Successful Cooking Experiment

After traveling the world and tasting some unique combinations of flavors, I’ve been a little more bold in my food experiments of late.  I tonight’s venture was quite a success, and I thought I’d share it!

Pork is fun to experiment with because it tastes good with a little bit of sweetness.  This is what I went for – a sweet and salty mixture.

I started with thick butterfly chops, and split them in half along the middle of the “butterfly.”  Then I sliced a pocket into each one, connected on one edge.

I made a stuffing mixture with the following ingredients:

– Chopped bacon
– Finely minced dried apricots (the secret ingredient!)
– Sliced green onions
– Crispy bread crumbs (I improvised with smashed croutons)
– Marjoram
– Thyme
– Salt
– Black pepper
– Dried minced garlic & bell peppers (I think it’s a McCormick seasoning mix)
– Small amounts of paprika, ground cloves, nutmeg, and ginger

Of course I didn’t measure the amounts – sorry!  But it there were roughly equal amounts of bacon, green onions, and apricots, and enough bread crumbs to mix.  I actually added more apricots after sampling to better balance out the saltiness of the bacon.  The nutmeg, ginger, and cloves add an unexpected flavor, but it needs to be subtle…just tiny amounts.

I put two slivers of butter in each pocket followed by a handful of the stuffing.  I put toothpicks through the end to keep the stuffing from leaking out, sprinkled Mrs. Dash on the tops of the chops, then baked at 300 degrees for about 60 minutes.

I was amazed how well the flavors blended.  It went quite well with my first attempt at school cafeteria-style yeast rolls, sweet corn on the cob, and sweet tea.

I also added a little bit of feta cheese to one chop to see what the extra tanginess was like.  I think it overpowered the more subtle flavors I was going for, so wouldn’t recommend it for this mix.  But I’m thinking of doing this again with a Mediterranean flavor – feta, black olives, diced tomatoes….

Let me know if any of you try this!