So I tried Emeril’s recipe for Ginger Ale Marinated Pork Loin but adapted it for a single serving slice of pork tenderloin. I’m not ready for a whole roast yet; I already had a dream last night that a friend interpreted as fear of old age and I don’t need to add pork roasts to that list of scary things old people do.
I’ll just tell you because I know you’re curious now and reading about my subconscious fears is probably way more interesting than reading recipes. So in my dream, I was in a canoe and apparently ended up in England. I think this was work-related because we were holding one of our business events at the palace (ha-yeah right) but I got there early, thanks to my canoe, and offered to pull weeds for the Queen. I found this one plant that, when you touched it, made you grow old and big (like eating a mushroom in Wonderland). Strange.
So the other people who were pulling weeds noticed their hands were starting to swell and they were aging. I don’t think I was wearing gardening gloves, but I wasn’t noticing the effects, even though I thought I had touched the plant (which looked like a rectangular mushroom that grew in thin vertical sheets), so I was freaking out. Then they quarantined us in the palace and wouldn’t let us leave for fear we’d infect others. And that, we found out, was the reason the Queen never left the palace. In case you were wondering why she never, ever makes public appearances. Ha.
I posted the condensed version of this on Facebook and got this response:
“The canoe ride to England represents the adventure and wonder of becoming an adult. The queen represents big business and weed-pulling is obviously the dull work of everyday employment. Instant old age is the fear or, well, old age. [On growing big:] The easiest thing is to say that, with aging, problems become larger and more prominent. Or, at the very least, the fear of larger problems. Your whole dream is your fear of getting older. And the palace is simply the social fear of old people amongst the young who still yearn to maintain their youth.”
So maybe I should be more concerned about making healthy foods instead of avoiding “scary adult” foods like pork roast. But anyway, pork is fairly healthy right? Even if I did skip the veggies to save time so I could watch the Cavs in the play-offs.
I can’t tell you exactly how I cut this recipe down because I was basically winging it, pouring some ginger ale, some sherry (…OK some more sherry), some soy sauce, and, in the absence of honey, some molasses (which I justified is also sweet and sticky) and a few shakes of ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes into the baggie with the pork. I let it soak overnight then baked it at 350 for about 15 minutes. From there, I followed his recipe at least as far as directions go, still guessing on measurements.
It’s a forgiving recipe because it still came out delicious. I served it over rice and spooned the extra sauce over it, making a good balance of sweet, strong and spicy. Bam.
