Ginger Pork Chops

New Year's. The tradition. Black-eyed peas at midnight. MawMaw Shirley's 12:01 call (forty-one seconds — she is getting more efficient, which is not something I thought was possible for a woman who was already the most efficient communicator in Louisiana). Mama and Daddy asleep by 10:30, denied. Kayla and I on the couch with peas and champagne (Kayla's first legal champagne — she turned twenty-one in June and has been waiting for this toast). The bubbles and the peas. The old year and the new. The looking back and the looking forward.

My birthday is coming. I will be twenty-two. The last birthday as a college student — if all goes well, by my next birthday I will be a medical student, and "medical student" is a phrase that I have been building toward since I was twelve and that is now close enough to taste, to feel, to almost hold. Almost. The almost is the gap between the application and the acceptance, and the gap is closing, and the closing is what the new year is for: to close the gap, to bridge the distance, to become the thing I have been preparing to become.

I made collard greens for New Year's Day — Mama's version, with the ham hock and the vinegar and the slow simmer that turns tough leaves into something silky and rich and tasting of the South. Greens for money. Peas for luck. Ham for prosperity. The superstitions are the traditions and the traditions are the family and the family is me, standing at the stove on New Year's Day, making the food that MawMaw Shirley's mother made and that MawMaw Shirley made and that Mama makes and that I make now, in the long chain of women who turn raw ingredients into nourishment and call it love because that is what it is.

The new year is here. The applications are in. The score is recorded. The GPA is built. Everything I can control has been controlled. Everything I cannot control is in the hands of an admissions committee that I will never meet and that will look at my numbers and my essay and decide whether Aaliyah Robinson, age twenty-one, from Scotlandville, Louisiana, daughter of Marcus and Tanya, granddaughter of Shirley, is good enough to be a doctor. I am good enough. MawMaw Shirley says so. And MawMaw Shirley has never been wrong about anything.

Pork on New Year’s Day is not optional in our house — it is written into the tradition the same way MawMaw Shirley’s 12:01 call is written in, the same way the collard greens and the black-eyed peas are written in. When I wanted to carry that same spirit into the week that followed, into the ordinary days that the new year actually becomes, I turned to these ginger pork chops: quick enough for a Tuesday, warm enough to taste like something you made with intention, and close enough to the ham hock energy of New Year’s Day that they felt like a promise kept.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

4 bone-in pork chops (about 3/4 inch thick)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 green onions, sliced, for garnish

Instructions

Make the marinade. In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, grated ginger, garlic, honey, apple cider vinegar, sesame oil, black pepper, and red pepper flakes if using.
Marinate the chops. Place pork chops in a shallow dish or zip-top bag and pour the marinade over them. Let rest at room temperature for at least 10 minutes, or refrigerate for up to 4 hours for deeper flavor.
Heat the pan. Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet or cast iron pan over medium-high heat until shimmering.
Sear the chops. Remove pork chops from the marinade (reserve the marinade) and place in the hot skillet. Sear without moving for 4–5 minutes until a golden crust forms on the bottom.
Flip and finish. Flip the chops and cook another 4–5 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 145°F. Work in batches if needed to avoid crowding the pan.
Deglaze with marinade. Pour the reserved marinade into the pan and let it bubble and reduce for 1–2 minutes, turning the chops to coat them in the glaze.
Rest and serve. Transfer chops to a plate and let rest 3 minutes. Spoon any remaining pan glaze over the top and garnish with sliced green onions.

Nutrition (per serving)

Ginger Pork Chops — The Prosperity on Our Plate