Cook Along: Volume One - Marinated Baked Pork Chops

Welcome to our inaugural "Cook Along" recipe review.  In case you missed it, the rules of cook along are simple:  both halves of the brain make the same recipe on the same day and review it with out consulting the other half.  No changes to the recipe, no talking about the recipe until after we've written our reviews, and absolutely NO LEMON BARS.

We chose Marinated Baked Pork Chops from allrecipes.com.  And now, onto the reviews!

Take One:

The recipe is pretty straightforward, and the ingredients list is manageable.  Aren't they pretty?

Okay, first off, can we discuss the fact that while the recipe is called "Baked, Marinated Porkchops", there is no actual marinating taking place.  I'm not sure that they need it, I just like truth in advertising.  

I used pork loin chops since that was the best deal at the supermarket this week, but they were on the thin side for pork chops, not quite 3/4 inch thick.  They turned out fine, but in future I would probably use a thicker chop, and maybe a sirloin chop or something that would really benefit from being braised for an hour in the oven.  Also, I would probably turn the heat up on the oven for the last twenty minutes to thicken up the sauce a little bit.  I will admit that I was initially surprised not to see salt on the ingredients list, but with Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce in the mix, it didn't need it.  All in all, a good recipe, and a tasty finished product.  

I served them with a side of mashed potatoes and sauted squash.  Everybody here enjoyed them and with a few minor tweaks they will definitely make it into the recipe rotation.  I'm sorry not to have a picture of the finished product, but we were too busy shoveling food into our gaping maws to get out the camera.  So, enjoy your pork chops and let us know what you thought.

AH

Take Two:

My Cook Along involved not just my husband, but it ended up being a test for my mom and dad to participate in too, as they came over for dinner tonight.  I was excited to try this recipe mainly because of the ingredient list.  There are only seven ingredients involved, and best of all, they were all (except the pork chops) things that I have in my kitchen all the time.

I bought the pork loin chops at the grocery store (they were the cheapest), and they worked out just fine, but I think that next time I make this (and there will be a next time!), I think I’ll get something a little thicker.  The loin chops were good, but they would’ve been even better if they were thicker.  Because my chops were so thin, I cooked them for a half hour on the first side, but then only 15 minutes on the second.  They actually came out really nicely, and they weren’t dried out at all.

One thing I did think was a little strange was that there really wasn’t a lot of sauce for the amount of chops.  I mean, even in the actual recipe, the author wrote that they often double the sauce to have enough to put over rice, but I don’t even think doubling it would be enough.  As it is, there’s only eight tablespoons of sauce here.  It definitely covered the chops that were there, but it just wasn’t enough.  Side note: I LOVE oven drippings, and I really like having plenty of drippings to spoon extra on top of whatever it was I made in the first place (and yes, admittedly, even sampling a spoonful or two of just the drippings themselves).

My side dishes for this dinner were garlic mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus (two favorite things in my house).  There was NO food left at the end of dinner.  Luckily, I managed to take a picture of the plate of pork chops before we started devouring them.  My husband has declared that this recipe is a keeper and that I should feel free to make it again.

A.V.