Food stuff – Pork Chops

There’s a cookbook in my family that I think every female member owns. (There aren’t that many males, but I know my uncle has the cookbook as well.) It is known only as “the book”. It’s been around forever, it seems. Way back, my dad was a resident at Overlook Hospital in Summit, NJ. The hospital had a fundraiser cookbook, “Cooking is Our Bag”. (Google-foo shows you can buy it through alibris, and here is a 1983 article about it.)

Anyway, it’s a book I think that started out as an easy gift for everyone in the family. The book has no photos of the food, though there are some illustrations. But it’s a fairly reliable source of recipes. When I was 20 or 21 I specifically asked for a copy of “the book”, and I got it. I took my copy and sat down with my mom’s copy and copied all the notes she had written next to the recipes: VG, looks great – taste’s awful, not worth the effort, delish!, makes a ton…. And I have even added a few notes to the book myself as I have gambled on a few of the recipes. It is not very green or healthy as cookbooks go (one recipe has MSG as an ingredient!) but it’s my go-to, and substitutions can be made.

Dinner tonight actually came from “the book”, and I thought I would share. I should share more recipes – I know I have borrowed many from the web!

Chinese Oven Fried Pork Chops
Ingredients:
1 egg
3 T. soy sauce
1 T. dry sherry (I’ve used port or OJ, depends what is on hand!)
1/8 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. garlic powder
4 T. bread crumbs
3 – 4 lean loin pork chops, 1/2″ thick, trimmed (whatever, I just buy a package of boneless pork chops

Combine egg, soy sauce, sherry, ginger and garlic powder.
Dip chops into egg mixture.
Coat with crumbs.
Place in single layer in greased baking dish.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Turn, bake additional 20 minutes until tender.

Doris Irving (Mrs. Stephen)

Hah! No photo of the finished product, as it’s not done cooking yet, maybe later 🙂