'Broyled' pork chops

I have a love of food and cooking as you may have already gathered.  I also love old cookery books and started a small collection a couple of years ago.  One of my first charity shop acquisitions was a book called 'Pepys at Table' which is a sort of catalogue of 17th Century recipes mentioned in Samuel Pepys' diaries.  So far I have only cooked one thing from the book as it was such an instant hit that it has become a firm family favourite.

Pepys mentioned a dish of pork in his diary entry for 4th September 1667 when he dined at Bartholomew Fayre; which is more or less where Smithfield Market is now.  The book records a recipe from the late 1600's which apparently comes close to catching the flavour of the dish as it would have been served to Sammy Boy.  Here it is...

To broyl a leg of pork

Hannah Wooley - The Accomplisht Lady's Delight - 1675

'Cut your pork into slices very thin, having first taken off the skinny part of the Fillet, then hack it with the back of your knife, then mince some Thyme and Sage, exceeding small, and mingle it with pepper and salt, and therewith season your collops and lay them on the Gridiron; when they are enough, make sauce for them with butter, vinegar, Mustard and Sugar and so serve them.'

Got that?

Well this is what I did...

I marinated a couple of lovely thick pork chops from Haywards in a tablespoon each of chopped sage and thyme, two teaspoons of sea salt and one of freshly ground black pepper in a good lug of olive oil.  After an hour or so the chops were browned in a hot pan and then bunged in the oven for 40 minutes or so in a 180* oven.

The sauce sounds odd to the modern palate but bear with me and try it as it has a piquancy that really cuts through the fattiness of the pork in the finished dish.  If you find it too acerbic it's easy enough to adjust by adding less of the vinegar or upping the sugar/butter content.

In a small pan I melted 50g of butter and then added 25g of dark brown sugar.  This was cooked together on a low heat for a few minutes and then I added a couple of tablespoons of cider vinegar and the same of wholegrain mustard.  A couple more minutes of gentle cooking and the sauce was ready to serve.  To make life easier I usually make the sauce while the pork is marinating and then re-heat it when ready to serve.

We  had ours with a sort of colcannon using up some cabbage and leeks that were lying around in the fridge and needed using up.  Usually I do this with roast potatoes and braised red cabbage but it works well either way.