I did it! Awesome! You know, these awesome things and super-exciting posts are exactly why I am scratching my head in disbelief that I ONLY HAVE FIVE FOLLOWERS. I mean, seriously?! Wow - you five people tell your friends they do not know what they're missing because today we are talking about what? That's right, pork chops... (but not applesauce, I was just putting in a teaser that falls flat, like the evening news previews while you're watching your evening programming).
I once again made a somewhat empty, and undeniably premature promise to post my review of Crunchy Honey Garlic Pork Chops from Just A Pinch. But rest assured that I always come through eventually, although it could be posthumously, so just hang tight! And here I am following up on my promise! They sure do look tasty, and my kids love pork chops, so here's our dinner experiment:
I used 6 very large, 1" thick, bone-in chops. The picture definitely looks like bone-in, but my judgement told me anyway that where this was going through a pan fry and then into the oven, that the bone-in should be a little more forgiving because it tends to have more fat than boneless, which helps it to not dry out so much. Also, for the most part, you'd have to probably pound out, or slice in half the boneless if you had it, since they're usually quite thick. Another thing about this recipe that's a winner - you likely have all these ingredients already: honey, brown sugar, ginger (I used dry), soy sauce, garlic... very basic. Let's get started!
Because my chops were so large I could only cook 2 at a time, and even that was pushing it. I made the glaze right away while the first chop was cooking. There's no need to wait and it's really easy so you may as well get to it. Issue #1 that I had was that my chops were so large that I did not know what to do for the baking dish. You are supposed to use the 9x13. There is no way you'd get 6 regular chops, never mind large ones in that size pan. They will overlap, so if you don't mind that, then ok. The ones I had were so large that I should not have even used that pan. They ended up way too stacked up, even 3 layers at one point. But... I started and the pan's dirty now, so that's what I'm going with. I carefully fried everything so that it's nice and crunchy and follow the instructions for the sauce but I just know that the way these things are piled in the pan, that the sauce will not really glaze up like in the pic. And it doesn't. Really the coating becomes soggy with the sauce. BUT - super tasty.. kids loved it! It was yummy, even though I didn't really want to it eat it (after I've been cooking for a while, I don't want to eat what I made. I know, weird, huh?).
Would I make this again? Yes, and here's what I would do to fix it:
The glaze needs to be cooked longer to be more reduced and concentrated and syrupy. As it is, bringing it just to a boil at the original volume, it's too much in quantity and very wet, not at all like a glaze, and what happens is that it just soaks into that nice crispy coating that you so painstakingly worked at while frying the chops, and pours right over it all to the bottom of the dish. It needs to have some substance to actually cling and coat without making everything soggy. I'd be sure to use a pan or more than one pan, that the chops can all be in an even layer. They are going in the oven for another 20-ish minutes and if the glaze has just all poured to the bottom, and everything's on top of something else, then they will never look like that pic. Also - be sure not to overcook in the frying pan. You are finishing in the oven not just to set the glaze, but to finish the cooking, so make sure you don't have chops that are dry as a bone before you put them in. However, if they were to be so done that you don't dare put them in the oven, I would think that not all is lost - serve them anyway and just drizzle the glaze on. It seems to me that it should be pretty forgiving. The recipe also suggests trying chicken breast, and I could definitely see it working with that, but I haven't tried it. Crunchy honey garlic chicken tenders... now that's an idea. Maybe with cornflakes in the coating? The mind reels....
So since my kids and Bruce really thought this was tasty and ate it all up, yes, I will put this in my "keep" file and try it again with modifications, and I'll let you know how it turns out when I do. Or if you try it, comment and tell me!
What shall I review next...hmm...
