Cooking Pork Chops with Confidence

Jamie's Pan-Fried Glazed Pork Chop recipe (pg. 230) totally freaked me out when I first read it. Jamie hardly ever gives "warnings" or "hang in there" advice and he did on this one which made me quite leery. He also has you make crackling. Really? Crackling? It reminds me of a Little House book I read when I was eight where they eat every part of the pig and the fat is like a "treat" to the prairie girls. Doesn't sound appetizing, Jamie.
But, its in the book and I have to make it, so with some reluctance, the fam sets out to do the grocery shopping together. We got our pork chops from Whole Foods along with some applesauce to serve as the glaze. The other ingredients are easy: olive oil, sea salt, pepper, lemon and a bit of fresh sage.
I did a terrible job trimming the edges so my crackling didn't start off on the right fat, I mean foot. (sorry, bad joke.) So, I added the strips to a pan over high heat. They sizzled and crackled and spit at me and it was totally not worth it and I took those suckers out of the pan and threw in the pork chops. So you cook the chops for about 5 minutes on each side and then put a large dollop of applesauce on top and then keep turning so they are nicely coated. Here's where he says, "Have the confidence to cook them until almost a dark reddy-golden color and wonderfully thick and sticky." Why do I need to be confident? Sounds like I'm doing battle and need to stand my ground. After the crackling spit and burned me I'm really not sure how this is going to end up but I get the fire extinguisher and aloe plant handy and hold tight just like Jamie says. They do turn a pretty golden color and I serve them with more applesauce on the side.
Not our favorite recipe but after my first reaction, they were better than expected. And most importantly, neither the fire extinguisher nor the aloe plant needed to be used. (not for this recipe anyway!)
Recipes cooked: 44
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