the other day while hunting, got an idea in my head to try something with pork chops that was different from what i've ever done before, so i came up with this:

1) seared 8 pork chops with salt-n-pepper, then set them aside.

2) then i diced and sauteed an onion to carmelise,

3) then in a mixing bowl i mixed the carmelised onion with sauerkraut, a little mustard, black pepper, 2 cored/sliced apples and 2/3 cup of dried barley,

4) added 2 cups of chicken broth and then tossed in a bottle of woodchuck hard apple cider (granny smith variety).

5) stirred this all together, then layered it with the seared pork chops and put them in the oven, covered, to braise until barley soaks up the broth and cider. (1.5 to 2 hours @ 350 degrees).

this one turned out pretty darn good ~ maybe not the best thing i've ever made, but good nonetheless, especially considering that it sprang from my head ~

here's what we ended up with:



it was pretty good but there were a couple of execution problems that i must take full responsibility for. i should have put the sauerkraut/barley/apple mixture all on the bottom of the baking dish, with the pork chops on top, instead of layering them. this would have let the barley soak up more of the apple cider and broth. also, rather than 350 degrees, 300 would have worked a lot better, i think, because at 350 the chops were a little dry.



other than that, this was great stuff and tasted really good!! if anyone is interested, i think you will like it, and would also be interested in hearing about any improvements or tweaks ~

One of my favorite sauerkraut recipes is with keilbasa. Cut up a couple of feet of good keilbasa and put in a crockpot add a couple of large cans of sauerkraut pour in a cup or so of redwine of your choice add a cup of brown sugar and stir well and cook for 4 or 5 hours. This was recipe of the Hungarian Ambassador to the US made on the old Galloping Goumet show many years ago. It became a family favorite of my family. My late wife particularly liked it cause she could put it on before going to work and have supper ready when she got home. My daughter prefers hot southern pork sausage. I prefer the keilbasa.

zimbabwe, that sounds good! i'll give it a try with the kielbasa, in honour of your wife!

thank you for sharing!

hello, zimbabwe - i'm giving this a try today:

http://foodsoftheworld.activeb...y-kposztval-vrsboros

check it out when you have time!

ron