Seared Pork Chops with Ginger, Sauternes, Grainy Mustard Sauce
Classic French cuisine places a great emphasis on sauces, and often more time and attention is spent on perfecting the sauce than on any other element of the dish. In French cuisine, a great chef must also be a great saucier.
One of the great things about contemporary French and New American cuisines is the eagerness to break down classical requirements for various sauces, and to experiment with new flavor combinations. This is something at which Chef David Waltuck, owner of Chanterelle in New York City, truly excells. In his Chanterelle cookbook appears the recipe below for Pork Chops with Ginger-Mustard-Sauternes sauce. It’s a pan sauce with a ginger-infused Sauternes reduction, finished off with coarse mustard and butter. The sauce is creamy, grainy, meaty, pungent, and mildly sweet – a range of different flavors, all in balance.
A great sauce like this really turns the ordinary pork chop into something quite special.
Heat & Knives
The Recipe
Source: Chanterelle
¼ cup peeled and coarsely chopped fresh ginger
2 cups Sauternes or Muscat
2 cups chicken stock
four 10-ounce bone-in center-cut pork chops, trimmed of fat
kosher salt
black pepper from a mill
¼ cup canola or other neutral oil
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 tablespoons grainy mustard
¼ cup (½ stick) cold unsalted butter
Prepare the Sauce:
Put the ginger and Sauternes in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium, and reduce, swirling, until it becomes caramelized and syrupy, about 15 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer set over a bowl and discard the ginger. Return the reduction to the pan and pour in the stock. Bring to a boil and reduce the sauce to 1 cup, about 30 minutes. Remove from the heat. (The sauce can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 24 hours.)
Cook the Pork Chops:
Preheat the oven to 400 F.
Heat a large, heavy-bottomed, ovenproof saute pan over high heat until very hot. Season the pork chops generously with salt and pepper. Pour the oil into the hot pan, let it get hot, and add the chops. Brown the meat well, about 4 minutes per side. Drain and discard the oil, then place the pan to the oven for 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer the chops to a plate or platter and keep covered and warm while you finish the sauce.
Use a paper towel to carefully wipe any excess oil out of the saute pan. Return the pan to high heat, pour in the Sauternes reduction, and bring to a boil. Add the lemon juice and mustard, then whisk in the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time.
Put a chop on each of 4 dinner plates and divide the sauce evenly among the servings, covering the chops. Serve immediately.
