A Nice, Quick Meal: Vietnamese Pork Chop

9am: 1 cup coffee and 3 coconut curry nuts eaten.

12pm: 10 additional nuts and 15 Graham Bears.

3pm:  More coffee and 12 Graham Bears.

6pm: Feel young and collegiate, invincible even. Then realize I would have eaten 3 bowls of cereal and some carrot pickle by now in college.

6:01: The smell of bear and nut snacks is unappealing at this juncture.

6:03: Feel failure as an adult human being and hungry.

6:20: Lie down for some brainstorming and rest.

6:23pm: Wait! There's some pork chop in the fridge.

6:24pm: Stare at pork chops and try and gauge chances of hypoglycemic coma if I wait for rice to cook.

6:25pm: The Vietnamese Zone pork chop is born. Or shall we call it the Vietnamese DMZ Zone Pork Chop. Basically, it's a pork chop on a bed of salad. But you know, it's all about the dressing. And the pork juices dripping all over the salad just make it really nice.

Vietnamese Zone Pork Chop Recipe

For Salad

Use whatever vegetables are lying about in your fridge for the salad, preferably light crunchy ones, like some combination of endive, raddicchio, spinach, watercress, cabbage. It's pictured here with an blanched haricot vert, blood orange and spinach salad, but I actually prefer it on a bed of radicchio/endive. The haricot verts don't absorb the pork juice. (I made it twice this week.)

For Salad Dressing

2 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
2 tablespoon Sesame Oil
2 Tablespoons Other Oil (Canola, Vegetable, Grapeseed Preferred but Olive Oil works fine too.)
1 Tablespoon Rice Vinegar
2 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon lemon (optional)
dash of hot pepper flakes

1. Combine ingredients. Coat salad with dressing when the pork chops are ready and put on a plate.

For Pork Chops

2 Pork chops (I recommend ones that are about 1/2 - 3/4 inch thick)
2 Tablespoon Fish Sauce (nuoc mam/nam pla)
3 Tablesoons honey (or sugar)
2 Tablespoon Lime (or in my case, lemon since that's all I had )
1-2 clove garlic minced
several healthy grinds from a pepper mill

1. Mix ingredients together. Let pork chop bathe around in the sauce for a few minutes.

2. In my case, my broiler doesn't work, so I pan fry it on my grill pan for 5 minutes on each side at medium high heat. It's a bit carcinogenic, cause of the sauce cooking at such a high heat so make sure the pan is well oiled. If you broil it, it takes 10 minutes too. Be sure to baste the pork chop with the fish sauce mix during the cooking. Let the pork chops rest for a few minutes before you plate it on the salad.

Comments

[Paul]

looks delicious.

[Tammy]

First, I'd like to comment on the blog as a whole, AWESOME. Your work is informative but not boring...witty but not corny. Food pics, amazing.

Vietnamese pork chop looks fantastic, like the color and garnishes, blood orange, hmm, interesting. Doesn't look dry like my mom's back in the day! :)

[laura Max]

How thick was that pork chop? Why did my mom tell me pork chops need (at least) a half an hour in the pan or oven to prevent trichinosis (sp?). I am not going to look up how to spell trichinosis right now.

[Michelle]

Paul, Thanks!

Tammy, Thank you so much, that is very kind, especially coming from a chef and food scientist. xoxo M

Laura, About 3/4 inch. There was a whole trichinosis brainwashing campaign after a scare from years ago. They told everyone to incinerate them when they really don't need to be cooked at such a high temp or for so long. I've cooked pork chops with recipes that do take about 20-25 minutes if it involves browning and then braising with liquid with a pork chop 1-2 inches thick. But for grilling or broiling 10 minutes is fine- they should be slightly pink and juicy.

[spencer]

yum. will make. will eat.

[The Guilty Carnivore]

My mom used to make a similar bone-in pork chop growing up (she'd also add a few dashes of Maggi to the marinade). It is a crowd pleaser - we'd eat the chops with sauteed greens, and either steamed jasmine rice or, believe it or not, mac-n-cheese from a box. I'll indulge my own inner WT on occasion with the latter combo when I'm feeling nostalgic. I think it's time to pass the tradition onto my daughter.

[Michelle]

Hi GC,

I love pork chop and mac n cheese. and Maggi.