Monday

Monday morning was another icy day, with a bitter North wind. But, looking at the news and the East coast, we got spared. Some places got one to two feet of blowing, drifting snow, from up in New England and to as far south as Virginia (Lu) and North Carolina (Melissa). This may explain why I only got a voice mail when I tried to call Lu yesterday.

I swung by Westborn on the way home at lunch and bought a good-sized handful of fresh bean sprouts and more button mushrooms and headed home. Once there, I dished out a big bowlful of the chilled fried rice and added a handful of the bean spouts. I put them in the microwave and heated it up. I splashed the resultant dish with soy sauce and dug in... excellent! They probably would have been better, heated up in the sesame oil, but, I do what I can...

Once home, I was on the computer, looking stuff up. When I checked on the time it was after 7:00 PM! So, I switched to the kitchen and dinner.

Now Jake, Carla and I discussed various options for re-heating, but not overcooking those pork chops. In the end, I went with my gut feeling (since that is where they will end up, I figured he had a vote in the procedure!)

I had taken them out when I first got home to bring them up to room temperature. Now, I turned the oven on to 450 degrees F. I put some parchment paper on a half sheet tray and the pork chops on top of it. I took the thermometer and inserted the probe in the center of the largest chop (about midway through). I put the tray into the oven.

I set the temp on the thermometer to 137 degrees F. Now, there is some disagreement over this, BTW. The USDA suggests all pork be cooked to an internal temperature of 160 degrees. But, most chefs say, if you do that, you end up with a dried out piece of pork! Most of them recommend around 140, which I figure I will hit with the carry-over cooking effect.

I thought it would take about three minutes, but it was just shy of seven when the alarm went off. I pulled them out, tented them with foil and let them rest. Meanwhile, I put the rest of the cauliflower in the microwave and warmed it up. I plated them up and went to check out TV shows.

The pork chop was perfect!!! It was moist, juicy and just a hint of pink in the middle. That three-day brine gave it a great flavor. My only regret is that I warmed both of them up at the same time. And, I probably could have done them in the toaster oven and saved the gas.

I took the rest of the night off.