Below you'll find step-by-step instructions for how to easily remove or trim the silver skin from your pork tenderloin.
As the meat cooks, it shrinks. The band of silver skin is connective tissue and will not melt away (like a piece of fat normally would).
Instead, it will tighten up and cause the tenderloin to twist. We don't want that. Luckily, the silver skin is easy to remove from your pork tenderloin with a sharp knife.
Step 1: Find silver skin
- First, locate the silver skin. It will be a different shade of pink than the rest of the meat. It should be only on one side of the tenderloin.
- Next, pick the side of the silver skin that you will cut from. It is easiest to start at the edge of the loin and cut towards the middle, as shown below.
Step 2: Get knife underneath
- Get your sharp, narrow knife and wiggle it underneath the start of the silver skin. Don't go too deep into the meat.
- You should see your knife poke out the other side, as shown below. Tilt your knife blade up slightly, and hold on to the silver skin tightly.
Step 3: Cut slowly
- Now, begin to cut very slowly towards the middle of the pork tenderloin (away from yourself) until you reach the end of the silver skin.
- Slowly is key here. It allows you a bit more precision so you don't accidentally cut through the silver skin too early.
- Keep going until all the silver skin from your pork tenderloin is removed. You may need to start again in other spots to get it all.
And that should be it. You can ask your butcher to remove the silver skin for you, but most pork tenderloins you buy at the grocery store will still have the silver skin on them.
While you're here, we've compiled a few of our popular, easy pork tenderloin recipes:
This article is part of our on-going commitment to make pork cooking information accessible for Ontarians (and the world).
Only quick and easy guides here, no fluff. If you are interested in more how to cook pork information, see here: