Orange Cranberry Sauced Pork Chops

Have you been wondering if this blog would even show up in your RSS feed/google reader again? I sure was. Too much travel and busy time leads to not cooking enough. I’ve done some cooking during my down time, but nothing new, nothing special at all, and I’m still awaiting camera surgery. However, in time for Turkey Day Eve I got back to the business. You know I brought out ‘old trusty’ aka the crock pot.


Orange Cranberry Sauced Pork Chops
Materials:

½ bag baby carrots
3-4 pork chops
½ can whole berry cranberry sauce
1 tbl orange marmalade
1 tbl quick cooking tapioca
¼ tsp cardamon

Methods:
Place the baby carrots in the bottom of the slow cooker. Place pork chops atop the carrots. Mix the remaining ingredients and place sauce on top of pork chops. Cook on low for 9-10 hours while at work.
Verdict:
Eh. This smelled amazing when I came home from work. I could hardly wait until going over to David’s to eat dinner. Alas, there was a lot of hype for nothing. The original recipe from a Crock Pot magazine called for orange cranberry sauce, which I couldn’t find -- so I added orange marmalade to my cranberry sauce as a substitute. I couldn’t really taste the orange. More importantly, the pork was somehow exceedingly dry, despite the fact that there was plenty of juices/water in the bottom of the crockpot. I thought it was impossible to cook dried out food in the crockpot. Unfortunately, I’m able to do that. I also didn’t really think the tapioca did anything -- I know its supposed to make the sauce creamy, but I wound up with glazed pork chops (the glaze was good despite the lack of orange taste) and a thin, watery cranberry-y sauce that the carrots were sitting in. I had high hopes… maybe will use the cranberry sauce and marmalade combo for glazed chops on the stove in the future.

I would like to note that I think pork pairs really well with fruit -- david had never had pork cooked with fruit. When I think of pork chops I think of cherries, apples, pears, and peaches -- I swear it’s a natural pairing.