Côtes de Porc Poêlées avec Sauce Moutarde à la Normande

Or simply Casserole-sautéed Pork Chops with Creamy Mustard Sauce.

Please excuse my plating and photography skills :)

For my first food post, I did a pork recipe. Normally I would do a chicken breast recipe since it's easier. But when I decided to document it and create a food blog about my cooking experience, this is what's in store for tonight.

These two recipes, the pork chops and the sauce, are both from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. And I must say, for those of you who want to learn how to cook, especially la cuisine française, you have to have this book. This will teach you every techniques, tips, tricks and every skills you need as a culinary student (or a stay-at-home-kitchen-student like me!)

Let's go to the food!

I would say I really, really love the mustard sauce! Frankly, I don't like mustard (yes, even on hotdogs) but this sauce is so creamy! Although I think I failed to make it a little thicker, maybe an extra minute or two in making the sauce would be enough. On the other hand, the pork chops for me are a little tough. I don't know, maybe I did something wrong in sautée-ing it? However, the taste is not really something special. At the end of the day, they're just pork chops sautéed in butter and herbs. The sauce gave this dish a wow factor for me though, and some of the herb-marinade.

How can I make pork chops a little more tender? Fry? Bake? Pressure cook? Boil? I hope someone can answer my noob question.

Here are the recipes for the marinade, pork chops and sauce!

Marinade Simple (Lemon Juice and Herb Marinade)
per half-kilo/pound of pork
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
3 tbsp lemon juice (I used local calamansi)
3 tbsp olive oil
3 parsley sprigs
1/4 tsp thyme or sage
1 bay leaf
1 clove mashed garlic

1. Rub salt and pepper into the meat. Mix the other ingredients in a bowl, add the pork and baste it. Place a lid over the bowl. Turn and baste the meat 3 or 4 times during its marination period.

2. Before cooking, scrape off the marinade, and dry the meat thoroughly with paper towels.

Cotês de Porc Poêléesfor 6 pax

6 marinated pork chops 

3-4 tbsp pork fat, lard or cooking oil

2 tbsp butter 

2 halved cloves garlic (optional)

1. Pre-heat oven to 325F(160C)

2. Dry pork chops with towel. Heat the fat or oil in the casserole until it is almost smoking, then brown the chops 3-4 minutes on each side. As they are browned, transfer them to a side dish.

3. If the chops have not been marinated, season them with salt, pepper, and 1/4 tsp thyme or sage.

4. Pour the fat out of the casserole and add the butter and garlic*. Return the chops, overlapping them slightly. Baste them with butter. Cover and heat the casserole until the meat is sizzling, then set in lower third of preheated oven for 25-30 minutes

5. Turn and baste the chops once or twice. They are done when the meat juices run a clear yellow with no trace of rose.

Sauce Moutarde à la Normandefor about 2 cups
1/3 cup cider vinegar
10 crushed peppercorns
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
Salt
2 tsp dry mustard
2 tsp water
1-2 tbsp butter

1. Strain the meat juice into a bowl and degrease them.

2. Pour the vinegar and the peppercorns into the casserole and boil until the vinegar has reduced to about a tablespoon. Pour in the meat juice and boil them down rapidly until they have reduced to about 2/3 cup.
(for here, I only had 1/2 cup of meat juice. I just waited for it to reduce a little bit) 

3. Add the cream and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring in salt to taste. Beat in the mustard and water mixture and simmer for 2 or 3 minutes more. Sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. Correct seasoning.

4. Turn off the heat and swirl in the butter. 

5. Serve the sauce on the side or pour over the chops.

6. Garnish with fresh parsley and good plating skills. 

Et voila! Julia Child's Côtes de Porc Poêlées avec Sauce Moutarde à la Normande. And as she would say, Bon Apetit!