Pork Cutlet

Forgotten Tastes

About a month ago I purchased American Classics by the editors of Cook's Illustrated magazine. The book is a good modern reference to such traditional favorites as Chicken Pot Pie, Parker House Rolls, and Yellow Layer Cake done in the magazine's inimitable style of setting a goal and the experimenting until they achieve it. I don't always like their recipes, but I trust them and the investigation behind them.

One of the recipes I browsed was Crisp Pork Cutlets -- something I haven't fixed in ages. So the other night I pulled a boneless pork loin chop out of the freezer and thawed it. I didn't follow the book recipe (although I'm sure I remembered parts of what I'd read) but instead followed my own instincts. The result was juicy, tender, and the essence of pork flavor.

Pork Cutlets

6 oz. boneless pork loin chop
1 egg -- beaten in pie plate
1/4 c all purpose flour
sage, paprika, salt, black pepper
1/4 c sourdough bread crumbs -- seasoned with sage, paprika, salt, & pepper
1 tbsp olive oil

Pound chop to about 1/4" thick and season generously with sage, paprika, salt, & pepper (I'm particularly fond of freshly-ground Lamphong black pepper which is both spicy and highly aromatic). Dredge the chop in the flour, coat with egg, and thoroughly coat with bread crumbs. (Note: seasoning the pork directly is much more effective than seasoning the flour and or seasoning the bread crumbs alone.) Set chop aside.

Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Add oil. Fry chop on each side until golden and crisp (about 2 minutes per side). Serve immediately.

I sauteed some frozen turnip greens in oil seasoned with curry powder to go with it. A great meal.

Kevin

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Apple Crepes

Apple Ambles



Oddly, I'm not a huge fan of some of the types of foods I enjoy cooking the most. For instance, I love baking bread but I'm not much of a bread eater. I love the feel of the dough. I love the long, patient wait for the first and second rises. I love the smell of the yeast as the bread rises and then as it bakes. And I love those first two or three slices -- plain or with butter or cheese or a rag of prosciutto. The remainder of the loaf I enjoy well enough, but the magic, for me, is over. I'm just not much of a bread eater.

It's the same with desserts. I enjoy preparing them but I'm not much of a sweet eater.

So I prefer desserts that aren't tremendously sweet and I prefer desserts based on fruit. When I ran across this Sweet Tooth Friday thingamabob calling for apple desserts it seemed right down my alley. The question was what to fix.

I'd wanted to submit a terrine to the last IMBB, but life interfered and I never got around to it. So my first thought was to create an apple terrine and kill two birds with one stone. I did a fair bit of research into terrines and apple desserts but I couldn't quite pull a recipe together. Perhaps a solution will occur to me eventually.

In the meantime, I've had a hankering lately for crepes and a separate yen for roast duck. I was already planning on doing a duck for T'day and I thought the leftovers would make a good crepe filling. So I decided to kill two different birds -- so to speak.

I decided the slightly-sweet nuttiness (and delicate texture) of buckwheat would make a perfect foil for both duck and apple. So I rooted around and found a buckwheat crepe recipe. It was typical and I won't post it, but I did substitute fresh apple cider for about 1/4 of the milk. (Note, these crepes will be perfect with the duck leftovers.)

As for the filling, brown sugar or maple syrup were the obvious choices for sweetener, but maple syrup seemed too obvious and brown sugar is just granulated sugar with molasses added. Why not skip the sugar and go straight for the molasses? Besides, I was already thinking that a good solid slug of rum would be a nice addition and rum, like brown sugar, is made from sugar cane. From that basis everything else was obvious.

The result isn't that great to look at -- it's rather brown -- but it's not too sweet and has loads of apple flavor.

Apple Crepes

*** TOPPING ***
1/2 c mascarpone cheese
1 1/2 tsps dark rum
1 1/2 tsps apple cider
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

*** GARNISH ***
1/2 c pecan halves
4 tsps sweet butter -- melted
2 tbsps granulated sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

*** CREPES ***
4 ea buckwheat crepes
2 ea Gala apples -- peeled, cored, & cut into 1/4" slices
2 tbsps clarified butter
2 tbsps molasses
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 c dark rum
1/4 c apple cider
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 c heavy cream

TOPPING: Thoroughly mix all ingredients together and refridgerate.

GARNISH: Mix together sugar an cinnamon. Toss pecans with butter to coat and then toss with cinnamon and sugar.

Broil until toasted, shaking pan to brown evenly. Set aside.

CREPES:
Most any buckwheat crepe recipe will probably work, but substitute apple cider for a quarter of the milk.

Heat a 10" skillet over medium high heat. Add 1/2 clarified butter and 1/2 apples. Cook until apples are lightly browned. Remove to a plate and repeat with remaining butter and apples.

Return first batch of apples to skillet and add vinegar, cardamom, and molasses. Cook until molasses bubbles vigorously, stirring apples to coat. Move apples to a plate using a slotted spatula.

Deglaze skillet with rum and cider and reduce by 1/2. Add cream and reduce by 1/2. Return apples to skillet and stir to warm and coat. Remove from heat and spoon 1/4 of apples down the center of each crepe. Mound 1/4 of topping on each crepe, drizzle with remaining sauce, and garnish with pecans.

Kevin

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Cooks' Bash

Making Broth

The old saying runs: "Too many cooks spoil the broth." But perhaps that depends on the kind of broth being made.

Back about 1991 I joined the COOKS forum on CompuServe and discovered an entire online community of people as passionate about food and cooking as I am. We shared recipes, had long arguments about sharpening knives, and traded sly innuendoes. The forum was great fun and I met some wonderful cooks.

Then in '94 one of the members decided to host what she called a Cooks Bash. She extended an invitation to the entire forum to come to South Carolina (where she lived) and spend a weekend eating, visiting, and getting to know each other face-to-face. Something like 35 people attended -- some from as far away as England and Holland -- and a wonderful time was had by all. In fact, we had such fun we decided to do it again two years later.

Sadly the original group fragmented, but a core relocated to another CompuServe forum (in fact, that core group ended up relocating several times (a sort of culinary diaspora) before finding it's current home in a private newsgroup) and sure enough a second Bash was held in 1994. Half the size of the first gathering, it still managed to be so much fun that a third Bash was planned for '96.

It's now 2004 and at the end of this week we'll gather in Atlanta for the sixth Cooks' Bash. Aside from four of us who have never missed a Bash, the group has varied each time -- as has the location. But the Bashes remain a celebration of good food and good company.

It's a testament to the power of what is now the Internet that this collection of people has managed to survive and remain as tightly knit as it is for 13 years even as individual members have come and gone.

Kevin

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