Why Does Bacon & Ham Taste So Much Better Than Port Chops?

Discussion in 'Food & Drinks' started by Ken Anderson, Jun 19, 2018.

  1. Bill Boggs

    Bill Boggs Supreme Member
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    I'll take either or all with eggs over easy or scrambled or with the beans, with or with out the bacon, coffee or tea or water with lemon. with a good bread. It all sounds good.
     
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  2. Shirley Martin

    Shirley Martin Supreme Member
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    I like those big ol' greasy pork chops, lightly salted, dipped in flour and fried.
     
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  3. Bill Boggs

    Bill Boggs Supreme Member
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    Me, too.
     
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  4. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    You have put enough salt on them to make them edible.
     
    #19
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  5. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    After re-observing the OP, I discovered that there is a very obvious faux pas in the mix. Everyone is comparing bacon and ham with a particular recipe involving chops. In order to correct my previous post, may I offer one small tidbit of information.
    While a Port marinade may be fairly good for chops, be they pork or lamb. may I suggest the Pouligny Montrachet. It's a little more expensive than the average Port but it is also a little drier which allow the natural sugars in the chops to come through a little more. Even a dry Rose' would be much better than Port in my opinion.

    Rose' Chops rather than Port Chops might stand a better chance against bacon and ham but alas, it would still be a small margin.
     
    #20
  6. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    Pork Chops are best (for me) when cooked in tomato sauce.

    H.P.
     
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  7. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    For our Anniversary dinner last night I ordered a full rack of baby back ribs and a 32 oz super stein of beer. I couldn't finish the ribs, but I will tonight!

    Wife had Tri-Tip steak and Wine.

    With tip, I spent $57.

    Hal
     
    #22
  8. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I like ribs but only with a lot of BBQ sauce. When it's served skimpy on the BBQ sauce, it's not nearly so good.
     
    #23
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  9. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    The salty taste is undoubtedly, IMO, the "kicker". Virtually all bacon and ham are "cured" with Sodium Nitrite, which tastes quite like table salt, as well as salt itself. Further, ham is very often pre-cooked. Pork chops, whether you cut them off a big hunk or buy them already as chops, are never "cured", to my knowledge; hence they contain much less stuff that tastes salty. Since salty is one of the two things left that I can taste well, I am always looking for that.

    Things have recently changed, though. Pre-cooked bacon containing no preservatives (nitrites) does contain salt which they don't call a "preservative" and is sold unrefrigerated in the stores! This can only mean it's vacuum-sealed and irradiated in some way to kill ALL living organisms in the product. I have no problem with that. Uncured ham, having no preservatives is being marketed by big names (Oscar Meyer), but is kept in refrigerated conditions. That ham tastes great, to me, as does all ham. Most of the resorts here offer pork loin chops in their buffet selections, the AVI casino-hotel going so far as to bake the whole loins out in open view, behind the food selections.

    Gaining weight while living here seems to be a common occurrence!
    Frank
     
    #24
  10. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
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    ...i'm going to step out for awhile....would you please mind the bacon?;)
    (fullscreen)

     
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  11. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I have seen that in the store and have wondered why anyone would buy that when there's plenty of regular bacon available. Of course, my assumption was that they must have done something strange to it to make it so it didn't need refrigeration.
     
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  12. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Ken Anderson
    I would guess the reason is that so many folks have become aware of the possible effects of nitrites in the diet: virtually all the normally-cured bacon, kept refrigerated, contains it. Nitrites are first metabolized by the human liver to Nitrosamines, which I think are considered carcinogenic.
    Frank
     
    #27
  13. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    Nitrosamines are indeed believed to be carcinogenic, but I think they are formed mostly by cooking cured foods, not by the liver:

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6831466
     
    #28
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  14. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Don Alaska
    Right you are! I stand corrected. I recalled nitrosamines were associated with the presence of nitrites, but never knew why for certain. Most of my knowledge related to such learning happened way in advance of computers and the ready ability to search topics. Thanks!
    Frank
     
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  15. Neville Telen

    Neville Telen Veteran Member
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    No idea why. The pig is a wondrous animal, as various cuts tastes very different. Ham, bacon, pork chops, pigs feet, etc., all taste very different to me. The taste of pork chops is very dependent of the individual animal. You need to select a package that has lots of 'marbling' fat. I partially freeze it to make it easier to de-bone. Next I go over the meat with a 'Progressive GT-3198 3-in-one Meat Tenderizer'. Give it a soak in Bulgarian Cultured Buttermilk for about 15 minutes, then into herbed white pastry flour. I get the skillet real hot to quick brown the meat, then turn the heat to low to slow-fry it done. If you do everything right it has a thick golden brown breading, moist and tender on the inside, and perfect for sandwiches. I like ketchup with a little pesto mixed in it, or mayo with a little 'wasabi' mixed in. No, it will never top ham, but you can greatly improve it.
    Now pork loin is another story. Been experimenting with it off and on for at least ten years, and never once found any recipe, technique, etc., to make it taste good....it's just protein-based cardboard no matter what you do.
     
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