Smothered Pig

The Southern cooking process of smothering typically involves browning meat in fat of some sort, adding plenty of vegetables, cooking slowly, then thickening with a roux made of white flour cooked in more fat. If this were a traditional Southern version, it would contain nearly a cup of butter. Needless to say, lightening up a dish so calorie dense wasn’t difficult.

I generally mix up my own Cajun seasoning blend, though after a busy week, I was simply lazy and used some that was prepared by Slap Ya Mama. Please try not to lose what little respect you may have had for me now that you know I didn’t scratch-make the seasoning.

You may look at this recipe and wonder what xanthan gum even is, never mind have some in your pantry. Although relatively expensive to buy initially, you require very little of it to thicken food. If you don’t mind eating corn products, you could use a cornstarch and water mixture in place of the xanthan gum. Now get smothering!

Time: 40 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter

1 pound bone-in pork chops

1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

1 onion – sliced

1 pound mushrooms – sliced

2 cloves garlic – very finely chopped or crushed

2 cups chicken stock

1 tablespoon Louisiana-style hot sauce

¼ teaspoon xanthan gum

2 tablespoons parsley – finely chopped

 

Preparation:

Place a frying pan on medium-high heat and add the butter.

Season both sides of the chops with the Cajun seasoning and place them in the frying pan. Cook for three minutes on each side, then remove from the pan and keep warm.

Add the onion, mushrooms and garlic to the pan, stirring occasionally for ten minutes.

Stir the stock and hot sauce into the mushroom mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for twenty minutes.

Sprinkle the xanthan gum into the mixture (a salt shaker is great for this) and stir to combine.

Add the pork chops back to the pan, covering with the mushrooms and let warm for three minutes.

Remove the pan from heat and plate the chops, covered with the sauce and mushroom mixture. Garnish with the parsley and serve immediately.

Get the PDf and nutrition info