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Mack's Corner

Saturday, February 3, 2018

This Week

The Click

Every year I have to buy a new pair of boots. Not because they wear out on the bottom or look bad, but because they develop a "Click". This first happened a few years ago.  At first I thought it was just a rock caught in the treads, but there was no rock. Then I thought it was one of my shoestring ends hitting the top of my shoe, so I tied them up but I still had the "Click". I tried bending the shoe, hitting it on the ground, jumping up and down, no click. But when I walked, there it was. I also had a hard time trying to figure out which shoe was clicking. At first I thought it was the right one. Then I thought it was really the left one and that it just sounded like it was the right one. So I took the left one off, Click. The odd thing was that It didn't happen when my foot hit the floor, it happened when it was about 4 inches off the floor before I was about to stand on it. It didn't happen on carpet or if I was just standing around. So I found myself walking down the hall trying to catch the click. I would get in mid-step and freeze, then go in to slow mo trying to hear the exact second it clicked. I looked like I was trying to step on a bug that was 18 inches off the ground or playing some weird game of hop scotch. People pointed at me and gave me that look. My mom used to give me that look when we were growing up and after that she would call me "Sweet darling". All us kids knew if she called you "Sweet darling" she was really saying "You're dump as a post, but I still love you." So now we call each other "Sweet darling" any time we're explaining something and one of us doesn't understand, then we all laugh about it. You can call me "Sweet darling" if you want, especially if you see me bouncing down the hall like a chicken on a hot beach. I'm just trying to find the "Click"..

God's like that, I sometimes think he made us for entertainment as much as anything. We try to solve all of our own problems without him and we look like we're trying to kill mosquitoes with our feet. It's like watching somebody sing without any sound, it just looks funny.

Maybe the "Click" is there on purpose to tell you when your shoes are wearing out .. like that chirping sound that brakes make? It's a mystery …

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Cooking 220 - 2 pans, 2 burners, 20 minutes:

Jane & Michael Stern don't claim to be chefs, they just love food. They travel all over America looking for it. Their web page is www.roadfood.com  .. They've written a bunch of books about it .. This recipe was one they got from Virginia Miller, a home cook in Iowa. It was printed in Saveur magazine, the only real food magazine left ..  This is easy and good..

Elegant Pork Chops

4 double cut, bone in pork chops….
(Double cut means: If you had 3 ribs, normal pork chops would be cut right in the middle between the ribs giving you 3 normal size pork chops. With Double cut pork chops you would leave the center rib and cut all the way to the bone on the outside ribs. The outside ribs go away so that you have one very thick pork chop with the center rib still attached.)

2 cups of brown Sugar

2 cups of soy sauce

1 tbsp molasses

1 3/4 cups ketchup

1 1/2 cups chili sauce, (such as Heinz)

2 tbsp French dressing (such as Kraft)

1 tbsp dry mustard (Such as Coleman's .. in the spice section)

Put pork chops in a baking dish and season with salt and pepper on both sides. In a small bowl whisk 1/2 cup brown sugar, the soy sauce, molasses, and 1 cup of water and pour it over the meat. Cover with plastic wrap and let pork chops marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours … SO you could do this in the morning to get ready for dinner that night..

Pre-heat oven to 375

Drain the pork chops and transfer to a 9" by 13" baking dish (or any deep pan/dish big enough to hold the 4 pork chops.)

In a small bowl whisk together the remaining brown sugar, ketchup, chili sauce, French dressing, mustard, and 1/3 cup of water.

Pour the sauce over the pork chops and bake, turning the pork chops and basting with sauce occasionally, until chops are tender and sauce has thickened, about 45 minutes…Let the pork chops rest for 10 minutes before serving ..

One of the great things about a Double-cut pork chop is that it is thick enough to stick a thermometer in it. The FDA wants you to get the internal temp of pork to 160. The problem with that is that all of the cell structures start popping at 150 and all that good juice starts coming out. Nothing worse than a beautiful pork chop that's dry as dust .. So Stop at 145+ … it will get to 160 while it rests … if it gets to 145 before the 45 minutes is over, take it out. If it doesn't get to 145 by the end of the 45 min, leave it in there till it does … This is where one of those electric thermometers that you stick in the meat and leave is really handy. They have a long wire so you can read the temp while your meat cooks.  Pick one pork chop and stick the thermometer in to the thickest part, not touching the bone.

Serve this with a salad and you've got a great dinner …. Simple!!

Mack

 

Posted by Mack Oates at 12:03