This dish comes from my childhood. We ate it about once a month when I was little: pork chops atop rice, all cooked together in a skillet with decorations of onion, lemon and chilli sauce.When I scooted off to college, my mom compiled a batch of beloved family recipes to take with me so I wouldn't starve on a dining hall diet, and I'm sure this one was among them. But you wouldn't really need a recipe at all if you'd eaten it so many times as a girl.
I doubt this is even interesting to you, but if you want to be seduced, read this: The rice (which is added to the skillet raw, along with the requisite water) sucks up all the browny pork fat, lemon drippings and tomato goo. It is EVIL, and I mean that in a good way. Sticky, evil rice. Just shoot me now.
So, if you want sticky evil rice, brown your chops in a skillet with oil until they're — brown. Pull them out, and dump in rice (a cup is too much for two people) and the appropriate amount of water. Put a lid on the skillet and let the rice cook about halfway. Then lay the chops on top, cover with one slice each of lemon and onion, and drizzle with chilli sauce. I don't know what chilli sauce is. I used homemade tomato sauce infused with bay leaf, garlic (powder! c'mon, it's retro), salt and chile flakes. Lid back on; cook until meat and rice are done.
Your pork will probably be overcooked; mine always is. But it's juicy and fragrant and... Well, if you were me, it would remind you of being a kid.
Come on over. I'll cook you supper.
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22 comments:
do you think this would work with brown rice, or would it just be all wrong?
Totally! Massa's brown rice. It would work but you'd need to cook it more than halfway so you don't incinerate the chops. (And to think that we actually went and bought Lundberg's white rice, when our "house" brand is Massa.)
BTW, it was Marin Sun Farms pork, and one of their chops is big enough for two appetites.
I remember that dish. It was considered "fancy" because it had lemon slices! I made a pork chop casserole (for one) last week -- chop, potatoes, onions, chicken broth. (I cheated and added garlic and sage, but that didn't change the sentimental appeal.) Brought back fall nights when I was a kid. Sometimes we have to do these things.
You must have blogged this before, because I've made it. It's not a dish from my childhood, I wouldn't have thought to make it myself, so it must have come from you.
It was fabulous, sticky and delish, only slightly evil.
okay..I am totally hitting the Marin market on Thursday to get the MSF pork. I already have the Masa rice.
Thanks. One pot wonders are my favorite this time of year.
I love this post. Sometimes a recipe that links back to childhood is all that will do : )
Yummers! Think this might grace our table within the next week.
Sometimes, the crazy foods from childhood are the most satisfying. My mother used to make spareribs that I still dream about - but I've lost the recipe! :-( Guess I need to set about re-creating it!
Kudzu: What a great notion -- "fancy." When you're a kid, you just don't realize it. I know this is a recipe in the foodosphere; I Googled it once and... it's out there. And yes, it worked on the brainular regions. PRN.
We gotta get you a little Staub pot!
Mouse: I might have blogged this before but I just did a lazy search and it didn't turn up. Oh, how glorious that we've eaten the same fancy, humdrum (evil) food.
David: Very true! I'm SO into this chilly season; it's completely unlike me. I wish you success with your local pork; those guys rawk. (I don't spell it that way, ever.) :D
Denise: Sweet. When I realized I wanted to make this meal, I was already transported. My hubz has become a total convert.
Sean: For real? It is very plebeian, even with the "fancy" lemon slices. Just monitor your meat. (OMG, I just said "just monitor your meat.") To get the goo effect, you essentially have to kill the pork. C'est la vie. Or -- le morte.
Zoomie: I wish I had even a fleeting notion of your mom's spareribs. Sauerkraut? Or is that just Dagwood?
MMmMMm, if you used pork steaks (from the sirloin) you could cook the chops all the way and they'd come out a lot like pulled pork. OH yeah baby!
Biggles
They were some kinda tomatoey and allspice? not sure. It wasn't just catsup, although I'm sure that was an ingredient, and maybe vinegar and they cooked a long, long time in the oven under foil, filling the house with aroma so that when I got home from school I could already smell them, then was tantalized until dinner time. I gotta figure this one out!
Biggles: I think you have just saved -- elevated -- my repertoire. Pork steaks! Oh, I think that'll work. Shreddy.
Zooms: Oh, I want that. I'll invent it.
Fred and I often share a chop.
Sam: I thought. :)
(Oh, I have so much to tell you! Let's talk.)
Oh, yeah, chili sauce. Not sure if it's made anymore, I haven't looked. But it used to sit right next to the catsup, Del Monte and everything! My 40+ year old cookbooks are filthy with it.
Biggles
Biggles: Groucho Marx's duck just dropped from the studio ceiling. (If you have 40-year-old cookbooks, you might get that.)
YES! Chili sauce was in the un-tapered bottle, with the larger cap. No flavor at all. I 'mo look it up right now. I'm back. Yep, it still exists.
Tee hee, I could see the image in my head. Knew it was from You Bet Your Life with Groucho, but couldn't remember why it dropped down. Where's my 2 50's? Heh.
I like a good white trash meal as much as anyone does, I've still never tried any.
Biggles
Biggles: I know you want this.
Let's experiment with the pork steak.
But, "white trash"? Hey, there's fu-fu lemon slices on it!
I had no idea other people at that. I absolutely love it. Chicken too.
Alecto: We're outing ourselves! The whole movement against old-fashioned food (well, mid-century) is not air-tight.
Chicken! Oh, I'm trying it next time. Dark meat.
Pirate Storyteller: I klutzed up on your comment; couldn't publish it. Here it is:
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If you are interested in trying out some SWEET CHILI SAUCES, here are some good ones.
Grama's Sweet Chili Sauce (gramassauce.com)
or
Caravelle (Caravelleusa.com)
I was eating Caravelle for quite a few years and is very good, but have switched to Grama's since it is all natural.
Either is great. It is a must on Bento. Chichen bento skewered with teriyaki sauce and placed on sticky rice with sweet chili sauce. Also good with yellow curry sauces.(Bento is a big thing up here in Portland).
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Thanks! Great information, new to me.
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