One of the issues we have faced with cooking in the CVap is that ingredients often end up being coated in their coagulated proteins. In our workshop today, with the insight of chef Neall, we re-thought the idea of skewering, balance, and intent. The result was simple and obvious. It took fresh eyes to see the answer.
Really we should have set up this rig the night before as we were marinating the meat overnight. But we hadn't gotten there yet. We seasoned the pork chops with mustard, brown sugar and salt. Then I precariously tried to balance the chops on a cooling rack in the refrigerator. I placed skewers through the rack and tried to pinch the chops in place. This worked poorly and in the morning the chops had fallen over.
As we arranged the chops in a hotel pan to cook them in the CVap, once again I struggled with the balance thing. Neall saw the picture differently and suggested just skewering the fat tip on the chop to grab a hold of it, allowing the skewer to rest on the sides of the hotel pan. This worked beautifully. The chops cooked and the coagulated proteins dripped underneath. We were then able to easily remove them from the pan, lightly salt them and fry them in butter. Problem solved. New doors opened. Improved cooking to follow.
Years Past
