Root Beer Pork

So, my husband and I enjoy cooking together, particularly on the weekends. We also like to periodically try out new recipes, a fact which undoubtedly would shock my mother, who was used to hearing me moan and groan on "new recipe night" when I was growing up. However, now Vic and I find we both get bored of having the same dinners all the time--unless of course they consist of pizza or Taco Bell. Mmmmm....yummy! Anyway, we came across a recipe for root beer pork and were intrigued enough to try it. My thought was, it'd either be really good or absolutely terrible. If the latter, we had a backup frozen pizza :) Turns out it fell on the side of really good! So, in case anyone is interested, the recipe is below.

Root Beer Pork

Ingredients

• 4 (1 inch thick) pork chops, or 1 pork tenderloin, cut into medallions
• 3 (12 fl oz) cans root beer
• 1 cp beef stock
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp chipotle-flavored hot sauce (we substituted 1/4 tsp liquid smoke & 1/3 tsp Taco Bell hot sauce)
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• Salt
• Pepper

Directions

1. Place the pork into a dish and cover with 2 cans of root beer. Place in refrigerator to marinate for at least 2 hours. We marinated for 5 hours.
2. In a saucepan, combine the remaining can of root beer, beef stock, brown sugar, hot sauce (and liquid smoke if desired), and Worcestershire sauce. I added a pinch of salt (omit if you follow the cooking instructions for the chops below). Simmer the mixture over medium heat until it reduces to about 3/4 cup. This took us roughly 45 minutes. Set mixture aside.
3. Lightly oil the grill and preheat for medium-high heat.
4. Take the pork out of the marinade and season with salt and pepper to taste. Discard the marinade.
5. Cooking instructions for the chops: Grill the pork until no longer pink in the center or until the thermometer reads 160 deg. F. According to the recipe, this takes 8 minutes per side. Baste the chops generously with the reduction sauce and continue cooking for about 2 minutes more per side. Remove from grill and baste with any remaining sauce. Season with salt to taste before serving.
6. Cooking instructions for the medallions: Vic said he cooked the medallions for 6 minutes on one side. After flipping, he began basting the medallions continuously and cooked them for 4-5 more minutes. He then flipped the medallions back to the first side and cooked for an additional minute, basting continuously. (By this time, the thermometer said well over 160 deg F). Remove from grill and baste again. There will be leftover sauce; discard.

Enjoy!