Bacon-Wrapped Pork Chops

[fitfool]

citizensnips420 posted this comment suggesting a recipe for making bacon-wrapped pork chops. I love all things bacon and I had just bought some hard apple cider which I decided to use as the braising liquid instead of beer. Turned out ok. Not my greatest foray into the kitchen. Good flavor but I think I overcooked the meat since it was a bit on the tougher side to chew. I still had some pork chops left so in the second attempt, I left out the braising step and did everything on the stove top so I could keep a closer eye on the meat. Came out much better the second time through. So I'll post the steps I made on both attempts.





Bacon-Wrapped Pork Chops

boneless pork loin chops
2 cloves fresh chopped garlic
salt
pepper
some leaves of fresh sage
paprika
2 slices bacon
1 bottle hard apple cider

First Attempt:

1. Preheat oven to 350F
   
   
2. Mix together some salt, pepper, and paprika as your dry seasoning mix. Include sage here if you're using dried sage.
   
   
   
   ingredients: trimmed fat, trimmed chop, the original chop, spice mix, sage leaves, garlic
   
   
3. Trim excess fat (save it for a different recipe if you want to make chicarrones)
   
   
4. Rub the chops all over with the garlic and crumpled fresh sage leaves.
   
   
5. Rub the chops all over with the salt, pepper, and paprika.
   
   
6. Wrap bacon around the edges and secure with a toothpick.
   
   
   
   
7. In a saucepan, I browned the pork chops about 1-2 minutes per side.
   
   
   
   
8. In a baking pan with a lid, I lined it with foil and then poured in about 1/4 cup of hard apple cider.
   
   
9. Place the pork chops in the cider, cover, and bake at 350F for 30 minutes.
   
   
10. After taking it out, I put it back in the pan on the stove top, standing the chops on edge to crisp up the bacon. (either this step cooked the pork too much or 30 minutes in the oven was too long... Not really sure.)
    
    
11. While the pork chops were in the oven, I deglazed the pan I had seared the pork chops in with another 1/4 cup of cider and some water (would've used chicken broth if I had any but I was out). Threw in some chopped up fresh sage. In a small cup I mixed a little water with corn starch and then poured the mixture into the pan to thicken up. Stir until it's a smooth sauce. When the chops came out of the oven, I poured this sauce over them.
    
    
    
    

Second Attempt:

1. This time, I started frying up the bacon over low heat to render out some of the fat.
   
2. While the bacon is cooking, I seasoned the chops the same as above but then pounded them thin (about 1/4 inch thick).
   
3. When the bacon was done, I set the bacon out on paper towels to drain.
   
4. Drain off the excess bacon fat and then fry up the pork chops in the remaining bacon grease. I think it was about 4 minutes per side.
   
5. I deglazed the pan with a little hard cider, threw in chopped up sage, and a little corn starch and water mixture to make the sauce again. This time, I crumbled in the crisped up bacon into the sauce and poured this over the pork chops.
   

Second time through came out much better. Meat was still juicy and tender. I think the first recipe might've worked if I hadn't cooked it in the oven as long. Or maybe I shouldn't have tried to crisp up the bacon on the stove top. I'm not really sure. I didn't get a photo of the 2nd attempt but it looks pretty much the same except with thinner pork chops.