Pork Chops

We had pork chops tonight for dinner. I forgot to take pictures, so you will have to take my word for it. I got a recipe from "New Best Recipe," a compendium of recipes from Cook's Illustrated. (Have I mentioned that Cook's Illustrated is the best food magazine ever, and that "New Best Recipe" may well be the best cookbook ever?)

Anyway, I cooked rib chops tonight. They are cut from the big roll of muscle on either side of the spine just above the rib cage. For some reason, they are often cut super-thin, and are easy to over-cook and dry out. To keep the chops from drying out too much, CI recommends low heat--they actually started the chops in a cold pan. To develop some nice brown color and rich flavors, they called for sprinkling a little sugar on one side of each chop--this would become the "presentation" side. The sprinkled side did develop some nice browning, and looked very tasty. The other side stayed pasty white. This was a quick, easy recipe--just sprinkle some sugar, cook for six to nine minutes, flip, and cook for a couple more minutes. The chops cooked through, the sugared side looked pretty, and they tasted fine. The recipe title was "quick week-night pork chops," and they lived up to their billing.

Here's Jasper with this cut marked:
I bought a ham this weekend--a fresh ham. That means that I'll be trying to cure ten pounds of meat pretty soon. Stay tuned for rich salty goodness! Maybe I'll make wonderful ham! Maybe I'll make myself sick! We'll just have to wait and see.....