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Molasses-Glazed Pork Tenderloin

"This is a yummy, super easy way to grill pork with a lot of flavor. Serve with roasted or mashed potatoes and a veggie."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and apple cider vinegar work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 44 recipes mention both. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

The recipe

1 pork tenderloin
Prep10 min
Cook20 min

Ingredients

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C). Pat the pork tenderloin dry and season all over with salt and pepper.

  2. In a saucepan, combine the molasses, apple cider vinegar, honey, brown sugar, crushed red pepper flakes, ground ginger and minced garlic. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.

  3. Simmer the glaze, stirring often, for about 10 minutes until it thickens and turns syrupy. Set aside a portion in a small bowl for serving.

  4. Place the tenderloin in a roasting pan and brush it generously with some of the glaze in the pan.

  5. Roast for 15 to 20 minutes, brushing with more glaze every 5 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part reads at least 145°F (63°C).

  6. Transfer the pork to a cutting board and rest for 3 minutes. Slice and serve with the reserved glaze spooned over top.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Molasses + apple cider vinegartop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together44 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Ginger + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together6,402 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Apple cider vinegar + honeytop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together169 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  4. Pepper + gingertop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together6,799 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Honey + gingertop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, apple cider vinegar, honey, sugar, pepper, ginger, pork):

  1. Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
  2. Clovebetter flavor fit
  3. Allspicebetter flavor fit
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, apple cider vinegar, honey, sugar, pepper, ginger, pork. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).