Pork with Peach and Dr. Pepper Sauce

September 2, 2014

 

 

Yep, I’m still trying to use up those peaches, folks!  Since it’s ideal time for grilling (although time is a-fleetin’–we got snow up on Mt. Evans this week! Just the thought of the white stuff sends me running out to the grill in a panic), I decided to use some peaches to make barbecue sauce.

A few years ago, I made pork with a Dr. Pepper barbecue sauce based on a recipe in Jamie Purviance’s cookbook Weber’s Way to Grill. It was delicious, and I thought the recipe would lend itself well to adaptation.

Now I do realize that cooking with soda pop sounds a little weird, but folks in the South do it all the time (ever had 7-Up cake, y’all?). They’re onto something, those Southerners. Some pretty tasty things can come out of your kitchen using soda pop.

The resulting sauce wasn’t super heavy on peach flavor–it was smoky and a bit sweet and a little spicy–but it didn’t scream “peach!”  I liked it that way, frankly. If you wanted a more concentrated peachy undertone, you could always replace the peach puree with peach preserves, but I like things on the not-so-sweet side.

This is an impressive-looking dish, and because the pork is brined before grilling, it comes out juicy and full of flavor.

If you’re planning to fire up the grill (while you still can!) this recipe is just the thing. I’d make it soon; this morning, as the Mozz-man and I were out for our morning constitutional, I spied, with my little eyes, some red-tipped oak leaves on the ground. Fall is coming for us, in all of its colorful glory.

 

 

 

Peach and Dr. Pepper Pork

serves 4-6

adapted from Jamie Purviance’s Soda-Brined Pork Loin with Cherry-Chipotle Glaze from weber’s Way to Grill

Brine:

4 cups Dr. Pepper (don’t use the diet kind or you’ll be sad)

1/2 cup kosher salt

2 pork tenderloins (each about 1 pound), trimmed of silver skin

Sauce:

2 cups peach puree (instructions follow)

1/2 cup Dr. Pepper

1/2 cup beer or water

1-2 tablespoons minced canned chipotle chile in adobo

4 teaspoons Dijon mustard

dash garlic salt and black pepper

For brine: In a very large bowl, pour the Dr. Pepper in. Slowly add the salt; it will foam up quite a bit. Whisk until the salt completely dissolves. Remove the fat and silver skin from the pork. Place brine in a large Ziploc bag and add pork. Seal and refrigerate at least 2 hours (I marinated mine overnight).

For Peach Puree: Cut a small X in the bottom of 3-4 ripe peaches. Immerse the peaches in boiling water for about a minute; remove from boiling water and let cool on the counter for a few minutes. Peel the skin off the peaches, starting with the X end–the skins should slide off easily. Chop the peaches.

In a medium saucepan, place peaches, a few tablespoons of water and 2 tablespoons honey; stir. Bring to a boil; lower heat and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the peaches are almost falling apart, adding more water if necessary. Cool and then puree with an immersion blender or a food processor.

For Sauce:

Combine puree and sauce ingredients in a heavy medium saucepan and whisk well. Bring to a boil over medium heat and reduce until glaze is thickened, about 10-15 minutes. If mixture gets too thick, add a little water. Taste for sugar; if your peaches were really ripe, you probably don’t need more, but if so, add in small increments, tasting as you go. Set aside.

Meanwhile, heat grill to medium. Pat tenderloins dry. Grill over direct medium heat, lid closed, 15-20 minutes, turning the tenderloins every 5 minutes.  Pork should be at 150 degrees on a meat thermometer before taking off the grill.

Brush the pork with a little glaze and tent the pork with foil; let rest at least 8 minutes. Slice into pork into medallions and toss with remaining glaze.

{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }

elizabeth September 2, 2014 at 8:10 am

Alton Brown does have a pretty epic-looking ham glaze he makes with Dr. Pepper, so I am familiar with the idea of cooking with soda, but some things just are silly to me (like trying to make a cake with diet soda and cake mix–just stop with it!).

This looks like an excellent way to dispatch some peaches!

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Katybeth September 2, 2014 at 12:19 pm

The Dr, Pepper caught my attention and we love peaches. I’m going to give it a try. Fall, bring it on!

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Tiffany September 2, 2014 at 6:20 pm

Sounds like something I’ve got to try!

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Tinne from Tantrums and Tomatoes September 3, 2014 at 4:06 am

Cooking with soda… now there is something I haven’t done yet. But that pork looks delicious so I might give it a try one day.

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Sherri September 3, 2014 at 9:26 am

Looks like all those summer southern recipes I used to love when I lived there. Going to try it because my Milo, the picky eater, has suddenly decided he likes pork. Anyway – love fall, btw- actually looking forward to it ;).

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ayala September 3, 2014 at 5:01 pm

Looks delicious :)

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Biz September 4, 2014 at 9:19 am

I had to laugh at this: “(don’t use the diet kind or you’ll be sad)”

Love everything about this dish – I loves me some pork! :D

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Mary Lee September 5, 2014 at 7:25 am

Yup, sometimes we do cook with soft drinks down heah. There is the classic Coca Cola cake, of course. I went to a restaurant recently where the featured dessert was Krispy Kreme bread pudding with Cheerwine sauce. (Four of us shared one dessert–and it was delicious.)
I love peaches in pork dishes and I’ll certainly try this one, but I promise that your southern relative would turn over in her grave (she IS dead, isn’t she?) if she knew that you were using “soda pop” and “southern” in the same paragraph. We just call ’em by their given names–Coke, Pepsi, etc. :)

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julie March 17, 2017 at 10:42 pm

Can you use a crockpot for this recipe? I am going to try it.

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Dana Talusani March 18, 2017 at 2:47 pm

Julie, I don’t see why not? I might use pork butt (pork shoulder) if made in the crockpot so the meat stays juicy.

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