I usually try to plan a weekly menu so that way when I go to the grocery store I know exactly what I am getting. I find it saves me time and money. This past Sunday was no different. I had my menu planned out and bought everything I needed for the week, or so I thought. I had every intention of making a dish that my dad had talked to me about, however, I forgot one ingredient so I had to quickly improvise. The original plan was to cook pork chops so I knew I would be making those, I just wasn’t sure what to do with them. I thought that marinating them would be good so I scoured my refrigerator for some ingredients and came up with this delicious Asian inspired marinade. I whisked together a mixture of hoisin sauce, siracha sauce, rice wine vinegar, garlic, ground ginger and soy sauce and poured it over the pork chops. After a few hours in the fridge, I baked them in the oven and served them along side some stir-fried veggies and jasmine rice. It was a delicious dinner.
The marinade is what makes this dish. It is sweet, savory and a little spicy, but it compliments the pork perfectly. Note that you do need to marinade these pork chops for at least 2 hours so be sure to plan accordingly.
mike moodlao
December 11, 2010 at 3:56 pmyou need to put them under the broiler when they hit 140.. otherwise they will be mushy, like they look in the photo.
mr china say “MUSHY PORK CHOP NO GOOD. AMERICANS NO COOK GOOD. FOLLOW ME MR. CHINA MAN FOR GOOD FOOD”
Deseree
May 8, 2009 at 11:24 amThanks Rita! I bet these would work grilled too. It was pouring rain when I made these so I couldn’t get Ryan to stand outside and grill for me ;-)
Thanks finsmom!
Thanks Marta! You may have to adjust the cooking time slightly depending on if you use bone in or boneless chicken, but I think the flavors would go very well with chicken. If I were to try it with chicken, I would probably use boneless, skinless thighs or breasts.
Thanks Cassie! I used to do that, but then I found myself always buying the same things. Which wasn’t bad, but planning ahead allowed me a little more variety.
cassie
May 8, 2009 at 10:31 amWOW! this looks great! I wish I would plan ahead. My plan is buy and then figure it out later.
Marta
May 8, 2009 at 8:15 amI love menu-planning ahead as well. I actually enjoy sitting down with my cookbooks and plotting our what I want to cook for the week. It builds up the anticipation and excitement! Plus, you’re right, it does save time and money at the store. No down side!
Would you reccommend switching chicken for the pork? I don’t eat pork, but everything else looks so delicious here! Glorious photo :)
finsmom
May 7, 2009 at 7:51 pmWow. Your recipes constantly amaze me. Yum is all I can say!
Rita
May 7, 2009 at 6:50 pmI also like to plan a weekly menu, it does save me a lot of money ( I actually made a test). The pork looks nice, I never baked pork chops, always grilled or pan fried.