Lynn's Kitchen Adventures » Pork

Oven Fried Pork Chops

Lynn — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:20:45 +0000

My husband loves pork chops. They are one of his favorite cuts of meat to eat. Over the years I have cooked pork chops many different ways and these oven fried pork chops are one of our favorites. We love these!

And our favorite way to eat them is with buttermilk mashed potatoes. The gravy that this recipe makes works perfectly with a side of mashed potatoes and the buttermilk in both recipes go very well together.

Oven Fried Pork Chops

1/4 cup butter, melted
4 or 5 pork chops ( I brine mine first and it really makes them better, so I would not skip this step.)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, room temperature, and divided
3/4 cup flour ( I now use a gf flour blend or Bob’s Red Mill gf biscuit mix)
1 can cream mushroom soup ( or make your own)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Pour melted butter into 9×13 pan and set aside.
In a shallow dish or on a plate combine salt, pepper, and flour.
In a separate shallow dish place 1/2 cup buttermilk (Save the other cup of buttermilk for later use.)
Dip pork chops in buttermilk until completely wet and then dredge in flour mixture until completely covered on both sides.
Place in the pan with the melted butter.
Bake for 25 minutes.
In a bowl combine the remaining cup of buttermilk and the soup. Pour over pork chops and bake for another 10 – 15 minutes or until the pork chops are done.
Enjoy!

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Oven Pork Chili

Lynn — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:22:40 +0000

Today for Souper Mondays we are talking chili.

I think my husband may have a new favorite chili. I made this recently and he loved it and so did the rest of the family. This time of year we eat a lot of chili and using a pork roast in chili made for a nice change.

Now, I know not everyone has a freezer full of pork like I do, but if you find a good sale on pork roast, this would be a great recipe to try. It really is a fun change from just a basic chili.

Have you tried pork in chili before?

Oven Pork Chili

2 tablespoons oil
3 lb pork roast, fat trimmed and cut into ½ inch cubes ( I used a pork shoulder roast)
2 cloves garlic
1 onion, diced
1 green pepper, finely chopped
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano
¾ teaspoon ground cumin
¾ teaspoon salt
3- 14 ounce cans diced tomatoes
2- 8 ounce cans tomato sauce
2 – 15 ounce cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained

In an oven proof pan heat oil. Add onions and green pepper and cook until tender.
Add cubed pork and brown pork on all sides.
Add remaining ingredients and stir.
Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 2 ½ -3 hours or until the meat is tender.
Serve with a little shredded cheese and enjoy!
The leftovers, if you have any, freeze well.

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Crock Pot Orange Barbecue Pork

Lynn — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:23:26 +0000

One of my favorite ways to cook pork roast is in the crock pot. It is so easy to put a roast in the crock pot in the morning, turn it on, and have dinner waiting for you at the end of the day.

This recipe today is so easy. It is a little different take on my normal barbecue pork roast because it contains orange juice. The orange juice in this gives it a little extra depth of flavor and I think also helps tenderize the roast.

You can serves this shredded with oven fries or another side dish, or you can serve it on hamburger buns or bread as barbecue pork sandwiches. Either way it is really good.

Crock Pot Orange Barbecue Pork Roast

3-4 lb pork roast ( I like to brine mine first)
½ cup orange juice
½ cup barbecue sauce, plus more for adding after cooking

Place pork roast in crock pot.
Pour orange juice and barbecue sauce over top.
Cook on low 7-8 hours or until roast is tender.
Shred roast and add additional barbecue sauce as desired.
Serve with buns as a shredded meat sandwich or on its own with oven potatoes or another side dish.

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Brining Pork

Lynn — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 21:50:06 +0000

Brining pork or other meat is a fancy term for soaking meat in salt water.

It is common with turkey and other poultry. It is also common with deer and other wild game. It takes out some of the gamey or strong flavor in the meat and also improves the texture.

I have brined poulty and deer before, but I had never thought to brine my pork until recently.

I was talking to a friend about our pork and how I like to cook it. She asked if I had ever soaked it in salt water before cooking it. And I said no, I had never thought to try it with pork. She said she almost always soaked her pork in salt water and they loved it that way.

I was a bit fascinated with the idea and was anxious to give it a try. I looked through a few pork cookbooks that I had, and brining was mentioned in several recipes. I also looked online and found a few interesting things.

Many of the recipes called for not only salt in the water, but quite a few spices and other ingredients. I decided to keep it simple and just try using salt and brown sugar in the water. I let it soak for about 8 hours and I cooked it like normal.

After the roast was done, I was amazed at the difference brining made. It was so much better.

I even tried it again with another recipe and had the same delicious results. I have cooked a lot of pork over the last few years of raising hogs, and I am amazed at the difference brining has made. I don’t think I will ever go back to not brining my pork roasts.

I can’t wait to try it with some pork chops. Our pork is so lean, that our pork chops are often a little dry and I am sure brining will make them even better.

A few tips though.

You want your brining liquid completely cooled. You do not want to start cooking the meat as it brines, so plan ahead on this part. I know a lot of people don’t heat the salt water, in fact in a Cook’s Illustrated article I found they did not heat the water, but I find that it helps the salt dissolve better, so I don’t skip that step.

The amount of water and salt may vary, but you basically need enough to cover your roast/meat completely.

Have you every brined pork or any other meat? I am curious what your thoughts are about it.

Brining Pork

4-5 lbs of pork roast
8-10 cups of water
½ cup salt
½ cup brown sugar

Place water, salt, and brown sugar in a large pan. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Let water mixture cool completely. Do not put your meat in warm water or it will start cooking the meat.
Add pork roast. Meat should be covered completely in water.
Refrigerate meat in water for 8-12 hours.
Remove from fridge and rinse meat off. This will help remove the salt and keep it from being too salty.
Cook roast as you normally would. (I will be sharing a few of my favorites in the next month or so.)

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Barbecue Bologna {Oklahoma Prime Rib}

Lynn — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 13:53:51 +0000

If you live in Oklahoma, you probably know all about barbecue bologna, also known as Oklahoma Prime Rib.

If you are not from Oklahoma, you might think I am a bit crazy for posting a recipe involving bologna. But my husband has been trying to get me to post about barbecue bologna for quite a while now and I finally decided it was time to share this Oklahoma specialty with all of you.

After all we would not want to keep the secret of barbecue bologna all to ourselves here in Oklahoma.

And actually, I have no idea if this is just an Oklahoma thing. I do know that I had not heard of it until moving to Oklahoma. And a lot of people here call it Oklahoma Prime Rib, so maybe it is just an Oklahoma thing.

Now, really some of you may think I am joking about barbecue bologna, but I am not. It truly is served and loved by many people here in Oklahoma. Almost every barbecue restaurant that you eat at will have it on the menu.

My first experience with barbecue bologna was years ago, at a really nice barbecue restaurant in Oklahoma City, where my in-laws took us to eat. I looked at the menu, with all the high end steaks and meat, and saw barbecued bologna, and could not believe bologna was on the menu. My husband and in-laws could not believe that I had never had, or even heard of barbecue bologna.

Well, let’s just say that barbecue bologna is not something on many menus, or dinner tables, in Oregon. The only way I had ever had or seen bologna was the kind that you buy sliced in the package at the store. The kind you eat on a regular old sandwich. But I quickly learned that in Oklahoma they take their bologna seriously.

Now you will meet a few Okies that do not like this specialty, but most enjoy it. Last month we served this at a church picnic and I could not believe how popular it was. My husband thought that there would be plenty of meat with just barbecue pork and barbecue bologna, but I insisted we also do chicken because I was not sure many people would eat the bologna.

Well, was I wrong. I think more people ate bologna than anything else. ~~Everyone~~ Okay almost everyone loved it.

Now here is where I admit, that although my family loves barbecue bologna, I am not a huge fan of it. I have told my husband many times that bologna is bologna no matter how you serve it. But since the rest of my family, and most of our friends and family enjoy it, I do fix barbecue bologna a few times a year.

Now, after all that are you curious how it is done. It is actually really easy.

First you buy your bologna like this.

See, I told you we take our bologna seriously in Oklahoma. Right next to the rest of the lunch meats, and small packages of bologna, you can find a 5 lb round chunk of bologna.

Unwrap the bologna and cut a slice into the bologna. You want to make a slice about 2/3 through the bologna, but do not cut it all the way through. This helps the smoke flavor go all the way through the bologna. Rub the bologna with a barbecue dry rub. I use Head Country because it is really good and it is a local Oklahoma company. You can easily use a different dry rub or even a homemade one.

Place the bologna on a smoker. I use my Weber smoker, but you can easily do this on any smoker type barbecue. Smoke for about 3 hours. We keep the smoker at about 225 degrees. And we have used various woods for the smoked flavor in this. So, just use your favorite.

After 3 hours, the bologna will be nice and browned and have a smoked flavor. Remove the bologna from the grill and slice.

Serve with barbecue sauce and enjoy!

Most people eat this sliced served with sauce or served as a sandwich. We like to use Head Country because it is our favorite barbecue sauce and it is a local Oklahoma company.

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Now, do you all think I am crazy? Or have you had barbecue bologna?

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Creamy Bacon and Tomato Pasta

Lynn — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:09:26 +0000

If you have read my site for long than you know I love quick and easy meals. Meals that can be prepared in thirty minutes or less are a must most nights in my house.

Pasta is one of our favorite quick and easy meals.

The other thing that you might know if you have read my site for long is that we love bacon. Bacon is the perfect addition to many recipes because it adds so much flavor.

This Creamy Tomato and Bacon Pasta contains not only bacon, but also cream cheese. The cream cheese gives the perfect amount of creaminess that goes so well with the smokiness of the bacon.

And the best thing about this meal is that it can be prepared in thirty minutes or less.

Creamy Tomato and Bacon Pasta

½ lb bacon, cut into pieces
1 onion, chopped
28 ounce can diced tomatoes
4 ounces of cream cheese, cut into pieces and at room temperature
1 lb pasta of your choice
salt and pepper to taste

In a skillet cook bacon pieces until crisp and browned. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate. Pour off all but a few tablespoons of the grease from the pan.
Add onion to the pan and cook until tender. This will take about 5 minutes. Add more bacon grease back to the pan if needed.
Once the onion is tender add tomatoes. Stir well and add bacon pieces back to the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Cook on low for 10 minutes.
While sauce is cooking, cook pasta according to directions on the package.
After the sauce has cooked 10 minutes, stir in the cream cheese. Stir until cheese has melted and the sauce is smooth and creamy.
Serve the sauce over the cooked pasta and enjoy!

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Adapted from Paula Deen

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Brown Sugar Glazed Bacon

Lynn — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 14:00:23 +0000

What can make bacon even better? How about adding a little brown sugar.

I have cooked a lot of bacon over the last few years of raising hogs. In fact, I think the bacon is my family’s favorite thing about raising hogs. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could get the whole hog done into bacon. YUM!

Yes, I know that would not be healthy, but I can dream can’t I?

Back to the recipe and the brown sugar glazed bacon. I have cooked a lot of bacon over the years and I normally just cook it plain, but once in awhile when I want the bacon to be a little over the top, I make brown sugar glazed bacon.

The brown sugar caramelizes on the bacon while it cooks and makes it so good. Brown sugar glazed bacon has a smoky sweet flavor that makes it some of the best bacon I have had.

Really this is good and if you want to take your bacon to the next level, try adding some brown sugar to it.

Brown Sugar Glazed Bacon

1 lb bacon
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1/3 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place a wire rack on a baking sheet. (For easier clean up you can place foil on baking sheet under the rack)
Arrange bacon on wire rack (this may take 2 pans depending on how large your pan and rack are.
Sprinkle with pepper and brown sugar.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until bacon is slightly crisp. ( The time may vary depending on how you like your bacon.)

Drain on paper towels to remove some of the grease.
Serve and enjoy!

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Corn and Ham Frittata

Lynn — Mon, 23 May 2011 16:07:33 +0000

Frittatas are a one of my favorite quick and easy go to meals. You can vary them so much. From pasta frittata, to potato frittata, to the corn and ham frittata I have for you to today, they are all a perfect meal for any night of the week.

It is so easy to add meat, take away the meat, or change the meat in almost any frittata recipe. If you don’t have ham you can use sausage or bacon.

If you are cutting back on meat than add more vegetables. It is all about experimenting and having fun with basic frittata recipes. And if you have never tried making a frittata you really should give it a try.

Corn and Ham Frittata

8 eggs
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup frozen corn
1- 4.5 ounce can green chilies
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
½ cup diced ham
1/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a bowl beat the eggs. Add remaining ingredients and stir well.
Place into a greased oven safe pan or a greased pie pan.
Bake for 25- 30 minutes or until center is done.

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Bourbon Honey Glazed Ham

Lynn — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 15:44:16 +0000

Bourbon Honey Glazed Ham is one of the best glazes for ham that I have made.

We have a lot of hams and I have tried many ham glazes over the years. I rarely end up making the same one twice.

I am always looking for something better, but I finally found a ham glaze that my family loved and one that I will definitely be making again and again.

The honey, apple juice, and brown sugar in this glaze really helps it caramelize and gives it a really nice flavor. And I am sure the bourbon doesn’t hurt either.

The combination of flavors in this is amazing and we loved it.

Bourbon Honey Ham Glaze

½ cup bourbon
½ cup apple juice
1 ½ cups browned sugar
¼ cup honey
1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
Ham( you will coat the ham with this the last 30 minutes of cooking)

In a saucepan combine the bourbon and apple juice and bring to a boil. Cook over medium to medium high heat until reduced to about ½ cup.
Remove from heat and add brown sugar, honey, and cayenne pepper. Stir to form a paste.
Remove the ham from the oven about 30 minutes before it is finished cooking.
Score the ham, if it is not already scored. You just want to slice through the very outer layer of the ham to help the glaze soak in.
Rub paste all over the top and sides of the ham.
Bake 20-30 minutes more or until the glaze is glossy and darkened.
Let ham sit a few minutes before slicing.

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Adapted from The Pig Cookbook.

This post linked to Tasty Tuesday.

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An 18 lb Ham

Lynn — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 14:14:36 +0000

Last year I posted several times about my 18 lb hams. Every time I mentioned them several of you would comment or email about how big an 18 lb ham must be.

The other day I was looking through my food pictures and found a few pictures of one of my 18 lb hams. I thought since Easter was coming up, and many of you will be cooking ham, that it would be a good time to share the pictures of what an 18 lb ham looks like, but I was not sure anyone would care about an 18 lb ham.

So, I asked last night on Facebook if I should post about my hams and many readers responded that yes they were curious and wanted to know.

So, here is one of my 18 lb hams.

That is a large kitchen aid roaster pan and the ham takes up basically the whole pan.

Our hams are not fully cooked hams. You can not cut a piece of this off and eat it like you would most of the hams that you buy at the store. It is raw and has to be cooked.

Technically they are not fresh hams because they have been smoked and seasoned by the butcher that processes our meat for us. But they are still basically raw and not ready to eat as is.

Sometime, I will post exactly how I cook my hams, but I will say an 18 lb raw ham is hard to cook. Mainly because it is so large that it does not cook very evenly. And raw hams have to cook for quite a few hours as it is, add on the 18 lb thing, and they take forever to cook.

I really prefer smaller hams, but some times our hogs end up being a bit larger and we get really large hams. Last year I actually had four 18 lb hams.

You see each hog has two hams, basically each ham is half of the backside. We always have each half cut into half and two hams become four. So, my 18 lb ham was really a 36 lb ham and that means I had about 72 lbs of ham from one hog last year.

Yes, that was one large hog. Any guesses why I am tired of ham.

Thankfully the hogs we butchered this year were smaller, so my hams were smaller. I was quite relived when I saw hams that were closer to 12 lbs this year.

And for those of you thinking that an 18 lb ham must be really fatty, ours are not. We are very careful what type of hogs we raise and we are extremely picky on what we feed our hogs. Our meat is usually very lean meat.

This is what the ham looks like after it is cooked. I will post my favorite glaze for ham next week. It is really good.

The taste and texture of a ham like this is really different than the hams most people are used to, but they are very good.

So, has anyone else cooked an 18 lb ham before?

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