Traditional Pork Chops

Traditional Pork Chops

Years ago, pig farmers started raising their pigs on leaner foods, creating leaner pork.  That changed the taste of many pork products to taste drier than they did in the 1950s and 1960s.  Because of that, your grandmother's pork recipe may not taste as good as when she made it.  On top of that, people who write the recipe books started revising their recipes to include less fat and suddenly pork chops have become almost inedible.  But there are a couple of things you can do to avoid those pitfalls.   First, use a brine to soak your pork chops before you cook them.  That helps with the leaner meat.  Second, use an age old recipe like this one, cooked in the traditional way using bacon fat and a cast iron pan.

5-6 pork chops - either bone in or boneless tenderloin or sirloin cuts.
1/2 C salt
1 1/2 C water
4-5 slices bacon
blackening seasoning - of if you don't have any blackened seasoning, here's a simple recipe for that:
1 T paprika
1 T garlic powder
1 T onion powder
1 T dried thyme
1 t ground black pepper
1 t cayenne pepper
1 t dried basil
1 t oregano
Combine these and keep in an airtight container with holes in the top for sprinkling, you'll use about 1 T of this.






Stir salt into cold water and pour over pork in a gallon sized zip top bag.  Set in a container (in case it leaks) in the refrigerator for 2-8 hours.  Don't leave this longer than that, the pork will absorb too much salt and end up salty (I've made this mistake before).
Drain, rinse and pat the pork chops dry.







Cook the bacon in the cast iron pan and remove leaving the bacon fat (have the bacon for breakfast tomorrow or use in quiche recipe posted earlier).  Leave the fat in the pan, sprinkle the pork, both sides with blackened seasonings and brown 3-4 minutes on each side.

Drain the excess fat (you may want to keep it, it's great for cooking in) and add 1/2 C water, cover and cook until the pork is completely done on the inside (either use a meat thermometer or just cut one open and check for pink).



Serve with the mock mashed potatoes (mashed cauliflower from the last post) and veggies. - See top picture.

Traditionally, you would make a "country gravy" by adding 2 T flour to the bottom of the pan after removing the pork chops, then 1 C of milk, stirring and scraping up the bottom bits.  But I haven't seen a good substitute for country gravy.  :(