Wednesday, January 12, 2011

New Recipe

    I am trying a new recipe tonight. I have to eat a very low sodium diet for my Meneire's disease. For more about Meneire's click here. My family loves the pork Shake n' Bake. Unless I have had a very low sodium day, it is just too high in sodium for me. Frankly, I have been eating low sodium so long it really tastes too salty to me now. We are having pork chops tonight, and I am out of Shake n' Bake anyway so it is a good opportunity to try out some new spices I got for Christmas.
    No. 1 Son and his dear wife gave me a nice box of salt free spices for Christmas. They are Penzey's brand spices. They were packaged so nicely, I wish I had a picture of them, before I dismantled them. In between the bottles were loose Turkish bay leaves, whole nutmegs and cinnamon sticks. If you would like to see a picture click here.
    I used the Sunny Spain seasoning on Sunday. I oven fried flounder fillets and used the seasoning with the bread crumb coating. It was GOOD.
    Tonight I am using the Bavarian Style:


                                                                          

    Reading the ingredients it looked similar to what I believe I taste in Shake n' Bake. I chose pork chops about 3/4s of an inch thick. Here in Michigan they are labeled thin pork chops. In Kentucky, they would just be regular pork chops. I can't speak for other areas of the country. So, go by the measurements, not the label.  I used Panko bread crumbs because I wanted that crispy texture. I used this brand:



 But any kind will do.

    China trivet in the background retired Longaberger, no idea what pattern that is, but here is a closer look. I love the rooster on it: (Please ignore the tomato sauce splashes, as obviously I was able to  until seeing them in the picture. Just showing you with my warts and all.)




I put more seasoning in than I would normally do, because I seem to err on the "too little" side. Here is a picture of what was left after I breaded the chops. (China : Longaberger Woven Traditions retired color Which color? I have no idea.)


I dipped the chops in some beaten egg and then into the breadcrumb mixture. And here is what they looked like:



     I cooked them at 425 for about 17 minutes. I was trying to get the breadcrumbs to brown. Not very successful as you can see:




    I served it with sugar snap peas, baked sweet potatoes and  cranberry sauce, homemade. China is a brown transferware, Johnson Brothers, Olde English Countryside pattern:






    Verdict? I didn't like the  pallid color of the coating. I ended up cooking the chops a little too long trying to brown the coating. The seasoning turned out pretty good. My family approved. I think just a touch of salt would have improved them. Maybe I'll try toasting the crumbs before putting them on the chops next time. That may improve the look of them. Final verdict, worth tweaking the recipe another day.

     Please excuse my food photography. This is my first attempt and they are pretty bad. I keep saying my kitchen is too dark and these photos prove it. Next time I'll try day time photos.
    






                                                                              



 
   

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