Cooking with hard cider delights foodies

The glaze for the apple cider pork tenderloin is what
sets this dish apart from ordinary holiday entrees.

Hard Cider Adds Zing to Holiday Dinners

Sure, you can drink hard cider, but cooking with hard cider is an even tastier way to enjoy your drink.

In time for holiday feasting, Core Hero Hard Cider in Edmonds shares a kitchen-tested recipe that will delight your taste buds.

“Add some local flavor to your holiday dinners and try this apple cider-glazed pork tenderloin recipe for a home-grown, gourmet experience,” recommends Steve Kaiser, owner of Core Hero Hard Cider. 

“Hard cider is the star of the recipe because it doubles as the basis of the marinade and glaze to complement the pork flavor.”

After Kaiser began pairing hard ciders with food, he advanced to cooking with hard cider.

 “I soon discovered that my apple cinnamon hard cider worked very well in many recipes I tried. I went a little crazy adding cider to all sorts of foods that no reasonable person would attempt. For example, I wouldn’t recommend hard cider guacamole.”

Core Hero, a one-person start-up, launched one year ago in select local stores and the Edmonds Farmers Market. The handcrafted ciders are made with local apples (some from Edmonds) in small batches.

Apple Cider Glazed Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients

1-1/2 pound pork tenderloin (with no brine added)

1 bottle (15.9 oz) of Core Hero Hard Cider apple cinnamon or similar handcrafted apple cinnamon hard cider

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp brown sugar

4 whole cloves, crumbled

½ tsp salt

Black pepper

1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped

1 tbsp sesame seed oil for searing pork

Instructions

1.      Mix the marinade ingredients (everything except the sesame seed oil) in a bowl

2.      Place marinade and pork in a container and refrigerate up to 24 hours

Cooking

1.      Preheat oven to 350 F degrees

2.      Heat sesame seed oil in a skillet over medium high heat

3.      Remove pork from marinade (reserve marinade) and place in skillet. Sear until golden brown all over

4.      Transfer skillet to the oven and roast for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the internal temperature reads 145 F degrees using a meat thermometer

5.      Remove pork from skillet, place on a plate and cover loosely with foil to rest while you make the sauce

6.      Pour reserved marinade into the skillet used for searing the pork and bring to a boil. While stirring, continue to boil the marinade until it becomes syrupy

7.      Remove skillet from the stove, roll roasted pork in the sauce then remove and slice. Serve remaining sauce on the side for dribbling onto the pork

--Steve Kaiser, Owner, Core Hero Hard Cider