Pork Chops with Ginger Plum Sauce

Back again, after a long break with no new interesting recipes cooked. I have a new ingredient to play with, inspired by one of my new cookbooks Harumi's Japanese Cooking. It's pickled ginger. As in the pickled ginger that comes with your sushi. The Japanese name is Gari.

I first used it just as a garnish for a beef and rice dish from Harumi's cookbook. But then it was hanging around in my fridge and I thought I should figure out something else to use it for. I bought some pork chops at the fridge and the gears started to turn...

Pork Chops with Ginger Plum Sauce

This recipe comes from having in the house a jar of Plum Butter, as well as the pickled ginger. I don't at all remember where it came from (I'm guessing a gift - and I thank you whoever gave it to me! Sorry I don't remember who!). Plum butter is really like plum jelly, there isn't any real butter in there.

2 bone-in pork chops (about an inch think or thicker - not the skinny ones)
3 tablespoons pickled ginger
1 table spoon sliced fresh ginger
3 tablespoons plum butter
1/4 cup diced onion
1 cup chicken broth
3 cloves
2 green cardamom pods
1 star star anise
salt and pepper
oil of choice (I used peanut oil)

Start a heavy pan going with medium high heat. Generously salt and pepper the pork chops. Add some oil to the pan and then the pork chops. Let them cook until nicely browned (maybe 6 minutes). Then flip and brown lightly on the other side (the goal is to brown the sides, but not cook it through). Then remove and set aside.

Next add the onion, fresh ginger, pickled ginger, cloves, star anise, and cardamom. Cook a few minutes to release all the flavors. Next add your Chicken stock and stir in the Plum Butter until it dissolves. Lower heat to simmer.

Return the pork chops to the pan and nestle into the liquid. Cover the pan and simmer until the pork chops are cooked through. Then remove the pork chops again and turn up the heat so the sauce reduces down.

I served it over white rice.

BBQ Thanksgiving

It started with the sauces. Presents from my mom from her recent trip down south. Three bbq sauces. A thin vinegar style bottled sauce, a thick mustard sauce, and a barely contained container of Bullock's BBQ sauce. I had to put these precious items to good use. having them sit and mold in my fridge was not going to be acceptable.

Now I have all the respect in the world for true smoked BBQ. But I live in an apartment and using a smoker is not an option (yes yes i know there are stove top smokers - but i am not going to give myself carbon monoxide poisoning with one of those). So this is an attempt to recreate BBQ as well as possible within the confines of regular kitchen equipment.

Pulled Pork City Apartment Style

1 pork shoulder
Ample amounts of rub
Apple Cider Vinegar
BBQ sauces

First, track down a pork shoulder ( i had to go to a couple of places to get one). Liberally cover the shoulder in the rub of your choosing. I like Paul Proudhomme's "Magic Seasoning" so I used the "Pork and Veal Magic". Practically the whole thing of it. Just pour it on there and rub it in. The idea is to get a sort of crust on it.

Next, put the shoulder in a roasting dish into a 500 degree oven. Give it about 7 minutes, rotate it, and give it another 7 minutes or so. This is to crisp up and caramelize the exterior of the shoulder.

Next, you have some choices. You can either leave the shoulder in the oven and lower the temperature down to 250 degrees or transfer it to a slow cooker. I did a bit a both because I didn't know how long it was going to take. I started it in the slow oven, then at at about 11:30 PM realized it needed to be in there for another 4 hours at least (not the best of planning) and moved it over to my slow cooker and set it to low heat. The slow cooker lid wouldn't fit on, so I made a tent with aluminum foil. Then I just let it go until I got up the next morning. In total it cooked probably about 12 hours.

Next morning, woke up, took the pork out of the cooker, let it cool a bit, and started pullin'. Man! That thing just fell apart. It was a beautiful thing.

Last step was to put all the pulled pork in a bowl, mix in some of the Bullock's sauce (not too much, just enought o give it a starter kick), and put it back in the slow cooker to keep warm until lunch time.



And yes, we tried the sauces with it. The big winner was Maurice's Mustard Sauce. Mustard sauce is more of a South Carolina thing and this was North Carolina style pulled pork, but that's ok.

UPDATE: I liked this stuff so much that I repeated it on a smaller scale and it turned out just as well. Instead of a pork shoulder I bought some country style pork ribs, covered them in the rub, stuck them in the slow cooker for about five hours and pulled them. Terrific!