In 2000, I saw a late night pilot on the Food Network by a southern chef, Michael Nischan. He never made it past the pilot and I think I may have seen him one other time on some other cooking show. Sad, really, as I thought his on-camera presence was pretty entertaining and his recipes seemed easy to follow. But for a network that puts the likes of Paula Dean and Rachel Ray on the air and kicks off bona fide culinary pros like Anthony Bourdain and Mario Batali, you gotta wonder.
At any rate, Chef Michael cooked this recipe on the air and I was dying to try it. I have since made it many times and it is true southern comfort food. The secret is in getting the right kind of chops. You want thick, fatty shoulder, not rib chops. You'll probably have to ask your butcher to cut them special.
You're also going to need to get smoked and/or fresh ham hocks. These are easier to find in some parts of the country than others. I doubt your average Boston grocery store will have them, but in Atlanta, it shouldn't be a problem. I suppose the same holds true for collard greens.
This recipe is an all-day event. I suggest you get to the market a day in advance. The next day, get up, have your coffee and a big breakfast, and start making your ham hock stock in the morning. Have your greens cooking by 2 o'clock. Get your chops in the oven by 4 o'clock. You'll have time for cocktails while everything is finishing, and dinner will be ready by six. Sounds like a perfect Sunday to me.
Ingredients
For the ham hock stock
3-4 smoked ham hocks
3-4 fresh ham hocks
water to cover
Ingredients
For the pork chops
4 shoulder pork chops cut 1-1/2 inches thick
2-3 tbsp all purpose flour or soy flour
1 green pepper, cored and sliced
2 medium onions, diced
1 lb button mushrooms, sliced
3 cups ham hock stock, heated to a simmer
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 stick butter
dash Kitchen Bouquet
vegetable oil for cooking
Ingredients
For the collard greens
1 gallon ham hock stock
4 large bunches of collard greens chopped into 4-inch pieces
1 large onion peeled
1 jalapeno pepper, split in half lengthwise, seeds removed
1 26 oz carton chicken stock (like, Swanson or Kitchen Basics)
malt vinegar to taste
salt & pepper to taste
The Recipes
Make the ham hock stock first:
First off, if you can find both fresh and smoked ham hocks, use them. If you can only find one or the other, you should prefer the smoked ones. Place ham hocks in a stock pot large enough to hold the hocks, leaving 6 inches of free space at the top of the pot. Pour enough cold water over the hocks to cover by 3 inches. Bring to a rapid simmer over a medium high heat. A thick foam will build on the top of the stock. Carefully remove all of the foam. Reduce heat to low and simmer at least three hours, but you can go five or six hours if you wish.
Constantly skim the clear fat that builds at the top of the stock. When the stock is done, you can take each hock out of the stock and cut out some of the innermost tender meat and set it aside. Don't use the outermost flesh of the hock as it is tough and chewy. Discard the hocks. Don't add the meat back to the stock until you start the greens. Be sure to reserve 3 cups of the stock for the chops; the rest you will use for the collard green recipe.
Next, start the greens:
If you can buy pre-washed collard greens, I recommend it. If not, you need to soak them in cold water, changing the water at least three times. There is nothing worse than sandy greens. Cut out the base of each stalk, and also remove about half the stem from inside the leaf, leaving only the more tender stem toward the top of the leaf intact. Then rolling 2-3 leaves at a time into a cigar/jelly-roll shape, cut the leaf width-wise into 1-inch slices. Place hock stock in a large sauce pot over a medium high heat. Add back any of the ham hock meat that you carved out of the hocks. Bring hock stock to a rapid simmer. Pack collards into the stock with the onion and jalapeno. Add water or chicken stock if necessary.
We generally have a Honey Baked Ham during the Christmas holidays, and there is always some left over. I will carve off and slice down chunks of this ham that didn't get eaten during a holiday feast and preserve it in the freezer precisely for this dish. If you have any, add it to the stock pot with the greens. Simmer the collard greens exactly 4 hours. As the liquid evaporates, augment it with additional chicken stock. When the greens are done, season to taste with salt, pepper and serve with malt vinegar on the side.
Now, the main event:
Season each chop with salt and pepper, then dust with flour. Heat a cast iron Dutch oven over a medium heat. Add the cooking oil and brown the pork chops well, approximately 4 minutes per side. Remove the chops from the Dutch oven and set aside. Add another tablespoon or two of oil to the Dutch oven. Add the onions and peppers. Increase the heat to medium high and saute the onions and green peppers until they begin to caramelize.
When the onions and peppers are becoming browned, melt the butter into the Dutch oven. Add the mushrooms and cook them until they collapse. Sprinkle the remaining flour over the vegetables and cook, stirring constantly, for 5 to 10 minutes.
Remove the Dutch oven from the stove and stir in the hot hock stock until thickened and smooth. Add a dash of Kitchen Bouquet. Bury the pork chops in the gravy. Cover the Dutch oven with its lid and place in a 300 degree oven. Cook 2 hours, or until the pork is very tender.
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