It’s getting close to midnight and although I sat down at the computer about 2 hours ago I’ve now started to type up this post. Instead of writing I got sucked into yet another bunch of political debates….okay, arguments. Without getting into politics here on my blog, let me just say that some people really piss me off. Our country has become so divided between the right and the left, the liberals and the conservatives, I sometimes wonder if we haven’t passed the point of no return. Of course, each side blames the other for spreading the hate and fear mongering, but both sides engage in this type of rhetoric and discourse. I have my political leanings but even those I support are part of the problem. Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn’t be better to vote them all out of office and start all over again.

But enough of my ranting. You haven’t come to a food blog to read about politics, but don’t worry, the recipe I have today is worth wading through that short sidebar. Once again, I turn my sites to the humble hog for inspiration, because, come on, what’s not to love about pig! Pork is such a flavorful and versatile product. Virtually every last bit of the pig can be used, literally from snout to tail and from the tops of the ears down to the hooves. And the pig has given us one of mankind’s greatest gifts – bacon!!!! What’s not to love about bacon; crispy meat, rich, juicy fat and a deep sweet smokiness. I truly feel for those people whose religion forbids them from not ever knowing the joys of bacon. But I digress, again. I blame it on the late hour and too much cyber debating.

Moving on. This recipe calls for pork chops. It doesn’t matter which type of chop you choose, but choose chops with the bone in. All chops come from the loin section, a part of the pig that lies along the middle of it’s back. This location doesn’t get used much by the pig, compared to other muscles so the whole loin is pretty tender and moist. My personal favorite for chops is a rib chop, which contains a large round eye of meat surrounded by fat on three sides and a rib bone on the other. But you may use whichever chop you like best or better yet, whichever type is on sale.

Coriander Crusted Pork Chops with Lime Glaze

4 pork chops, thick cut (about 6-10 oz each)
salt
pepper
coriander seed, whole

1/2 cup Lime Marmalade**
1 tsp. cider vinegar
1 tsp. honey
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. chili powder

Grind the coriander in a spice mill or mortar and pestle until coarsely ground, leaving some larger pieces in the mix. Season the chops with salt and pepper and generously season with the ground coriander.

Allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before grilling. Meanwhile combine the marmalade, vinegar, honey, cayenne and chili powder and stir to combine. Preheat your grill. Clean and oil the grates and place chops over high heat. Cook for about 6 minutes.

Flip and cook another 6 minutes. Remove to a cooler part of the grill. Brush 1 side with glaze, cover grill and cook for 3 minutes. Flip, brush other side with glaze and cook 3 minutes making sure the bottom isn’t burning. Continue this until all the glaze has been used up and the pork chops are cooked through, about 150°F. Watch the chops carefully as the glaze will burn if the heat is too high. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

**Note: Use the provided link to make your own lime marmalade or you can substitute any other marmalade for the lime marmalade. Any citrus flavor would compliment the other flavors in the recipe well.

About 3 weeks ago I made my own sauerkraut for the first time. You can find the post about it here. For the last week, I have been checking and tasting it daily to see if it was ready. Today I decided it had fermented enough so I packed it up into smaller containers and refrigerated it. In hindsight, the next time I make sauerkraut I will let it go just a little further and get a touch more sour as I really like sour things, though my wife thought it had just the right amount of sourness. Either way I am very happy with the results. My homemade stuff is so much better than the store bought stuff, and it is so easy to make. I don’t know why it took me so long to attempt to make sauerkraut, but after this experiment I think it will become, at the very least, a yearly thing. Maybe next year I will make a larger batch and attempt to can some when it is done.

Of course, once the sauerkraut was ready I couldn’t wait to cook with it so I threw together one of my favorite dishes, Choucroute. Technically what I prepare is not truly choucroute as I use beer in my dish as opposed to white wine (usually Riesling) and I skip many of the traditional spices such as juniper berries, mace, nutmeg, etc. in favor of caraway seed, but choucroute sounds so much better than Sausages Braised with Sauerkraut. This dish can be made up pretty quickly, but I prefer to cook it slow and low for 1-2 hours as I find this long, slow cooking yields a depth of flavor that quick cooking just can’t achieve. (continue reading…)