Previously... on This Little Pig Day Piggy...
And now for the long overdue 3rd and final chapter to this little porcine trilogy -- an afternoon in the kitchen. A potluck of ideas and recipes on what to do with pork, the results of which were to be shared with everyone at dinner. Here are some of the delicious results.
I ended up with pork chops to play with. Butcher Jim's recommendation was to deep fry them. How could I possibly disagree with the man? I improvised, and didn't think much of it. But Dingley Dell boss Mark Hayward went around the tables at dinner asking who made them because he was rather taken with them! *Beam*
So I thought I'd share with you what I did. Pardon the complete lack of proportions!
The spice rub:
Sea salt flakes
Cracked black pepper
Paprika
Runny honey
A touch of spicy English mustard
Make a small bowl of the rub, enough to thinly coat however many pork chops you have, such that they look like this...
If possible let the chops sit with the spice rub for a few hours.
The batter:
1 can (330ml) lager or light golden ale
1.5 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
Pour the beer into a large bowl. Sift the flour and salt into the beer. Whisk until the batter is light and frothy. Set aside.
Right. Get a big pan and drizzle in some sunflower or vegetable or rapseseed oil. Let the oil get hot, then put in as many chops as the pan will fit. Do this in batches if needed. Fry for about 7 minutes each side. A little less if your chops are thinner, a little more if they are thicker. Check by sticking a sharp knife into the chop. The meat should be white and opaque rather than pink and seeping pink juice.
When all the chops are done being pan fried, pour in about an inch of oil and let it heap up till it starts to smoke.
Dredge the chops 1 by 1 in the batter quickly, then place in the pan until the batter is golden brown, probably about 30 seconds for each side. Don't do many chops at a time at this stage. You don't want the temperature of the oil to drop significantly.
That's it! Serve up, chow down.
A final thanks to the Edwards brothers, butchers Jim and Wayne, Rachel and Donald for organising and fellow participants for making it such a fun and memorable day!
