The Other White Meat

I believe that I have talked about my son's picky eating in earlier posts. It's always been an adventure to cook for him, to say the least. But, fortunately, he's 19 yrs. old now and getting a little better with trying different foods. This seems to have come about because of going out to eat with his friends. However it's happened, I'm thrilled.

One food that I had a hard time getting him to eat when he was younger was pork chops. While he is a meat lover and would always eat steak and chicken, trying to get him to eat a pork chop wasn't easy, I'm not sure why. I eventually told him it was white steak and he ate it a liked it. Go figure. Hey, a mother's got to do what a mother's got to do.

I did finally 'fess up and he kept eating them. But, they had to be cooked a certain way, no breading, pan fried, but not browned and no fat. That's not an easy thing to do, food, especially meat, gets brown when you cook it. If any part of it got browned, he would cut it off. It's really hard to cook a pork chop and keep it "white". I did discover that if I went ahead and dipped them in egg and milk, then floured them, then after frying, you could scrape the crust off and the chop would not be browned.

Then I had a revelation, he loves chicken tenders and also eats the crust on them, I know it doesn't make any sense. So one day, I took boneless pork chops, cut them in strips, dipped them in egg, then dipped in flour and fried them, just like chicken tenders. Well, the heavens opened up, the angels sang and the world was right again.....he ate them and liked them, crust and all. Victory!!!

I still fix them that way today and I have to admit, they are pretty tasty. There is no magical formula, no special ingredients, except maybe the seasoned flour, but here is how I fix them.

I like using this flour when I cook, I think it has a nice flavor that gives food a little extra "umpf".

I would like to use local, pastured pork, but it wasn't in the budget this time so I used these thick cut boneless pork chops from the supermarket. I then used a mallet and flattened them out a little and was able to get four "tenders" from each chop.

After soaking in a egg and milk mixture and dredging in the flour, I just plopped them in the skillet to fry. I usually use my iron skillet, but used the electric skillet this time, that way I could get them all in there at the same time with enough room in between.

Sorry this picture is blurry (still working on my photography skills) but I think you get the idea.  Drain the "tenders" on a paper towel, and I guarantee you will like them. Great finger food. You could even pair them with some dipping sauces. Yummy.


Kathy