on the menu tonight: pork and beer

[studentofbeer]

thick cut pork chops, marinated in a salt/brown sugar brine.

Served with:

a sweet and sour sauce (some bacon, red vermouth, balsamic vinegar, shallots, butter, and some other stuff in the recipe...)

roasted yams with olive oil, salt, pepper, brown sugar, cumin.

salad.

and i think i'm going to drink a russian river supplication ale that's been sitting in my mini-fridge (aka beer cellar) for quite a while.

[Seymour]

You fiend! Here I sit after my store bought meal, after my meager, thin, store bought cheap lager beer, left to drool over your decadent recipe...torment me no further;) !

Oh, BTW--I find a nut brown ale works wonders as a sweet marinade for pork chops...

[ClockworkOrange]

Sounds very good! Let us know how the pairing went.

[studentofbeer]

this was probably one of the best pairings i've ever had. The RR was really complex and balanced between sour and sweet with lots of carbonation. (i posted impressions of the supplication in a thread on the tasting notes panel). It met the caramelized outside of the pork (and roasted yams) with the acidity and earthiness, melded with the sweet and sour flavors in the sauce perfectly with the cherry and sour notes, and then lifted the richness of the pork and bacon sauce away with the carbonation. a bite led to a sip which led to a bite--just really good harmony.

One of the best meals i've made in a long time, though I overdid the pork chop just a bit. I really needed to get thicker chops, like 1.75" or even 2". But the brining at least kept it nice and moist.

if anyone wants the full recipe for the pork chop and sauce lemme know. it's from a big cook's illustrated cookbook I have. I've become a big fan of Cook's Illustrated and the tv show America's Test Kitchen (done on PBS I think by the Cook's Illustrated people). It's all very no-nonsence, high quality cooking.