Marinated Pork

Mexican Train Marinated Pork

3-4 boneless porkchops

1/4-1/2 cup olive oil

2 large shallot bulbs

1 handful of fresh cilantro leaves

1/4 cup of Modena balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp white pepper

salt to taste

  1. Pan fry some room temperature boneless pork chops. Get a pan really hot with the olive oil in it (about 1/4 – 1/2 a cup of olive oil.  1/4 should do for about 3 pork chops) but not so hot that it’s smoking.
  2. Throw the pork in the hot oil and put a lid on them.  Pork releases all its juice if you cook it on a high heat and let it remain high (in other words, slow-fry them if you want them to stay juicy) but for this dish you want them to release all their tasty porky juices.
  3. FINELY slice about two or three big bulbs of shallots.  Like paper thin.
  4. Take a handful (1/2 cup or so?) of cilantro leaves and tear the whole leaves off the stems.  Chop one half of that and leave the other half whole.
  5. Once the chops are *done, remove them from the heat.   *How to tell if a porkchop is done: Make a slightly relaxed fist and touch the meaty part of your hand between the thumb and first finger. Make a tight fist and touch that part of your hand…that’s overdone.  Totally relax your fist and you have trichomoniasis.  Basically, you want the pork to be ever so slightly pink.  Not raw pink, but like the faintly pink cheeks of a little cherub in an obnoxious baroque painting.
  6. Once the heat is off, pour the juice and oil into a bowl.  Then let the chops rest for about 15 minutes or so.  Until everything has returned to room temp or slightly warmer.  If you didn’t get much juice out of them, add 1/4 cup or so of chicken broth (if you use bullion don’t make the broth very strong).
  7. Add the shallots and cilantro to the juice. Then add about 1/4 cup or so of MODENA balsamic vinegar.  The kind that’s really dark and syrupy.  Then add about 1 tablespoon of white ground pepper (black won’t taste even remotely the same).
  8. Finally, slice the pork chops very very thin and add them to the liquid.  Let them soak for at least 10 minutes and then I think you can call it good.