Things collected along the way:
- 10 x 15 inch glass baking dish
- oven heated to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
- olive oil
- kosher salt
- ground black pepper
- 6 of 3/4 inch thick, bone-in pork chops
- 1 pound of Falls Brand thick sliced, hardwood smoked bacon
- The Finest Gekkeikan sake
- Yamasa Soy Sauce
- raw sesame seeds
- old fashioned, plastic turkey baster
Sometimes you have thawed the pork chops with hope that inspiration will come at some point in the day. And then, you get to the time of day to fix dinner and your mind is still blank. Still, you optimistically put a light coat of olive oil on the bottom of the baking dish. This is followed by a generous sprinkling of kosher salt, then a light application of ground black pepper. You’ve never put salt on the bottom of a dish before, but it seems like a good way to keep your hands clean for a few minutes longer…
Finally, you make more of a commitment to the process by getting the ziplock bag of pork chops out of the refrigerator, only to find it has leaked on the pound of bacon that was in the same drawer. You put them both in the sink in order to wash the refrigerator drawer. All of a sudden you are considering it. Pork on Pork. You know that’s what your husband will call it.
After the pork chops are spaced in the glass dish, you spread the bacon out over the top as much as possible. You step back and look, but you already know it needs something else. There is an empty bottle of wine on the counter (not from drinking earlier in the day, it is from the weekend….), which makes you want to pour wine on the meat layers. You can’t find anything open, but you do come across some sake in the cupboard. This is left-over from a gourmet dinner your chef-daughter cooked six months ago. The pork chops are splashed with sake, but not immersed.
Sake starts with “S” and comes from Asia, so you think of soy sauce. Then, sesame seeds come to mind. Isn’t alliteration fun?! The top of the bacon is covered with a thin liquid layer of soy sauce. The sesame seeds go on in a density that reminds you of spreading grass seed. You have a sense of completion, so it all goes in the oven for about 45 minutes, or until the bacon is just crispy and the pork chops are cooked through.
When your husband gets home, he takes them out of the oven and says, “Ah! Pork on Pork” He proceeds to pour off the liquid without asking you. He lets the fat separate, then sucks the flavored meat juices from the bottom of the measuring cup with a turkey baster. We dribble it over the chops on our plates. The family raves about the lightly sweet, salty flavor of the pork chops. It is nicely moist. Score.
