Beer Braised Pork Chops With Cabbage, Apples And Caraway

Frigid weather and Eastern European flavors were built for one another. Hearty, stick-to-your-ribs fare is just what the doctor ordered when outside temps seem more suited to the frozen tundra of the far, far (FAR) north than to Western Pennsylvania.

Morning temps of -10, -8, -4 demand substantial fuel for our bodies to warm us up and get us through the workday until we're once again home...preferably snuggled under an afghan next to a roaring fire. (Can't you just picture a golden lab sleeping peacefully in front of the fireplace while you cradle a mug of steaming cider between your slowly thawing hands?)

What might such a dinner consist of? Pork. And bacon. Cabbage and beer! Here's a dish that's sure to warm you from the inside out.....

Beer Braised Pork Chops 

With Cabbage, Apples And Caraway

• 4 slices thick sliced peppered bacon, cut across into 1/2" lardons 
• 4  1" thick bone-in center cut loin pork chops 
• salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 T. Butter
• 1 small head of cabbage, cut into quarters, core removed and sliced across into 1/2" slices - about 12 C, more or less
• 1 large tart apple, peeled, cored and diced
• 1 large onion, peeled and diced
• 1 T butter
• 2 T dark brown sugar
• 3 T rice wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 t kosher salt
• 1 t caraway seeds (optional, but it really makes a difference!)
• 12 oz. bottle of beer (I used gluten free beer to make this GF)

In a large electric skillet, saute the bacon until crisp. Remove to a plate, leaving the bacon fat in the skillet. Add 1 T butter to the skillet, melt it with the bacon fat.

Season the chops on both sides with salt & pepper and brown them on both sides in the skillet. Remove to a plate.

Add 1 T butter to skillet again and melt. Add the cabbage, apple and onion. Stir and let it soften. Add brown sugar, rice wine vinegar, 1 1/2 t kosher salt, caraway seeds and the reserved bacon. Stir everything together well. 

Add the pork chops back into the skillet, nestling them into the cabbage mixture. Spoon some of the mixture over the pork chops. 

Pour the bottle of beer over all, reduce heat, cover and let simmer for about an hour until the pork chops are tender, but the cabbage mixture is still moist. (Add a little water, if necessary.)

Just add a salad or a veggie of some type...and definitely a nice dark pumpernickel to complete the meal!

Uber Umami Porcini Pork Chops

Even though the taste of umami was identified relatively recently, great chefs have been instinctively working with it almost forever. More potent than your common, ordinary food tastes, 'umami' definitely pushes the boundaries of everyday taste sensations. 

When I started working on my pork chop rub/paste, I didn't set out to produce an 'umami bomb." Just so happens, that's exactly what resulted! What's an umami bomb? A dish that's built of almost (or completely) umami ingredients. 

Let's back up here. I guess your first question is, "What IS umami anyway?" In addition to the tastes of sweet, salty, bitter and sour, it's a savory flavor. Think of the taste sensation you get from meats, especially pork and beef. To take it a step further, especially the flavor of cured or smoked meats. Not just meats, however...fish and seafood are rich in umami, the earthy taste of mushrooms, cheeses - particularly Parmesan, feta and blue veined varieties and even vegetables such as asparagus and garlic come into play, too. 

Fermentation produces vinegars, soy sauce and fish sauce that have double the wham with more than one umami trigger - fish sauce has both fish AND is fermented, Worcestershire sauce is also fermented and contains anchovies. Enough background. Just how did umami favors result in a totally delightful dish?

As I said above, I started with pork chops - umami already. There were dried porcini mushrooms in the cabinet so I put those in my spice grinder with black peppercorns and a few Szechuan peppercorns - whirrrr whirrrrr - porcini peppercorn dust. Next I added tamari, balsamic vinegar and garlic, mixed them into a paste, rubbed the chops and let them marinate overnight. 

Once grilled the next day, the flavors were deep, dark, rich, mysterious and intense. Total umami success! 

Uber Umami Porcini Pork Chops

• 1/4 C dried porcini mushrooms
• 12 black peppercorns
• 5 Szechuan peppercorns

• 1 T granulated garlic
• 2 large garlic cloves, pressed or minced finely
• 1 T wheat-free Tamari or soy sauce (I use wheat-free Tamari to make this gluten free)
• 1 T balsamic vinegar
• 2 T roasted peanut oil
• 1 T agave
• a sprinkling of Porcini & Salt  - a finishing salt that's mixture of sea salt, porcini mushrooms and herbs (I get mine at Gourmet Delights) to finish!

• 4 nice, thick bone-in pork chops - I like center cut loin chops

Start martinating these the night before for maximum umami-ness or 4 hours in a pinch.

In a spice grinder, buzz the dried mushrooms and the black and Szechuan peppercorns together to a dust. Transfer to a medium bowl.

Add the rest of the ingredients (except for the pork chops) to the porcini peppercorn dust and mix to a well-combined paste, then evenly coat both sides of the pork chops with ALL of the paste.  Put the chops into a zip top plastic bag, squeeze out all the air, seal and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, grill the chops and serve with a sprinkle of Porcini & Salt for extra porcini - AND umami - emphasis!

NOTE: This was one of the last dishes I got to make for Mark, who gave it a highly enthusiastic thumbs up and a request for me to make them again SOON. We both thought they'd be pretty amazing smoked!

Fresh Blackberry Chipotle BBQ Pork Chops

I have sinned. Although I try my darnedest to abide by the dogma of fresh, LOCAL ingredients, this burning craving for the taste of barbecue blazed in my summer-starved soul. 

In order to quench it, I actually had the audacity to buy fresh, gorgeous, sweet, thumb-sized, shiny blackberries to make blackberry chipotle BBQ sauce (for pork chops on the grill) when Lord knows they aren't in season around Western Pennsylvania. Not even close...the bushes don't even have blossoms on them yet! How DARE I?! 

Somehow, I think my error in judgment is worthy of whatever minor penance might be in the offing. 

Seriously, don't we sometimes take this whole thing just a little too far? Once in a while can't we abandon root vegetables and all varieties of cabbage after a long HARD winter, loosen up and live it up with a few out-of-season berries? I say yes! So we did. Deliciously. 

Chill out a bit and rush the blackberry season yourself, here's my recipe for Fresh Blackberry Chipotle BBQ Pork Chops. Oh...and I won't tell you've also committed the "local" trangression. That issue - and whatever your conscience demands - is between you and your CSA to work out!

Fresh Blackberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce for Pork Chops

• 2 medium chipotle peppers from a can
• 2 T adobo sauce (from the same can!)
• 16 fresh blackberries - nice BIG ones - or 32 smaller ones
• 2 t rice vinegar
• 1 t granulated garlic
• 1 T molasses
• 4 nice thick bone-in center cut loin pork chops 

In a gallon size zip top plastic bag, add all the sauce ingredients, seal the top, and smoosh (yes, "smoosh" IS a proper culinary term...you read it here first) everything together until completely mixed and (relatively) smooth. Then add the chops. Marinate overnight. 

The "smooshing" of chipotles, blackberries and other sauce components into a proper sauce.

Take the chops out of the fridge about an hour before you're going to put them on the grill. Grill over low heat so the sauce doesn't burn...too much. 

While you've got the grill going, throw on lots of fresh sliced veggies for a whole meal on the grill!

NOTE: Think you can only use this sauce on pork chops? Really good on chicken and turkey, too!

NOTE 2: When I use only 1 or 2 peppers from a whole can of chipotles in adobo, I sure don't throw out what's left. I put the rest of the can into a snack-size ziplock bag and pop it into the freezer. When I need a pepper or two the next time, I just pull the bag out of the freezer, pluck what I need out and put the rest back in the freezer until the next time. Easy. And thrifty!

Jalapeno Chipotle Pork Chops with Tomato Quinoa

Good old fashioned pork chops and tomato rice (like we made back in the 60's when we thought they were gourmet) just got a makeover. In my kitchen. No, they're still not a fancy dish by any means, but they're still some doggone good eating.

The old version consisted of pork chops, canned tomatoes, onion, green pepper rings and instant rice. Period. 

The makeover? A little heat of jalapeno and chipotle, a bottle of beer (gluten-free in my case, maybe a nice Mexican beer for you?), a little accent of cumino and cilantro, some roasted sweet corn and instead of rice (confession time, I only had black, red and arborio and didn't want to use any of those), quinoa stood in to get a whole new thing going on. There's something to be said for a jazzy new dish that's still familiar.

You might want to add a green veggie or a salad, but with peppers, onions, tomatoes and corn already in the mix, if time is short what's in the skillet is really all you need. On top of that, it's so easy I'm putting this one into the "quickie" category...after all, it goes together quickly AND it's a one dish diner!

Jalapeno Chipotle Pork Chops 

with Tomato Quinoa

• 2 T canola oil
• 4 nice sized, thick, bone-in pork chops - I like center cut loin chops
• Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 large jalapeno, cut in half lengthwise, seeded and thinly sliced
• 2 cans fire roasted tomatoes, UNdrained
• 1 t dried oregano
• 1 t cumin
• 1/2 t dried basil
• 3/4 t chipotle powder (seriously, if you haven't gotten yourself a bottle of this smoky wonder-spice, get ON it!)
• 1 1/2 C quinoa - rinse well in a sieve under running water before adding to the skillet
• a 12 oz bottle or can of your favorite beer - gluten-free, of course, to make this GF
• 1 C roasted corn kernels (if you're roasting these yourself, dry fry in a skillet or buy already roasted corn in the freezer section of Trader Joe's (yep...MY choice!)
• a handful of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

In a large skillet (I use my trusty electric skillet), heat the oil. Season the chops liberally with salt and pepper and brown them on both sides. 

Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl mix the onion through quinoa together thoroughly. Once the chops are browned, spoon a pile of the mixture on top of each chop and then distribute the rest of the mixture around and between the chops.

Carefully pour the beer between the chops, cover, reduce the heat to simmer and cook for 45 minutes to an hour until the chops are tender and the quinoa is cooked. Check occasionally to be sure the liquid hasn't dissipated. If it's getting dry, add a little water (or more beer) and keep an eye on it.

Serve with a sprinkling of roasted corn and chopped cilantro.

Hot Buttered Rum Butternut Pork Chops

There is nothing like a cool, crisp, leisurely Sunday to inspire an easy yet somewhat rustic and decadent pork chop dinner.  We like pork chops around here all year round...on the grill or on the smoker in the warmer months.   

In cooler weather, the scent of roasting or braising pork has a come hither effect on the nose that draws the whole family into the kitchen.  Aromatic veggies enhance that aroma...not to mention how those veggies pique the flavor!  

This time butternut squash was the inspiration. Butternut led naturally to butter which, of course(!) led to RUM! Oh the possibilities!

The result of the experiment?  Well I wouldn't be posting it here unless it was completely wonderful.  Rich, hearty, sweet and savory with smooth buttery undertones and kissed by more than a hint of rum...total deliciousness.

In fact, I'm thinking my next cocktail creation just found inspiration.  Hot Buttered Apple Cider Spiced Rum might just be the thing to snuggle by the fireplace on a cold winter's evening.  Coming up!  

Hot Buttered Rum Butternut Pork Chops

• 4 pork chops, 3/4" thick center cut loin chops
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• salt and pepper, to taste

• 1 large onion, sliced thinly
• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded, sliced thinly
• 2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced thinly
• salt and pepper, to taste

• 1/4 cup dark rum
• 1/4 cup golden rum
• 2 tablespoons butter 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Melt butter and oil together in a large skillet.  Salt and pepper both sides of chops and brown on both sides in skillet.  Remove to a 9 X 13 shallow baking dish.
Saute the onion and garlic in the same skillet.  When caramelized, remove to a plate.
 
Tile slices of squash and apple alternately on top of pork chops - do this pretty tightly.  Any squash and apples that are left, just scatter them around the edges of the chops. Season liberally with salt & pepper.  Spoon the onions and garlic down the center of the apple and butternut topped chops.  Spoon excess around the outside of the chops.
 
Pour both rums into the skillet and stir up all the browned bits.  Add the butter and stir well.  Pour over the chops.
 
Put foil tightly over the dish and bake for 45 minutes.  Remove foil, if dish is a little dry, add a little water or chicken stock.  Replace foil and cook another 20 minutes.  Remove foil and finish another 10 minutes.
 
Serve topped with the the extra squash & apples on the sides and lots of sauce - and with a bright green veggie like Brussels sprouts, buttered green beans or asparagus.