Apple Cider Pork Chops —rsquo; The Cooking That Answers When the Writing Is Done

Fourth of July week. Anchorage does fireworks at midnight because the sky doesn't get dark enough until then. I worked the holiday. The ER on July 4 is its own kind of busy: fireworks injuries, the man who tried to grill while sitting on the grill, the woman who fell off a deck while watching the parade. America in micro-trauma form, processed twelve hours at a time.

I came home at midnight and made longganisa and rice and ate it on the balcony with a beer. The Filipino sausage and the American beer and the Alaskan light. I called Mark. Carmen had Marco and Sofia, two-year-old twins. Mark sounded both exhausted and content. We did not talk much. Mark and I rarely do. The Santos brothers are not talkers. The talking is for the women.

Pete asked me again this week, in the break room. "Santos, you thinking about it?" The exit. The ER question. The hum. I told him yes, in the slow way I am thinking about it. He said, "Don't wait too long. The good ones always wait too long." Pete is fifty-six. He is the model of the good one who waited too long. He told me once, after a code, that he loves the work and that the loving is the problem. I understood him completely.

I made ginataang manok this week — chicken in coconut milk, ginger, long beans, the dish that says summer in a Filipino way. I wrote a blog post called "The Slow Stay." It was about Pete and about the difference between staying because you love the work and staying because you don't know how to leave. The post got six hundred and forty comments. People wrote about teaching, about social work, about all the loving that becomes a problem. I read every comment. I cried at three of them. I closed the laptop and made another batch of ginataang manok because the cooking is the answer when the writing has done its work.

When Pete’s words settled in — the loving is the problem — I kept coming back to pork. Longganisa on the balcony at midnight, the fat and the salt and the smoke of it, the way that specific comfort asks nothing of you. Apple Cider Pork Chops are not longganisa and they are not ginataang manok, but they are pork and they are slow and they have the sweetness that comes from something reducing down to what it actually is. I made them on my next day off because the cooking is how I locate myself after the writing has done its work, and I needed to be located.

Apple Cider Pork Chops

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 4 bone-in pork chops (about 3/4 inch thick)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup apple cider (not apple cider vinegar)
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)

Instructions

1. Season the chops. Pat pork chops dry with paper towels. Mix salt, pepper, garlic powder, and smoked paprika, then rub the mixture evenly over both sides of each chop.
2. Sear. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add pork chops and sear without moving them for 3—4 minutes per side until a deep golden crust forms. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
3. Soften the onion. Reduce heat to medium. Add sliced onion to the same skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4—5 minutes until softened and beginning to caramelize. Add minced garlic and cook 1 minute more.
4. Build the sauce. Pour in apple cider and chicken broth, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Whisk in Dijon mustard and brown sugar. Bring to a gentle boil and cook for 3—4 minutes until the liquid reduces slightly.
5. Finish the chops. Return the pork chops to the skillet. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 8—10 minutes until an internal thermometer reads 145°F. Remove from heat.
6. Finish the sauce. Transfer chops back to the plate. Stir butter and thyme into the skillet sauce, swirling until the butter melts and the sauce is glossy. Taste and adjust seasoning.
7. Serve. Spoon the cider onion sauce generously over the pork chops. Serve with mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, or steamed rice.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 390 | Protein: 34g | Fat: 19g | Carbs: 14g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 520mg