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I’m known for my love of Coca-Cola, especially in the bottle (and from Mexico, if possible. They make it with sugar down there and yep, it does make a difference!) While it’s a very rare treat for me, it is my indulgence of choice while crafting. When I was contacted by them about checking out a recipe from their My Coke Rewards website and blogging about it – how could I resist?
I chose Ingrid Hoffmann’s Pork Loin recipe (that has a pineapple-coke sauce) and served it with broccoli. I really like that there’s a brief how-to video as well as the recipe and instructions on the website. Here’s the video for the pork dish I made:
Now I goofed it up because I did not brine (didn’t watch video until I went to prep dinner!) – but it still came out good. I also didn’t do her rub the same way instead I just used pepper that was ground, skipped Star Anise, and used ground cinnamon. The coffee made me nervous – it makes the pork look REALLY dark when it’s cooking and kind of stinks. But the taste is good. Actually, the rub was really mellow – I think I’d kick it up with a bit of salt and maybe some chili powder or something with just a hint of spice.
Tip: She instructs to cook to 160, and as we ate the (rather over-done) pork Jason told me that the new USDA recommended temp for pork is 145. (link to article about recent change). So I’d cook it to the lower temp FOR SURE!
Now, the main reason I said I’d kick up the spice a bit on the rub is because it has a sweet sauce that goes with it. Amazingly enough, the sauce wasn’t as sweet as I expected, more along the lines of a sweet teriyaki sauce. I think part of the reason it wasn’t overwhelming is that I cut the sugar amount way down. Indeed, the sauce was VERY good. Miss Rebecca, who is the queen of not liking meat, LOVED her sauce and ate up all her pork! Jason (aka king preparer of meats in our house) also really liked it, and so did I. (E wasn’t a fan). My tip on this sauce? make 1/4 or 1/2 the batch. We barely made a dent in it!
Sauce recipe (cut down/version I will use next time):
1c Coca Cola
1/2c pineapple juice
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/4c brown sugar
1-2tbsp lime juice
One note – I cut the amount of sugar she recommended in 1/2, and that is reflected in my above sauce recipe. We all agreed that the sauce was a winner – and would be awesome this summer over grilled chicken or veggie kabobs!
This post was sponsored by Coca-Cola to help kick off “Coke with Meals”:
This spring, Coca-Cola wants to help gather your family around the dinner table with Coke with Meals through My Coke Rewards. Take a cue from the warmer weather and let MCR.com spice-up your mealtimes with featured recipes and how-to videos from Chefs G. Garvin and Ingrid Hoffmann or submit your own recipes to inspire others!
With your family’s busy schedule, mealtime is the perfect opportunity to bring everyone together and share the day’s best moments over a Coke! Test out new recipes on MyCokeRewards.com/meals, where you can create a shareable cookbook of your family’s all-time favorites. You can also read and share tips on how to get kids, pre-teens and teens involved in the kitchen (because isn’t it more fun when you have helpers?!)
i LOVE me some Coke from Mexico and this looks awesome! My hubby got a loin just yesterday (even though I reminded him that pork and I don’t get along…) I’m SO going to try this because it sounds yummy! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Hi May…love your blog. became a fan of yours a few years back when I took one of your courses through Big Picture but have only recently started following your blog. My only dissappointment has been that the companies you have draws for don’t allow Canadian entries…that is actually a turn off to me when a papercraft company makes that exclusion, nothing you can do about it I know but just sharing my thoughts on it. Anyway, I am also a huge Coke fan…didn’t know that it was better from Mexico, gonna have to figure out a way to get my hands on a bottle of that…hmm can I justify a trip to Mexico just to try the Coke, lol? Thank you for sharing your experience with a Coke recipe, I am definitely going to give it a try. Have you ever tried making chocolate cake with Coke, so easy and super moist! Also, I am sure that you must be aware, regular Coke drinkers can get points by using the codes from under the caps of specially marked bottles. I have acquired many of my iTunes songs and several Christmas gifts by using my Coke points. Anyone who is a regular Coke drinker should look into it. Again, love, love, love your blog. Take care and have an awesome day.
Thanks for the review. I have almost always tried the recipes you’ve posted and all have been great. Here’s another one to sample – thanks.
I’m in no way a regular coke drinker… 1 or 2 a month max. 🙂 Here in California it can be found (mexican coke) at Hispanic food markets, sometimes a grocery store, and even Costco! It’s sold in the lovely coke bottle… and is truly a rare treat for me.
FYI: between shipping costs that run anywhere from 2-5x more than domestic, and the paperwork involved with an international shipment… I never fault a company or individual that wishes to keep their prize to within the country they live in. I can respect that budgeting for international shipments can mean the difference between having give-aways, and not offering any.
That said, I believe you are referring to ONE specific company that had the limit on their prizes (that due to size/weight would indeed be pricey to ship out of country) – and not my blog in general. I don’t limit my prize offerings, and often I do on-line class give-aways which are not limited to geographic location either.
Yum that looks delicious May!
You have a point that I hadn’t considered. I have only been reading your blog since March and noticed the restriction from that one company. It wasn’t meant as a criicizm of your blog, rather of the company that places the restriction…after reading your FYI comment I realize the logic and feel rather foolish. Again I am sorry for not thinking before typing, sometimes I trip over my brain trying to talk when I should be slowing down to see why it is in my way. I am a fan, I love your work and your blog, I am sorry if I caused you any unpleasantness. My apologies to the company of which we speak as well. It is very generous of companies to give you the opportunity to share their product and of course international shipping would be a costly factor. I can’t apologize enough for my thoughtlessness.