Pineapple Pork Chops

Ingredients:
6 Pork Chops
1 Stick of Butter
1/2 Teaspoon Celery Seed
1/2 Teaspoon Basil
1/2 Teaspoon Thyme
Meat Tenderizer
20 Ounce Can Sliced Pineapple

Optional:
Allspice
Barbeque Sauce
Apple Sauce
Sweet and Sour Sauce
Mashed Potatoes

Cooking pork is hazardous. Frequently washing hands when preparing the meat is an additional time consuming event until it makes it into a fry pan or oven. This recipe is utilized to fry or bake pork chops. Vegetarians substitute with yams or potatoes, cooks in half-the-time.

In the event of being a single person, perhaps you bought six pork chops and will only be eating two that day and want to store the rest in the refrigerator. The beginning of the recipe is the same; except, preheat oven to 400 degrees if baking the pork chops.

Place softened butter into a bowl and add celery seed, basil and thyme. It is best when butter naturally softens at room temperature for four hours; however, placing the stick of butter in the microwave for 10 seconds is fine. Mash the butter and spices together. Begin preheating the fry pan to medium-high heat.

Sprinkle the chops with meat tenderizer on both sides. Rub the meat tenderizer into chops with your hands and then wipe the butter mixture on both sides with your hands before placing them in the fry pan. The fry pan should be well heated, so it is easy to sear both sides to a dark brown quickly. It is only a minute or two on both sides and then place chops on a plate. This maintains juice and flavor. Pork is usually dry and achieving the texture of ham is tricky.

Set chops aside and open the can of pineapple slices. If baking, cover the bottom of a cake pan with PAM or butter. Place a slice of pineapple under and on top of each chop. Pour some of the juice from the can into the cake pan. Do not cover. Set them in the oven preheated to 400 degrees and let cook between one and a half to two hours depending the thickness. Use a meat thermometer to check if the chop is done. Meat thermometers frequently have the temperatures of meats written on them. It is easy to take the meat out to check the temperature and either put it back into the oven or take it out because it is done. First time trying the recipe; I tested the chops at an hour and a half to get an idea of portions compared to cook time. Pork is done at about 175 degrees.

Taking less time to fry pork chops move the heat dial to medium-low heat and place the pork chops in the pan with a slice of pineapple on top with some of the excess juice from the can. Cover and cook for about 25 minutes before turning. Cook for another 10 to 20 minutes depending on thickness. Move the pineapple to the top when flipping. Test the pork chop to make sure it is done before removing it from the pan. Only the tip of the meat thermometer is placed in the center of the chop. Avoid touching it to the pan.

Sometimes I like additional flavor. Dusting the chops while they are cooking creates depth to the flavor. Pan fried chops are easy to eat with your hands, so dip them in barbeque, apple or sweet and sour sauce. I like to place the chop on a bed of mashed potatoes. Some tips for rehydrating pork is too simmer them in vegetable soup for about ten minutes or baste them with barbeque sauce ten minutes before they are done frying, or 30 minutes before they are done baking.

Pork is a great and inexpensive way of making meals. Usually ham is the preferred cut of meat especially during the holidays when the cost of pork is consistently lower than any cut of meat on the grocer's shelf. Refer to the guide on cooking meats to get additional information on cooking times for pork products.

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