From Guest Blogger Umit Celebi, who also took these photos:

Gentlemen, start your ovens.

What is it that we’re cooking? We’re serving up marinated pork tenderloin. But not just any marinated pork tenderloin. I’m sending you to Todaro Brothers, at 555 Second Avenue in Manhattan. Proceed straight ahead through the front door to the deli department and seek out their “marinated pork tenderloin.”

But why should you make the effort to go to 2nd Avenue and 31st Street, blocks away from the nearest subway, to get an item that is ostensibly available at your neighborhood supermarket? Because I’ve tried many other tenderloins, packaged and fresh, marinated and plain, and nothing else comes close.

Also consider the fact that Todaro Bros. has been in business since 1917 and at its current location since 1961, the year President Kennedy was inaugurated. It’s your civic duty to visit any food store that’s been in business for that long (more on that in later blog posts). But this being my inaugural blog entry let me elaborate on what I’m trying to do.

I am most interested in helping my male brethren produce mouth-watering meals at home. There, I’ve said it. That’s my mission statement. Stand up straight and repeat after me. Boys, we can cook and, (here’s what might set this blog apart), we can grocery shop.

What a word, right, “grocery”? It’s from the French marchand grossier, meaning wholesaler. Oh, and I’ll be talking more about words and history and politics and all manner of things, but there will always be some tried-and-true food advice. I’ll tell you what to shop for and where to shop for it, and I’ll tell you how to prepare it at home.

I mean look at this tenderloin. Wouldn’t you want to take this home and cook it? Here it is in all its display-case glory: Todaro Bros.’ Marinated Pork Tenderloin, $7.98 per pound, “well trimmed” and marinated in olive oil, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. And the best part? You don’t have to do anything to it.

Just pop the pork in the oven heated at 450 degrees F. and cook for 15 to 20 minutes a side. (If you don’t have a temperature display, let the oven heat for 15 minutes.) Put the tenderloin on a rack in a roasting pan, and put it on the middle rack of your preheated oven. Cook the pork on its first side for 20 minutes. Turn the meat over and cook for another 20 minutes. (For tenderloins weighing less than a pound, try the meat after 15 minutes on the second side.)

Look at the color at the center of a slice from the middle of the tenderloin and/or taste a small slice. With pork tenderloin you are not looking for “rare” or “medium rare.” It really needs to be an even color from the edge of the slice to the center.

One tenderloin piece, typically weighing three-quarters of a pound, is perfect for a main dish for two, and is best cooked the same day you buy it.

Now, of course, you will want to embellish the plate with apple sauce or stewed apples (click here for the recipe), rice or potatoes, vegetables, etc. But trust me: Todaro Bros.’ Marinated Pork Tenderloin is the critical part of a meal you’ll want to revisit over and over again. It’s easy. Just head to Second Avenue between 30th and 31st Streets, fork over roughly eight bucks and a fabulous dinner is all yours.

Afiyet olsun! (That’s bon appétit in Turkish.)