Ranch Gordo Good Mother Stallards are the beans that you see there. They were unlike any beans I have ever eaten. The pot liquor alone was worth the price of admission. They were tender but not mushy and really, really buttery. I soaked them for about 4 hours and then let then simmer for 3 hours with a ham hock. These ain’t no ordinary bag’o beans from the supermarket. The folks over at Rancho Gordo call them their “come back” beans. Now I can see why. If you try any of the RG beans, let them be the these.

Oh yeah, and I made some pork chops…

I wanted to try the method that I read about in a magazine. They illustrated the results of cooking the chop quickly starting with a hot pan and cooking the chop slowly starting with a cold pan. The hot - quick method yielded 5 tablespoons of juice left over in the pan whereas the slower - cold pan method yielded only two. If the juice is in the pan, well, it ain’t in the chop. Since I am not a fan of this so called “enhanced” (read: injected with salt, water, and who knows what else) pork, I used natural pork chops. When I buy pork, I don’t think it should come with an ingredients label with more than pork as the ingredient. I can enhance them myself. In an effort to make them even more juicy and flavorful (read: enhance them) I brined them in a maple syrup mixture. Topped with a quick Dijon mustard pan sauce, these were some juicy, tangy, chops.

Follow up:

With chops 3/4 - 1 inch thick, I only need to brine a short while. I’ve read to brine for a day or more, but I’ve done that and I ended up with salty chops. So I brine for at least 1 hour and no more than 4.

Ingredients:

Brine:
3 cups water
3/4 cup kosher salt
1 cup maple syrup (the real stuff) you could also use sugar, or honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp black peppercorns
3 sprigs rosemary
1 bay leaf

Put all ingredients into a sauce pan and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to a simmer and stir constantly to dissolve sugar and salt. About 5 minutes.

Turn heat off and let cool or pour over a bowl of ice cubes.

When mixture is cool, put chops in a plastic bag and pour mixture in covering chops. Refrigerate for up to 4 hours.

Pork Chops:

Remove chops from brine, rinse well, and pat dry.

Rub with olive oil. Season with pepper. No salt is needed.

Place chops in a cold skillet. (If using an electric stove, you’ll have to turn the eye on a lttle ahead of time)

Turn heat to medium. Chops should be sizzling after 2 minutes. If they are not, up the heat.

Cook, uncovered, for 7 to 10 minutes.

Flip chops, cover skillet, and turn heat to low.

Cook for another 4-6 minutes until temperature of chops reaches 140 degrees-f

Remove chops and keep warm.

Sauce:
1 shallot chopped
3 tbsp dijon mustard
1/2 cup white wine
1 tbsp butter

In the same skillet, turn heat to medium high.

Add butter and whisk around, scraping bottom.

Add shallot. Cook until soft.

Deglaze pan with wine. (Remove skillet form flame before doing this)

Add mustard and whisk to combine.

Bring to boil, then reduce heat to simmer until reduced and desired thickness about 6 minutes.

Float a pat of butter in just before serving if desired.

Serve over chops.