Everyday Dorie: Sweet Chili Pork Tenderloin

Oy–I’m late with posting this for French Fridays with Dorie. I cooked it early, if that counts. Ha! It’s been a rough two weeks, and posting about this pork fell right off my list.

Long story short, I caught the respiratory infection that the kids passed between each other. I then developed walking pneumonia, then a completely closed canal ear infection. After taking antibiotics for about 3 days, I broke out in hives and my tongue swelled up. I have a history of “chronic urticaria”–basically, mystery hives. It’s not an allergic reaction; it’s an autoimmune response. Supposedly. Honestly, doctors don’t seem to know much about it. I had it for months in 2017, and the doctors’ general attitude of “beats me” is what prompted me to start focusing on nutrition and exercising, to see if I could impact it from the inside. I put myself on Whole 30 (anti-inflammation elimination diet that claims to reset your system. No grains, dairy, sugar, beans, soy), because I’d read blog posts online of people in similar situations saying that their condition improved when they followed it. By the end of the 30 days, my hives finally responded to antihistamine. They’ve been controlled by a nightly Zyrtec since July or August of 2017, until now. I put myself back on Whole30 (today is day 9), and things seem to be improving (knock on wood!). I woke up hive-free for the past two days. Keep your fingers crossed.

Did I mention that all of this happened while my husband’s ship is underway? Like I said–oy. Single parents, I salute you.

I’m getting off-topic. My point is, I made this pork the night before my tongue swelled up, so now I’m afraid to eat the leftovers, even though I know the two events were probably totally unrelated. Ha!

It’s a shame, because this was very tasty and very easy, and the kids both liked it. I’ve only ever roasted pork tenderloin in the oven, and was worried that something would go haywire cooking it on top of the stove in a dutch oven, but it was fine. There was enough sauce in the pot that it braised (after being browned). I probably won’t make this again, just because of all the baggage I now have connected to it, but it really was good. What can you do?