Pork
1291 recipes found
Thin Pan-Seared Pork Chops
Double-thick pork chops always look appetizing, but unless they are cooked perfectly, they tend to be dry, regardless of whether you grill or bake them. That's especially true if they are lean loin chops. But skinny chops cooked over high heat on the stovetop are far more apt to come out juicy. Giving them an hour in quickly made brine adds even more flavor and tenderness. Ask your butcher to cut thin chops that weigh 4 to 5 ounces.
Moo Shu Mushrooms
Joyce Chen put moo shu (or “moo shi,” as she calls it) pork on the menu of her restaurant in Cambridge, Mass., in 1958. The classic version of this Chinese-American restaurant staple combines slivered pork with scrambled egg, wood ear mushrooms and day lilies, stir-fried together, then served with paper-thin Mandarin pancakes and hoisin sauce. For this version, I like to flip the ratio of mushrooms to pork on its head, loading up with an assortment of mushrooms and just a bit of pork. For the fresh mushrooms, I love using a mix of Asian mushrooms like shimeji (beech), shiitake, enoki, oyster and maitake (hen of the woods), aiming for a mix of flavors and textures, but cremini or button mushrooms will also do in a pinch. If you cannot find dried day lily buds, you can substitute canned bamboo shoots in their place; use 4 ounces sliced bamboo shoots and omit the soaking step.
Meat sauce (Sugo di Carne)
Smothered Pork Chops With Tomato and Cream
A Mess of Pork Chops With Dijon Dressing
Pork Chops Smothered With Fennel And Garlic
Pork Chops With Brandied Cherries
Pork and fruit is a classic combination, and for good reason: The sweetness and tang of the fruit softens the gamy richness of the meat. Here, a pan sauce of ripe summer cherries seasoned with a little brandy and fresh thyme adds verve and complexity to seared pork chops, while garam masala and allspice add heady, aromatic notes. You can use either sour or sweet cherries, as long as you balance the flavors at the end. Sweet ones will need a touch of vinegar for acidity, while sour cherries may need a drizzle of honey. Do take the time to get a good, dark sear on the meat before making the sauce. Those browned bits on the bottom of the pan are the flavor backbone of the sauce. The darker the color, the deeper the sauce.
Pan-Fried Breaded Pork Chops
Look for beautiful good-quality pork, such as Berkshire, and ask for center-cut loin chops with bone. For the bread crumbs, use day-old firm white sandwich bread or French loaf, cubed and whirled in a food processor, for about three cups of soft, fluffy crumbs. Dry, fine store-bought crumbs will not yield the same result. Make sure to fry these chops very gently over medium-high heat, to allow the bread-crumb coating to brown slowly, creating a crisp, golden crust. Serve with a tart salad or braised greens, such as broccoli rabe.
Chiles en Nogada
Considered by many to be the national dish of Mexico, chiles en nogada showcases the colors of the country’s flag: green, white and red. Created by nuns in Puebla in 1821, the dish was presented to the general of the Mexican Army, Agustín de Iturbide, after he signed the treaty that recognized Mexico’s independence from Spain. The nuns used the best of the late-season harvest in the dish, including poblano chiles, peaches, pears, apples and walnuts grown in farms near Puebla. The original dish was stuffed, battered and fried, and significantly heartier than this version. Here, fresh poblanos are fried until lightly cooked, peeled, stuffed, topped with creamy walnut sauce, then eaten at room temperature. It’s served throughout the country every September, in honor of Mexico’s Independence Day.
Pork and Apple Hot Pot
Pork Chops in Pipian
This is a recipe built on my memory of a dish I ate in a sticky-tabled Mexican restaurant in pregentrification Park Slope, Brooklyn: fried pork chops served over a thick, spicy sauce of seeds and nuts and chiles — what the cookbooks and histories of Mexican food call pipian, for the pepitas, or pumpkin seeds, used in its creation. It is hardly authentic, but it is simple to make and hugely delicious. Make sure to get a good hard sear on the pork chops before nestling them into the sauce, then serve with tortillas.
Roast Loin Of Pork With Southwestern Sauce
Diana Dávila’s Chiles Rellenos
In her singular take on chiles rellenos, Diana Dávila crosses two classic Mexican preparations of the dish — chiles rellenos ahogados and chiles en nogada — to come up with her own remarkable variation. Roasted, peeled poblanos are stuffed with a ground meat picadillo spiked with apples, raisins, cider vinegar and brown sugar, then dunked in a feathery egg batter and fried until golden. Just before serving, those stuffed, fried chiles are bathed in a brothy tomato sauce lightened with carrot juice. It does take time to put all the elements together, but you won’t regret a minute of it when you taste what might be the best chiles rellenos you’ve ever had: complex, sweet and spicy, and deeply brawny. At Mi Tocaya Antojería, her restaurant in Chicago, Ms. Dávila uses a combination of chopped duck confit and ground pork for the picadillo. But using all ground pork works equally well.
Stir-Fried Green Beans With Pork and Chiles
In this fast, piquant weeknight meal, ground pork and green beans are stir-fried with plenty of ginger, garlic and chiles, and seasoned with soy sauce and coriander seeds. A big splash of rice-wine vinegar right at the end adds a hit of acidity, which balances the pork's richness. Serve this over rice or rice noodles to help absorb all the salty, spicy sauce. Slices of fresh tomato add a sweet juiciness that works well here. But if you don't have a ripe tomato, feel free to leave it out.
Twice-Cooked Pork
Mapo Ragù
This is my simple, everyday take on a dish developed at Momofuku Ssam Bar in Manhattan many years ago by the chefs David Chang and Tien Ho and their band of collaborators. It is almost literally a mashup: a meal that is kind of Korean, kind of Chinese, kind of Italian. If you don’t like spicy food, use miso instead of the gochujang and don’t use Sichuan peppercorns, which add a numbing, tingly pop to the fire. (If you like really spicy food, add dried chiles or hot pepper flakes to the recipe at the point you add the gochujang.) And if you want to make it even more luxe than it is already, follow the lead of Chang’s crew and stir 6 ounces of silken tofu into the sauce at the end.
Fettuccine With Merguez and Mint Pesto
For a pasta dish with sausage that’s bold and rustic, easy to whip up for dinner but intriguing enough for entertaining (the recipe can be doubled), I opted for merguez, the North African lamb sausage. The trick is having a market that sells merguez, or order it in bulk online to keep a supply in the freezer. To the merguez, I added the flavors of Morocco: mint, garlic, lemon, sun-dried tomatoes, olives and a dusting of ground cumin. Thanks to some pasta water, these components all came together admirably to dress the pasta and suit the Bordeaux.
Shrimp Gumbo with Andouille Sausage
Most cooks agree that gumbos must have the vegetable trinity of chopped bell pepper, onion and celery, and that they should be highly seasoned. Some gumbos do contain sausage, shrimp and chicken, but there are humbler ones that are made with only salt pork, onions and greens. Finally, there is the filé powder camp. These cooks use copious amounts of the stuff, which is made from finely powdered sassafras leaves. Added at the last minute, it thickens the soup while imparting a flavor that’s earthy and herbal. I confess to using all three — a roux, okra and filé powder — in my own gumbo, which I hope is not sacrilegious. Not having grown up in gumbo territory, I based mine on a number of visits to New Orleans.
Mandu
As with any dumplings, making mandu requires lots of space, time and hands. In other words, it's the perfect project food for your next dinner party. Double or triple this recipe so all of your guests can take home leftovers. And if anyone finds it too difficult to fold the classic dumpling shape, offer up the alternate cigar shape. Its ratio of crispy brown crust to moist filling is perfect.
Won Ton Sichuan-Style
Tangy Pork Noodle Salad With Lime and Lots of Herbs
This light, bright salad, full of lettuce, leafy herbs and silky rice noodles, is seasoned with just enough ground pork to add richness without weighing it down. The fish sauce and citrus juices make it intense and tangy, while the honey softens its gingery bite. This salad is best served when freshly made and still very crisp, but won’t suffer much from sitting out for an hour or two.
Modern Chicken Potpie
Here's a radical notion: chicken potpie does not have to be filled with goopy white sauce, carrots and peas. Traditional recipes are long on starch and richness, short on flavor. This updated version is savory with chicken stock, herbs, and wine (no white sauce needed), easier to make, and still familiar. Use thigh meat, for more taste and better texture than breast. And vegetables should be served separately, not forcemarched into the filling. Roasted carrots, peas with mint and buttered steamed asparagus are all nice to serve alongside chicken potpie.
Todd Richards’s Grilled Peach Toast With Spicy Pimento Cheese
Pimento cheese is a Southern classic, but the combination of spicy, smoky pimento cheese — spiked with bacon and the adobo that comes in a can of chipotle chiles — and sweet, juicy peaches could only come from the mind of a chef. Todd Richards of Richards’ Southern Fried in Atlanta’s Krog Street Market and the author of “Soul: A Chef’s Culinary Evolution in 150 Recipes” (Oxmoor House, 2018) calls this his ideal summer breakfast, “along with a glass of champagne.” If you don’t want to use a grill, just toast the bread and use the peaches freshly sliced.
