Homer: Are you saying you’re never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Ham?
Lisa: No!
Homer: Pork chops?
Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same animal!
Homer: Heh heh heh… ooh… yeah… right, Lisa. A wonderful… magical animal.
I can’t believe I have anything in common with Homer Simpson, but he loves pork chops and so do I. Once, I got in a little trouble with my Aunt Linda over pork chops. I stayed with her and her little girl for a week one summer and every night we would go to a little restaurant to eat. Her little girl would order a burger from the kiddie menu, but at 9 years old, I was already a foodie, and kiddie menus didn’t interest me. One night I ordered pork chops and my aunt scolded me for spending too much money. I felt horrified and shamed because my family ate out in restaurants frequently, and I had never been sanctioned for ordering a more grown up meal. But, then is it normal for a nine year old girl to order pork chops? Homer Simpson would say it was. Needless to say, it didn’t scar me for life. I still love my pork chops.
I’m not sure of Homer Simpson’s preferences, but I only like the center-cut chops, which have a T bone, similar to a T bone steak. There is usually enough fat and bone in a center-cut, which adds up to flavor. Pork tenderloin (the all white meat with no bone) is too often tasteless and boring and requires a lot of doctoring up to call it comfort food.
Pork chops can have issues too. The problem most cooks get into with pork chops is tenderness. The meat other side of that bone can have a lot of connective tissue which can make a chop tough and chewy.
Retro Rose, queen of the comfort food, taught me to bake my chops for two hours at a low temperature under cover most of the time to ensure tenderness. The flavor is boosted by slices of apples and onions that bake into a caramelized treasure. Herbs such as rosemary, sage, thyme or oregano marry into this family of flavors perfectly.
Be sure to add in some colorful side dishes and make extra apples and onions to serve with the chops. Naturally, I baked these in a cast iron skillet. Stay tuned for a gorgeous Autumn apple pie, next post, also baked in a cast iron skillet.
I served the pork chops with apples and then served an apple pie for dessert. Redundant? A food faux pas? What do you think? Do you repeat ingredients in subsequent dishes?
| Baked Pork Chops with Rosemary, Apples and Caramelized Onions |
- 4 center-cut pork chops, one inch thick
- sea salt
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2 large apples, sliced cross wise with skin on
- 2 large onion sliced cross wise with skin on
- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, off stem, chopped finely
- Liberally salt pork chops. Wrap in plastic, refrigerate for several hours.
- One hour before baking, take chops out, brush salt off, and marinate with a mixture of olive oil and balsamic vinegar
- Add dash of rosemary, salt and pepper
- Arrange cast iron skillet or baking dish with sliced onion, apple, pork chops, topped again with sliced onion and apple
- Take remaining apple and onion and place around the chops.
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees
- Bake in roasting pan with loose tin foil cover for 30 minutes. Turn over.
- Repeat turning at 15 minutes.
- During last 20 minutes turn temperature up to 400 degrees, remove tin foil and remove onion apple from top of chops. Add remaining rosemary. Chops are done when fat is browned.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Me likes mucho those “chuletas”. Definitely extra “manzanas”.
I guess the judges would say that was marrying the flavors from entree to dessert. I say, who cares as long as it tastes good?
P.S. I like ‘skin on’ and the splash of vinegar.
Que de délicieux parfums, j’aime
Je te souhaite une belle fin de week-end
Valérie.
These are packed with fall flavours Angela. I will follow Retro Rose the next time and bake these in a slow oven.
Retro Rose is the queen of the comfort food cooking. And, her pork chops are still better than mine!
I try not to repeat ingredients but I defy any non vegetarians to resist the sound of pork chops with apple sauce and apple pie!
OMG!! Such a flavored recipe. looks wonderful and i would love to take a bite right now
I don’t mind repeating ingredients in subsequent dishes as long as it’s not too obvious. And porkchops with apple and then apple pie is good for me! I think with porkchops – as with any meat – is to have a good piece of meat. The supermarket pork chops are just plain horrible, chewy, dry and inedible but the ones I get out of the local farm are amazingly delicious…
Interesting to have them cook for two hours! I do have to try that!
This was the one I used. Yummy!!!!
Confusing –what do you mean? After the 1st 30 minutes, turn them over, cook 15 minutes, turn back over and cook 15 minutes more at 400?