Bad wing sauce = Awesome pork marinade!

Sorry for those of you who try to keep up with my blog...I know it's not very hard to do since I never update.  I've been feeling a little burnt out lately and finding myself not wanting to blog even though I'm cooking and taking pictures.  Not really sure what's going on but I really want to try harder to be better about this.

A few weeks ago, I made wings at home.  They had a seasoning on them and then I made some different sauces.  Once of them went wrong.  I'm not sure what happened or maybe it was just supposed to taste like that but I didn't like it.  Eric said it was fine but I wasn't about to ruin my wings by drenching them in this sauce.  However, Eric mentioned marinading pork in it and since we had a tenderloin in the freezer, I decided to give it a shot.

The marinade was made of the following:

Frank's Hot Sauce

Butter

Balsamic Vinegar

Water

Cornstarch

Salt

Sugar

Mustard

Egg

All of the ingredients, except for the top 2, were placed in a double boiler and allowed to cook down.  The butter and Franks was added later and it was put in the fridge to cool.  I thought this tasted terribly so I added some honey and some more mustard.  I guess it got a little better but still not wing-worthy.  I put the sauce in a bag with a pork loin and let it marinade overnight. 

The next day was a really nice one so I decided it was time to uncover the grill again.  The pork loin was cooked over medium heat and flipped every few minutes or so.  I didn't want to burn the sugar but really just caramelize it and form a nice crust.  After about 15-20 minutes, I removed it from the grill and let it sit for about 10 minutes for juices to flow through.  While this is sitting, I cook down the marinade to make a reduction.  

Earlier in the day, I decided a good side would be some collards.  This is made the same way I have made it in past posts but just a quick update, ingredients include:

collard greens

bacon

apple cider vinegar

crushed red pepper

onion

garlic

chicken broth

I let the bacon cook down in the pot and then add the onion and garlic to the fat.  After cooking a few minutes, I add the greens and let them wilt.  Then, I pour the stock over it all and add seasonings and let it cook for as long as I can.  I taste it before it's served just to check salt and pepper.  

So eating time! Final product:

The pork was cooked perfectly for us.  It was more of a medium-rare/medium than just medium rare which is good for me b/c I feel like medium rare pork can be a little too much rare.  The collards turned out well, which I figured they would since they take very little effort to come out perfectly.  I don't know what it was but the sauce with the pork was delicious.  It was the perfect amount of sweet and tangy and adding it with the spice from the collards gave a well rounded flavor balance.  I'm glad Eric mentioned the idea and I didn't just throw it away.