It’s been his long-time favorite, after all
Layered from bottom to top: Potatoes, caramelized onions, smoked pork chops and spiced apples. The flavors were great, the chops came out moist despite being very thin, and the whole dish — coupled with sides of braised red beats and steamed broccoli — demonstrated something often overlooked in menu planning: An effective mix of textures as well as flavors.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
Ingredients for some smoked chops with potatoes, onions and apples. There were a few new techniques, at least for me, in this recipe: Adding some brown sugar to the onions to speed up caramelization and mixing a little dry mustard into some sherry to pour over the chops.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
I made this for two of my brothers, Joe and Ray, and as we wound down and they were leaving, Ray brought up something I rarely hear people point out about a well-rounded meal: “I liked the textures.”
This dish certainly had a fine mix: Cubed potatoes, caramelized onions, tender and moist smoked pork chops, and apple slices that had been sautéed in butter and spices. Add the distinctive feel of braised red beets and the steamed but still a tad crunchy broccoli, and the whole meal offered a range of harder and softer experiences for the palate. A little variety in the food feel is one of two things I (often subconsciously) look for in menu planning. The other is more obvious: colors.
The impetus for trying a new smoked chops recipe came from Joe. Last week, he had completed his month-long visit to the East Coast after hiking about 200 miles of the Appalachian Trail in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and a foray into Massachusetts. He’s making good strides in trying to “section hike” the whole trail (just short of 2,200 miles these days) — mostly in day hikes that leave the full backpack behind. It’s something I’d like to do as well, but that’s not an option right now.
On his final day before flying back to his home in California, I offered to make his longtime favorite dish, smoked pork chops. Regular readers may remember I made variations for his two visits last year: Chops with apples and sweet potatoes in the spring, and grilled chops with sweet and sour glaze in the fall.
The thing about smoked chops is, of course, they tend to be the star of the meal without any adornment. The smoked flavor is the main draw for those of us who like it. Mom typically served them browned and warmed with mashed potatoes, a vegetable and some apple sauce. For this meal I looked for something more complex and found this.
MT happened to be out and about, including a stop at Schiel’s Family Market, and called to ask if she should buy some chops. We agreed we should get two packs, expecting four in each. Turned out there were six, but they were thin. I point this out because this dish basically steams the chops as part of a layered arrangement: Cubed potatoes, caramelized onions, and chops on top drizzled with some dry mustard stirred into a little sherry.
Because there were 12 chops, I nearly doubled the wine, which proved unnecessary. There was a lot of liquid on the bottom of the dish. It didn’t make anything mushy, but it was a mild surprise. And despite the thinness of the meat and the cooking time, the chops came out moist and tender.
Along with the unusual mixing of mustard and wine, the recipe had two other bits I don’t remember ever doing for any other recipe: Adding a little brown sugar to the onions speeds the caramelizing, and sauteeing the apples in butter with some traditional spices — but not baking them with the rest of the dish — meant the thick wedges still had plenty of crunch without being distractingly crisp.
MT liked it so much, she said the dish could be a holiday meal.
Dobru chut!
Smoked pork chops with potato, onion and sautéed apples (giangiskitchen.com, Giangi Townsend)
½ pound yellow onion, sliced ¼ inch thick
1 tablespoon brown sugar, plus 1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 pound russet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 pound smoked pork chops, ¾ to 1 inch thick
½ teaspoon dry mustard
¼ cup dry sherry
1½ tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound apples, peeled, cored, sliced ¼ to ½ inch thick wedges
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
Heat oven to 350°F.
Heat the oil and sauté the onion with a teaspoon of brown sugar for 8-10 minutes until caramelized, soft, and tender.
Grease a 2-quart casserole dish and arrange the potatoes on the bottom. Make a layer of onions over the potatoes, followed by the pork chops.
Stir the dry mustard into the sherry and pour over the pork chops. Cover the dish and bake 45 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.
Heat the butter in a skillet and sauté the apple slices for 3-4 minutes. Blend the remaining tablespoon brown sugar, cinnamon and cloves together and sprinkle over the apples. Spread the apples over the chops and serve immediately.
Local journalism matters, and your support makes it possible. You can help sustain this work by making a donation or choosing one of our subscription options. Subscribers enjoy valuable benefits, including full access to our e-edition, a reduced ad experience on timesleader.com, and more.
Your support helps ensure independent, high-quality local news remains available today and for future generations. Thank you for standing with local journalism.
