The Perfect Pork Chop.

A few years ago, in the wee hours of the night, I sat in a dimly lit nursery feeding Will. I would read magazines, books, stories. Sometimes to Will, sometimes just to keep myself awake. One of those reads was a Cooks Illustrated magazine, that I had gotten in the mail. Over the course of a week I read that thing cover to cover, actually finding out some interesting cooking tips, recipes, ideas. One of the tips was on how to make the perfect pork chop. One that is juicy, tender, full of flavor.

Cook's Illustrated tips were:

1.) Never put a pork chop in a hot pan. The hot pan will cause the proteins in the pork to break down faster, thus causing a tougher chop.

2.) Never heat the oven over 350 degrees if you are cooking the pork chops. For the same reason as above, if the pork gets to hot to fast, it gets tough.

3.) How to tell if it got to hot to fast. If there is more than a tablespoon of water in the bottom of the pan.. then the proteins broke down, and the juices were released.

4.) When cooking pork chops in a pan, don't let them touch if possible, that way they will cook better, instead of steaming themselves.

So those tips, led me to try their theory.... and they were right. So since then, I have used their method to make pork chops and ooohhh how they melt in your mouth. Try their method and be amazed.

So after getting tired of the same ole' pork chop recipes, I googled "pork chop recipe" (I know brilliant right) and came to find that over 1/2 the recipes called for apple something or apple as the ingredient. Well when I wanted to make them, I didn't have a single apple in the house, so I opted to make up my own recipe, with apples in mind.

Spicy Applesauce Pork Chops (makes 2 pork chops)

WW pt: 5 pt (per chop)

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup BBQ sauce

2 Tbsp Louisiana hot sauce

pepper

salt

brown sugar

Pork chops, boneless or bone in.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a oven safe pan, over medium heat, spray with PAM. sprinkle a pinch of salt, pepper and brown sugar on one side of each pork chop and place seasoned side down in the pan immediately (They shouldn't sizzle when you put them in) then season the side facing up the same way. Cook on each side for 3-4 minutes. Then flip.

While the pork chops are on top of the stove. In a small bowl mix the applesauce, ketchup, bbq sauce, hot sauce, and a 1/4 tsp of pepper together.

Before placing the pork into the oven, spoon applesauce mixture onto the pork. Place in the oven for 5 minutes. Flip the pork chops, and spoon more sauce over the pork. Let cook another 5-8 minutes. Remove from oven. I usually spoon a couple of tablespoons of sauce on top of the chop before serving.

We usually have a potato (which I made hash browns out of) and a salad. Delicious!!!