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The Butcher’s Wife’s Pork Chops |
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Monday, 28 April 2008 |
Cote du Porc Charcutière
Although not typical in French cooking, a brine helps makes modern lean cuts of pork more tender and juicy, like the old-style French pork. The addition of a little wine vinegar serves as an additional tenderizer and flavor booster and heralds the white wine to be used in the sauce. The sauce is prepared in advance up to a point, then finished in the pan when the pork is ready to serve. Serve the chops with roasted root vegetables.
(Serves 6)
For the Pork and the Brine:
6 boneless pork loin chops, about 6-ounces each
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup kosher salt
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
6 fresh thyme sprigs or 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
2 cups boiling water
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
4 pounds ice
To cook the chops:
6 tablespoons butter, pork fat or olive oil
chopped parsley, for garnish
For the Sauce:
3/4 cup finely diced onions
3/4 cup white wine
1 1/2 cups veal demi
2 tablespoons stone ground mustard
1. Twenty-four hours before you plan to serve the chops, make the brine. Stir the kosher salt, sugar, peppercorns, thyme sprigs and bay leaves into the boiling water and let the mixture steep for 20 minutes. Stir in the vinegar and the ice, then add the chops. The chops and brine can be held in a heavy-duty, self-sealing plastic freezer bag or in a non-reactive (glass or enameled) dish covered with plastic wrap. Allow the chops to soak in the cold brine for 24 hours.
2. Before serving, preheat the oven to 350, and prepare the sauce. Cook the diced onions in a saucepan with the white wine until the onions are soft and most of the wine has evaporated. Stir in the veal demi-glace and the stone-ground mustard. Keep the sauce cold until firing time.
3. For each serving, put a tablespoon of butter, pork fat or oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat and sear the chop, until it is well-browned, about 3 minutes on each side. Transfer the chop in the pan to the oven and bake until an instant read thermometer registers between 145 and 150, about 5 minutes. Transfer the chop to a plate and ladle 2 ounces of the sauce and a generous pinch of chopped parsley into the hot pan. Swirl the sauce in the pan to pick up any tasty bits and pour the sauce over the chop.
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