Rack M Nation: Applesauce Chops With A Kick

Pork Chops!

So good, so easy to screw up. Today kiddo's I'm gonna show you how to give your chops just a bit of bite. So, lets start off with a bit of info about the chop. Porkbeinspired.com tells you all about the basics of a chop, the cut variations and gives you a few tips from the butcher:

Choose meat that's pale pink with a small amount of marbling and white (not yellow) fat.

Once you have your chop picked out (I always go for a thicker chop, gives you more time to crust the outside just right while leaving the middle nice and juicy) then we can get started.

Getting Started

So, you've got your chops picked out and all ready, the only other things you need are a good cajun spice and some apple sauce. While I'm waiting for my grill or skillet to get good and hot, I'll go ahead and rub the chops down with some cajun spice. I always go with the "Slap Ya Mama":

Now, don't just sprinkle your seasoning on your chops and leave 'em be. You need to get in there and rub it in. Massage that meat and let it know whose boss. You are!  You don't need a ton of cajun spice, just enough to give it a bit of bite. Heres how my chops looked:

Mmmmm, those look nice. Once you've got your chops rubbed, massaged, and ready to roll you just wanna put a light "glaze" of apple sauce. I was pretty upset that I didn't have any homemade sauce left over so I just went with your regular old store bought Musselsman's. Just like with the rub, don't need too much here:

Yeah, look at those. The christmas plate just brings out all the goodness in the world. I'm ready for holiday cooking. But not yet! My grill was being funky so I just put these suckers in a med-high skillet for about 5 minutes and then cranked it up to high for another 30 seconds or so on each side to form a crust and seer in that sugary apple goodness. The final product looked a bit like this:

Frosty agrees, those look like they don't suck. And they didn't! I paired these guys up with some garlic mashed taters and corn off the cob. Good meal for the fall when things are cooling off and apple always sounds good.