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rivkaHere's my new resolution: if I'm going to follow an actual recipe, as opposed to just cooking, I will read it carefully first. Also, if I need to make changes I will stop and think them through.
The supermarket has started offering free "healthy recipe" cards, and I picked one up for "golden pork chops and apples" or something like that: essentially, pork chops and apple slices in a sauce. In my quick scan of the recipe, I formed the impression that it called for cider vinegar. Once the chops were sauteeing and the apples were all sliced, however, I realized that somehow the word "vinegar" had been an utter phantasm. "Apple cider or juice."
Okay, not a crisis. There are plenty of liquids that could have substituted well for apple cider. But I was in following-directions mode, rather than rational thought mode, and I thought "Apple juice! We have apple-grape juice. Surely that's almost the same thing." And I hastily poured in a half cup of juice.
Quick, what's the most fundamental quality of grape juice? Its intense and tenacious color, as anyone who's ever spilled some on a white shirt can tell you. The apples looked lovely - sort of a deep rose-gold color - but the pork chops were a different matter entirely. It turns out that hot pink is an unsettling color for pork.
They tasted okay. The chops were unusually moist and juicy, which was nice, and the apples were tasty, but the flavor of the pork was mild and one-note: sweet. I should've toned it down with cider vinegar after all. Next time I make this I'll brown the chops and then add the apples with about a half-bottle of beer. I already know that beer is an excellent medium for cooking pork - you can't live in the midwest for five years without learning that - and I think it would go well with apples. I expect it will deepen the sauce, offsetting the sweetness of the apples nicely. Also - and this is just a minor stylistic note - it will not be hot pink.
The supermarket has started offering free "healthy recipe" cards, and I picked one up for "golden pork chops and apples" or something like that: essentially, pork chops and apple slices in a sauce. In my quick scan of the recipe, I formed the impression that it called for cider vinegar. Once the chops were sauteeing and the apples were all sliced, however, I realized that somehow the word "vinegar" had been an utter phantasm. "Apple cider or juice."
Okay, not a crisis. There are plenty of liquids that could have substituted well for apple cider. But I was in following-directions mode, rather than rational thought mode, and I thought "Apple juice! We have apple-grape juice. Surely that's almost the same thing." And I hastily poured in a half cup of juice.
Quick, what's the most fundamental quality of grape juice? Its intense and tenacious color, as anyone who's ever spilled some on a white shirt can tell you. The apples looked lovely - sort of a deep rose-gold color - but the pork chops were a different matter entirely. It turns out that hot pink is an unsettling color for pork.
They tasted okay. The chops were unusually moist and juicy, which was nice, and the apples were tasty, but the flavor of the pork was mild and one-note: sweet. I should've toned it down with cider vinegar after all. Next time I make this I'll brown the chops and then add the apples with about a half-bottle of beer. I already know that beer is an excellent medium for cooking pork - you can't live in the midwest for five years without learning that - and I think it would go well with apples. I expect it will deepen the sauce, offsetting the sweetness of the apples nicely. Also - and this is just a minor stylistic note - it will not be hot pink.
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Date: 2002-06-13 05:50 am (UTC)I really like pork tenderloin when we need a little extra for dinner (or leftovers), maybe I'll try a beer-based marinade with it.
Yumm . . ..
no subject
Date: 2002-06-13 06:21 am (UTC)Hot pink not good for pork?
Date: 2002-06-13 11:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-06-14 08:43 am (UTC)Zima also works well with pork, I found. I'd bought a six-pack of the stuff, discovered I didn't like it to drink, so I dumped it in a pasta sauce I was making with pork.
A word of wisdom from a chef I knew once:
Follow the recipe exactly the first time. Then go crazy.