Pork Chops With Balsamic Onions
10 Comments
Have I got news for you! It's official: our book, COOKING KNOW-HOW, won the "best in the world" Gourmand Award for "easy recipes" at the Paris cookbook show.
We're both a little dumbfounded. I mean, we love that book, but it's a geeky thing, all about the science and art of cooking. In it, we deconstruct sixty-four dishes, then build them back up, explaining the why and wherefore of every step.
We wanted to write it for years--and are so glad we got to. But are now a little befuddled that our baby beat out forty-four (!) other books, each of which had won the best-in-their-own-country award, for the final, ultimate, crazy "best in the world" award.
I hear the actual award itself is some gorgeous, gaudy monument. And our house needs a gaudy monument!
So in the spirit of winning a frickin' global award for "easy recipes," I thought I'd offer this recipe today, one I'd been saving back for a while, one that's quite easy--and ever so delicious: a seared pork chop with a lip-smacking balsamic onion sauce.
First, heat a tablespoon or so of unsalted butter in a large skillet over low heat. Add a large red onion, cut in half through the root, then the halves sliced into very thin rings. Now let it go. About 20 minutes, stirring once in a while. Have a glass of wine and settle in. Really let that onion soften and start to leave brown bits in the skillet.
Why a red onion? A better, peppery bite.
And why the brown stuff? Because that's what we taste. Thanks to evolutionary changes in humans, brought on by the advent of cooking over fire, we taste short-chain sugars and proteins, the ones snapped apart over the heat. In other words, in a skillet the brown stuff stuck to the bottom is the flavor. We'll get to that.
Scrape the onions into a bowl, then salt and pepper a couple 1/2-inch, bone-in pork chops. Use a little more salt and pepper than you think, maybe 1/2 teaspoon each per chop, because this is the only S&P in the dish.
Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the skillet, set it over medium-high heat, and let the oil get waggly hot. Add the pork chops--and LEAVE THEM ALONE. No turning, no prodding, no touching. Let them go for 2 minutes. If the oil's hot enough, they'll end up brown and perfect. (FYI: for a family of four, double this recipe--but not the fat, the butter earlier or the olive oil here.)
Now turn the chops and continue cooking until an instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the center of one registers 165F, maybe 2 to 3 more minutes. If you don't want to use a thermometer, you can slice one open a bit and make sure there's no red left, just the faint tinge of pink.
Transfer the pork chops to serving plates or a serving platter. Dump the onions from the bowl back into the skillet, then pour in 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar and 1 tablespoon dried thyme. You don't need to use the expensive balsamic, but it should be syrupy. And enough thyme that the taste comes through.
Boil it down for a minute or so, scraping up any of that browned stuff in the skillet. Then spoon the reduced sauce over the chops. You're done. I served them with mashed potatoes (with a little low-fat sour cream in the mix). You might try polenta, or rice, or even baked sweet potatoes. And it's easy. I promise. Apparently I have a gaudy award to prove it.
Reader Comments (10)
Congratulations! If this recipe is a reflection of the rest of the book, then I think the award was well deserved. Such a mouthwatering combination, so clearly explained!
Too funny, I made almost the exact same dish the other night. But I added some dried apricots to the mix.
Hi, Celia! It is pretty darn good--and simple, too.
Cheryl: Dried apricots would be divine. Dried cherries, too. Or even just run-of-the-mill pitted prunes. Yum!
warm congrats, mark! i'm happy the book is having such success. which is why i'm even less happy with amazon, because i still don't have mine yet. i ordered it almost two months ago, and each time i call to ask what's going on, 'it's en route'. frustrating.
i love this dish. seems like something my mom would make on sunday. would you explain why you break the onions in two steps? why not just add the butter when the pork is done and cook the onions, then add the vinegar. just curious. i haven't made pork chops in years! my mom did a sour cherry sauce over the mashed potato that was excellent.
Congratulations - way to go... that was a fantastic fair i heard.. mayn of my friends went to paris and blogged about it... i was at a different fair on business or i would have checked it out... Terriffic recipe i love everythign about it.. will cook soon... Thanks for sharing
Dana: Here's the skinny. The onions are first caramelized in a little fat, slowy, so that 1) they soften and 2) they start to leave lots of brown stuff in the skillet. Were they added only at the end 1) the skillet would now be too hot for slow caramelization and 2) there would be too many pork "leavings" in there--which would start to burn over the heat for a long caramelization. I hope that makes some sort of sense.
Alissa: Dank' sehr. Ich kann nicht glauben, dass Sie--von Deutschland!--mich gefunden haben. Das erfreut mich. Sehr.
it does, thanks for taking the time to clarify things for me.
i take back all i've said about amazon's mother: your book is here! just got it today!!!! can't wait to put the brat down for the night so i can sink my teeth into it. gorgeus images! can't wait.
Mark!!! Congratulations---I just went over to their website to read about Gourmand cookbook awards, and noted that they intend to honor those who "cook with words"---well, for those of us who love cookbooks as our serious recreational/instructional reading--we knew we'd made the right choices! Good for you. The books always make me feel as that I'm having the best, engaging conversation with a witty and informed mind--I love it! Thanks for the good reads--and the recipes, of course-- Thanks, too ,Bruce!
Ruth: So nice to hear your voice on the site--or see your words, as the case might be.
Congratulations on the book award! That is indeed an accomplishment. And please show a picture of the gaudy award when you receive it! :) BTW, that pork chop dish looks amazing, and my nephew would love the caramelized balsamic onions that go with it since he loves onions (and I don't).