Maple Mustard Pork Chops

Maple Mustard Pork Chops is real easy to make, it's only four ingredients. This pork came out with so much flavor. This glaze is almost like a honey mustard, but instead of using honey this gets it's sweetness from maple syrup and it's tang from yellow mustard, a fruity tone from the orange marmalade and to round out the flavor some thinly sliced green onion. You can substitute the maple syrup for honey and the yellow mustard for dijon mustard or even a good spicy mustard. If you use the recipe as a guide you can't go wrong. The most important thing is taste, taste, taste.

Recipe:

4 Boneless Pork Chops 1" thick (Center Cut Loin Chop is what I Used)

Maple Mustard Sauce:

2 Tablespoon Maple Syrup (or more to taste)

3 Tablespoon Yellow Mustard

1 Tablespoon Orange Marmalade

1/2 Stalk Green Onion Thinly Sliced (or more for a stronger flavor)

Preheat grill to medium about 350F. Trim fat from chops if necessary.

Mix Maple Mustard Sauce ingredients together and set aside.

Grill chops 12 - 15 minutes, or until no longer pink about 170F internal temp. Turn once and brush with the maple mustard sauce during the last 5 minutes.

Leftover Pulled Pork

Love pulled pork, but don't love that it takes your pork butt 8, 10 or even 12 or more hours to cook in your smoker? Don't fret cook more than one. Cook as many as your smoker can hold. In fact it's easier to contol the temp of a full smoker than one with one item and it takes no more time than cooking one. Let the pork cool, pull, then freeze. Quick meal for another night. It can go from freezer to oven or stove top to table in about 20 mins. Preheat the oven to 375f place the pulled pork in a pan and heat for 15-20 min or until heated through. For the stove top just heat until heated through, the perfect way of reheating on a hot day without heating up the oven. You can freeze smaller portions for lunch, pull from freezer and let thaw in the refrigerator, cold pulled pork sandwiches are good too. Although this isn't a recipe it's a good tip to remember. Stay tuned for up coming pulled pork recipes and more!

Grilled Chicken

Grilled chicken yum! It's summer and I do most of my cooking outdoors on the grill. Well I do a lot of grilling all year long, rain and snow have not stopped me from grilling. This is one of the many ways I grill chicken. These are skinless boneless chicken breasts. The problem with this kind of chicken is that it is so easy to over cook, and when they are over cooked they become very dry. In this recipe I mix up a marinade that's a east meets west but the flavor is it's own. I scored the chicken in four places for two reasons: One it gives the marinade a chance to flavor deep into the meat and Two it speeds up the cooking.

Recipe:

4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (Scored across the meat no more than half way through)

For the marinade:

1 Cup Barbecue Sauce (Store bought is fine)

2 Tablespoons Honey (more for a sweeter marinade, but be careful too much honey will cause it to burn quickly)

1 Tablespoon Rice Vinegar

1/2 Teaspoon Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce (more for a hotter marinade)

Mix in a bowl until all ingredients are mixed thoroughly.

Pat dry the chicken with a paper towel and set aside, in a zip top bag pour in the marinade. Add the chicken, seal the bag and turn to coat the chicken.

Marinate for 1 - 4 hours in the refrigerator.

Remove from the refrigerator 30 minuets before cooking.

Heat your grill to medium heat about 350F.

Oil the grill grate

Drain excess marinade from chicken and cook for about 8 - 10 minuets or until no longer pink in the center, turning once.

Burger King's Bacon Cheddar Ranch Tendercrisp

OK all, today for lunch I desided to try BK's new Bacon Cheddar Ranch Tendercrisp. It's a limited time deal and I'm not sure if it's available everywhere. The sandwich was alright, I felt the chicken was salty for my tastes. The ranch was a ranch and black pepper blend but didn't have the bite that most do.

This is the sandwich as I got it. Put together a little sloppy. The fries I got with it was salty as well. I usually like their fries. The sandwich would have been better if it wasn't overly salty. The salt killed it for me. I don't think I will order this sandwich again. On a side note I did get something cool. The BK I went too has new ketchup packets seen below.

Egg Drop Soup

I love Chinese food and Egg Drop Soup or Egg Flower Soup as I've seen it called is one of my favorite dished. I'm not sure if it's pure Chinese or American-Chinese. The soup I get at the local Chinese buffets are good but sit a little heavy. This one I made is light and quick to make. I made a few changes to this recipe and I'll list them below.

Recipe:

2 cups Chicken Broth (store bought is fine)

2 Cups Water

3 Eggs Beaten

1/2 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
1 Green Onion cut into rounds

1/2 Teaspoon Chinese Rice Wine

Salt to Taste

White Pepper to Taste

Mix all ingredients except the eggs and green onion in a sauce pan. Taste for salt and pepper.

Bring to a boil over med-high heat. When Boiling lower heat and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Pour eggs in a thin stream clockwise into the pan until all the eggs are in the soup. Do not stir* and let simmer for 1 minute longer. Add green onion and turn off heat.

Serve immediately

Easy huh? Ok for the changes I did, nothing real big. I did not have Chinese rice wine but I did have sake. I cut 2 stalks of green onion instead of 1.

*If you stir after adding the egg the soup will become cloudy

First Post

Today 7/06/11 marks my frist post to my new food blog. I want to start off by telling you a little about myself. My Name is Rob and I love food. I love to cook and I love to eat. I am taking a home cooking course with a home study school. I would love to go to a culinary school some day but I'm hopping this will at least get my foot in the door. I spent the last 10 or so years of my life as an automotive mechanic and I am burned out. I was afriad to take the leap into a new field, but hear I am. This blog is going to be my adventure in the world of cooking. My ups and my downs as I push on to become a Chef. So stay tuned for recipes, tips and other cooking madness!

-Rob