Mix the marinade ingredients together. Place the tenderloin in the marinade. Marinate several hours or overnight. Get out a large piece of plastic wrap. Press your sausage into a 13×9 rectangle. Lay your peppers flat in the middle.

Place the well-marinated tenderloin into the center of the sausage, on top of the peppers. Roll it up like a jellyroll, pressing the sausage around so it covers the ends, too.

Get your smoker up to temperature — 225 to 250 degrees. Place the sausage roll into the smoker and cook over indirect heat for anywhere from 5 to 7 hours (until your meat thermometer lets you know the pork is the temperature you like.)

Remove from the grill. Top with the glaze (recipe above) while waiting for it to rest. Slice and serve!