On Saturday morning, I still did not know what I was going to do for Thanksgiving.
My mom had made an off-hand comment about the whole family maybe coming down to Brooklyn to dine chez Granny Cart. Even though I was 98% sure she was joking, it lodged a bee in my bonnet. On Saturday morning I woke up and wanted to cook.If the whole Upstate gang was going to descend on my humble home, I was going to be ready for them.
And so for Saturday night dinner Isaac and I had a faux Thanksgiving dinner. No messing around with making up my own recipes, if I was going to cook for a crowd, I was going to make stuff that other people had already vetted. I turned to Florence Fabricant‘s Brussel’s Sprouts & Chestnuts in Brown Butter, Molly’s squash purée, and Flying Pigs farm‘s absolutely, utterly, fantastically, astonisingly perfect pork chops (with the maple & bourbon pan sauce, naturally).
Whaaaaa? Pork chops? For Thanksgiving dinner? Well… As odd as this may sound, on Saturday, there were no (affordable) turkeys at the greenmarket. I wanted meat, so we got pork chops. And boy oh boy were they good. They completely overwhelmed everything else.
Molly‘s purée was delicious. FloFab’s sprouts were good but watery (when she says to drain those sprouts, she means it). But the pork! Oh the pork!
This is the best method for cooking pork chops ever! And if, in fact, the whole crew were to descend upon Bay Ridge for Thanksgiving dinner I would have quite the conundrum: To cook a turkey (something I’ve never done) or to cook perfect pork chops (something I can definitely do).
Happily, it’s a conundrum I will not find myself in this year. I’ll be spending Thanksgiving day relaxing on our couch, catching up on my reading. What will we eat? The leftover squash and sprouts, to be sure, and I must have stuffing and maybe some mashed potatoes for Isaac (I’ve got my eye on this recipe, I bet the color is amazing).
Maybe we’ll have turkey, it all depends on today’s trip to the greenmarket. I know I’ll have turkey this weekend when I head Upstate for a slightly delayed turkey fest with the whole family, so I’m not all that stressed about it.
Or maybe I’ll just buy some more pork. The pilgrims had pigs didn’t they? No, apparently they did not. Poor pilgrims.
A Chicken In Every Granny Cart 
Looks delicious! We had a faux Thanksgiving over the weekend, too. I needed to make sure my horrible oven would cook the Yorkshire Puddings we’re planning for TDay. And, well, if you’re having Yorkshire Pudding you might as well have a roast beef, right? And some roasted potatoes and onions. And, oh hell, why not, some green beans… it all kind of snowballed.
Hey Thanksgiving pork chop dinner: sacreligious? probably, delicious? certainly! Looks great. Have a good one tomorrow.
Any time is a good time for Flying Pigs chops. :)
Yum! Those chops look great!
Happy Thanksgiving!
When we go around the table tomorrow saying what we’re thankful for, I may have to include this pork chop recipe, Ann. Wow. Have a lovely day with Isaac tomorrow and a wonderful belated Thanksgiving upstate.
Pork is always good in my book.
Happy Thanksgiving, Ann.
I just made the Flying Pig chops last week. They were tasty.
I must also admit to insane jealousy as to how you spent your Thanksgiving Day. While I slaved away, you were lounging about..if only I could allow myself to escape next year and indulge in such decadence.. But what would I tell Izzy?
So what did you end cooking? :-)
Ann — That sounds amazing! I’ve never had a proper Yorkshire pudding. Someday, someday….
Susan — Thanks! It was wonderful, sans pork however ;-)
Jennifer — Hear! Hear! God I love those pigs.
Mary C. — Hi! Thanks for stopping by, and for the compliment. I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving!
Terry — It’s a keeper. Use it in good health and porky happiness!
Christina — I hope you guys had a lovely holiday too.
Izzy’s Mama — Don’t be too jealous! There was far less lounging than I had expected! Isaac got it into his head that we needed to walk, so we tromped a good 7 miles in search of lunch and then came home and cooked. It wasn’t nearly as lazy as I would have predicted. And just wait til Izzy’s old enough to help out in the kitchen a lot. Those’ll be great years!
Ann — hehe, you’re funny! We heated up a DiPaolo’s smoked turkey breast and I made some stuffing and then we reheated the sprouts and squash. It was delicious and easy. I’m so glad the puddings worked out for you!
Ha!~ We did the same faux thing too. We had roast beef because my family thing wasn’t until LAST night and I haven’t even got the pics downloaded yet. I love a Thanksgiving with no pressure.
Have you tried Prairie Pride Farm of MN for absolutely the best in Berkshire Heritage Pork and Chicken? The are a small family farm in southern Minnesota and they ship all over! Even leaf lard and pork belly and fantastic hams! FYI I see they have Pork Crown Roasts now with Minnesota Wild Rice
http://www.prairiepridefarm.com
Glenna — Don’t you just love flexible families! We’re so lucky :-)
Dawn — I haven’t tried their pork yet. I know they ship, but that would make my carbon footprint guilty, so if I ever find myself in Minnesota, I’m totally going to visit! Thanks!