Yet another session of Vrghr cooking for an office party for his co-workers. (Ya know, wuff bets he could get more folks lining up to hire if he added these party foods to the "benefits" section of any job openings! *giggle*)

Special Credit in this recipe goes to  Tyrex_Kyuris for the suggestion to use Hazelnuts in the coating, instead of the other nuts wuffy was considering. The hazelnuts were a PERFECT pairing with the pork! Thank you muchly, Tyrex, for the great idea!!

This is the culmination of the hints Vrghr has been dropping, on journal and in scraps. It was a "qualified" success in Vrghr's mind, but wuff's co-workers are raving over it! Wuff wished the nutty coating would have adhered to the chops a bit better. But to "fix" that, Vrghr just toasted up some of the nutty coating, and folks could spoon that atop their chops to augment the coating that did stick.

The flavors, texture, and juiciness however were unqualified successes! Wow! Were these ever good! Tender and juicy all the way through. WONDERFUL flavor from the combination of the spices in the sous vide poaching bags, the nutty coating, and the fantastic Jus! Tender enough that we used butter knives to cut them with (we don't have enough steak knives here at work for everyone).

Folks took one look at those HUGE chops and said, "I'll never finish one! Could you carve one up for me?". So wuffy carefully carved 4 of them from the bone, then sliced them in half. Guess what? *giggles* Everyone that got a half a chop went back for seconds! *LAUGHS* Only one of them cut their second half in half. Everyone else ended up finishing off a full chop! Those beasts are over a pound each, pre-cooking weight, so that was a LOT of pork to get through! Must have been pretty tasty, to their minds!

The Sous Vide water bath is really the right technique for these, but you COULD start them in a skillet then finish, covered, in a very slow (200 degree) oven. Uncover and add a quick flash of broiling to re-crisp the upper coating before serving.

Wuffy will provide the recipe for the pork chops and the black currant Jus here. The Curried Sweet Potatoes on the side were also spectacularly good! So wuff will provide their recipe in a subsequent post.

Wuffy just needs to find a means of getting that nut coating to stick better to the chops before searing, and this dish will be PERFECT!

Ingredients:
For the Chops
7 ea 2 inch thick bone-in Pork Loin Chops (special cut, over 1lb each)
3 T unsalted Butter
Penzey's Bouquet Garni seasoning
Granulated Toasted Garlic
Omnivore Salt
Fresh ground Black Pepper
2 tsp Black Currant Jam per chop
4 T good Olive Oil

Oil for frying/searing

(2 ea 1 Gallon bags and Sous Vide to poach)

For the Hazelnut Crust
8 oz chopped Hazelnuts
1 C unseasoned Panko breadcrumbs
3 heaping Tablespoons finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese
(small Food Processor)

For the Jus
All the juices from the bags of pork after cooking in the Sous Vide
1/2 C Black Currant Jam
3/4 C Red Wine (Wuff used Merlot)
2-3 tsp Corn Starch + 1/3 C cold water (whisk into a slurry)
2 tsp + 2 tsp Rubbed Thyme
2 tsp + 2 tsp cracked Rosemary
2 tsp + 2 tsp granulated Roasted Garlic
2 tsp ground Black pepper
(Fine Sieve)

Directions:
Poaching the Chops Sous Vide
Set your Sous Vide to 137 degrees (130 was too rare, and 140 was a bit drier that wuff wanted. But 140 is also a good temperature if you like you chops more "pan fried" consistency)
Season the chops on both sides with a light sprinkle of each: granulated Garlic, Omnivore salt, fresh ground Black Pepper, and Penzey's Bouquet Garni seasoning.
Place the chops into the 2 bags, laying them flat (don't stack on top of each other). Slice the butter into thin pats and distribute between the bags.
Spoon 2 tsp of Black Currant Jam on top of each chop, and mash it into the side of the chop by massaging it from the outside of the bag.
Drizzle 2 T of olive oil into each bag, and seal using the Immersion method to drive the air out.
Poach in the sous vide for ~ 2.5-3 Hours.

Making the Black Currant Jus
When the pork chops have finished poaching in the Sous Vide, drain off all the juices from the bags into a medium sauce pan. Re-seal the bags and put them back in the sous vide at 130 degrees to keep warm.

Add the first 2 tsp of Garlic, Thyme, and Rosemary
Boil vigorously over medium-high heat for about 4-5 minutes. The proteins and other solids from the pork will turn the liquid into a porridge-like consistency. Not to worry! It's still good stuff!
Drain off the liquid into a bowl or cup through a fine sieve, pressing with the back of a spoon to extract all the liquid. Discard the solids and clean out your sauce pan of any remaining solids.
Return the strained liquid to the sauce pan. Add the remaining spices and red wine. Continue cooking over medium high heat, stirring it down if it threatens to boil over, until the volume has reduce by about a third (about 8-10 minutes).
Strain off any new solids and the bits of spices through a fine sieve. Clean out the pan again, and return the strained liquid to the pan.
Add the corn starch Slurry to the pan and whisk, letting the jus come back to a light boil. It should thicken enough to coat the back of the spoon and become shiny and semi-transparent.
Reduce heat to very low to keep warm.

Searing the Chops and Plating
Pulse the chopped hazelnuts in a food processor until very finely chopped. Add in the panko crumbs and cheese, and pulse a couple more times to combine.
In a large heavy skillet over medium, heat a tablespoon or 2 of cooking oil until it shimmers
Place a goodly amount of the Hazelnut mixture on a flat plate and spread it out a bit. Remove the chops from the bags and pat dry with paper towels
Dredge the chops into the nut mixture, pressing it into both the top and bottom
Sear the nut-crusted chops in the skillet until the nuts just start to smell very fragrant and are slightly browned, about a minute or so on each side.
Remove to a warmed plate to hold while the rest of the chops are finished

Plate a chop and, if desired, spoon a bit of the nut coating that fell over into the skillet onto the bare patches. Drizzle a generous bit of the Black Currant Jus over the chop. Side with the curried Sweet Potatoes.

!DEVOUR!