Adventures in Pork: Ginger Ale Marinated Pork Loin with Caramelized Sweet Potatoes

I think I’ve mentioned before how I have been trying to cook different types of meat. This last Saturday was my first foray into pork loin. I found this amazingly tasty sounding recipe for pork loin marinated in ginger ale, soy sauce and garlic and I just knew I had to try it.

I changed a few things — mainly I just roasted the sweet potatoes in the pan with the roast, rather than roasting them separately with molasses and corn syrup and such. I’ve listed the original pork recipe below and added what I did differently. The recipe is by Emeril and can easily be found by searching Food Network’s recipes for pork loin, if you want the original sweet potato recipe.

Ginger Ale Marinated Pork Loin with Caramelized Sweet Potatoes
3 pounds center cut boned pork loin roast, patted dry
2 1/2 cups ginger ale
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 cup sherry (did not have, used 1/4 cup brandy in the marinade instead)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup chopped ginger
1 small yellow onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
6 cardamom seeds, crushed (used 1/4 tsp ground cardamom instead)
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 cups veal stock or dark chicken stock (ha! I used leftover ginger-turkey stock that I had in the freezer)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 sweet potatoes or yams, washed, peeled, and cut into about 2-inch chunks

In a zip lock bag (I usually stand it up in a bowl to easier pour things into it), combine the ginger ale, soy sauce, 1/4 cup of brandy (or 1/2 cup of sherry), honey, ginger, the onion, garlic, cardamom, and red pepper flakes. Place pork in bag and refrigerate 12 to 24 hours, turning occasionally.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove the meat from the marinade and reserve. Pat the roast dry with kitchen towels, season lightly with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and place in a roasting pan. Scatter sweet potato chunks around roast. I just did it this way, as I figured the potatoes would soak up some marinade and pork juices and get all carmelized just as well. In addition, the original recipe called for baking them at 350 for about an hour too.

Cook uncovered until an instant-read thermometer registers an internal temperature of 155 degrees F, about 1 hour. When there, remove the roast from the oven and place on a platter (mine took about one hour and ten minutes). Tent with aluminum foil and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes before carving.

Place sweet potatoes on a separate baking dish and increase oven heat to 425. Return to oven for about 10 minutes to caramelize a bit more.

Meanwhile, strain any remaining marinade into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook at a brisk simmer for 5 minutes. Okay, this was a bit weird — mine foamed up a lot while cooking briskly. I’m guessing it was the carbonation from the ginger ale but I skimmed a lot of bizarre foam off the top. Place the roasting pan over 2 burners over medium-high heat. Add the remaining 1/2 cup sherry (or actually, here I used some port we had open — about 1/4 cup) and cook, stirring to deglaze the pan. Pour the juices into the saucepan with the remaining marinade. Add the chicken (or turkey) stock and cook until reduced by almost half.

Whisk in the butter and remove from the heat. Adjust the seasoning to taste. Strain into a sauceboat or decorative bowl, then carve the pork.

To serve, arrange the sweet potatoes in the middle of the plate and slices of pork around the top. Drizzle with the sauce and serve immediately. We also had this with braised brussel sprouts — recipe here. I just used more of the turkey ginger stock for that recipe.

Leftovers!
Incidentally, the leftover pork makes great sandwiches the next day — Grand Central sourdough bread, arugula, tomato, pork, dill havarti cheese and this awesome garlic jelly I found the other day. Mmm!