BBQ Fritos Encrusted Pork Chops ala What's Cookin, Chicago?

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Hello again my friends, old and new...

Old friends will know me as Dave from my blog "My Year on the Grill".  You new folks probably found this blog while looking around the website,  "eRecipeCards.com".  Either way, I am the driving force behind both.

Welcome to my series of posts highlighting recipes that I personally have cooked (with a few adaptations, I am one of those cooks that just can not follow a recipe word for word, but I always find inspiration).  All of the recipes featured on this blog have appeared on eRecipeCards.com.  The site dedicated to bloggers as a place to see and to be seen.  One of the many features on eRecipeCards is an electronic recipe box set up for each individual user.  This eRecipeBox holds whichever of the submitted recipes on the site for easy access.  Easy to find whenever it clicks your memory. 


This particular recipe was added about a month ago.  I knew I wanted to give it a try, so I saved it in my eRecipeBOX, and fast as you can say, "Bob's (or wacky Dave's) your Uncle", it was only two clicks away from being found.  If you are not making use of the eRecipeBox on the site, bet your system of finding a recipe again is more complicated.... But I digress...


This recipe comes from Joelen from the "WHAT's COOKIN, CHICAGO" blog.  


Joelen has quickly become a favorite of mine.  Her recipes are just a shade challenging, without being so complex I am put off by them.  Always, her recipes are family friendly and wonderfully photographed.  her body of work is very impressive.  I could not quickly find out how long she has been blogging, but she has earned nearly 900 followers who think she is worth looking in on at least once a day (me included).  Her blog is easily indexed, with hundreds and hundreds of recipes.  For example, I looked at her cookie file and found over 50 cookie recipes.  I didn't count, but she has easily three times as many recipes for chickens.  The girl has the chops.


She has been to culinary school and works as a chef at an ethnic Filipino Restaurant, with plans of opening a specialty food truck.

Her blog, her recipe index as well as her "about Joelen" pages are MORE than worth a rainy afternoon perusal.   For a fast view of some of the recipes she has posted to her blog, head over to her individual page on eRecipeCards,com that features her recipes (just click on the green logo to the right).

This particular recipe is what I made after being inspired from her post for Potato Chip Encrusted Pork Chops.  That's her photo to the left.  The reason I wanted to give these a try, my nieces and nephew are coming to visit in a few weeks.  Always a fun time for wacky Uncle Dave to cook with the children.


It dawned on me that what could be a more fun lunch than pork chop sandwiches, with a fun coating...


Like BBQ potato chips (which I did not have in my pantry), or BBQ Fritos (which I did)!

I had to make a few adjustments to Joelen's recipe (remember, I rarely do an exact copy of a recipe, only an inspiration of one).  My long suffering wife with the inconvenient day job has ordered me NOT to buy ingredients that I am only going to make one dish from and then they sit in our pantry for a year or worse, take up space in our fridge until they go bad and we have to waste Earth's resources.  that's a long way around saying I needed to find a substitute for the buttermilk Joelen calls for.  I mixed a cup of Milk with 2 TBS of Lemon Juice for a serviceable substitution.


I also have a salt substitute spice mix I call "Sodom and Gomorrah", equal parts course Sea Salt, Garlic Flakes, white Sesame Seeds and Black Sesame Seeds.  No good reason for changing the salt and Pepper Joelen suggested other than it was handy and it adds an extra little subtle taste of the baked sesame.


And of course...

I used Frito Brand Honey BBQ Flavored Twists in place of her original potato chips.  Again, it's what I had.  I imagine the texture of the flavored corn chips was different from her tater chips, but I was working on dishes for the kids.  I think twisty Fritos are more fun than chips, but that's just me, planning for a specific audience of 3 kids under 7 years old.

OK... here's what I did...


1/2 Sweet Onion, Sliced and cut into rings to line the bottom of a baking dish


1 TBS Onion Powder
1TBS Garlic Powder
1 TBS  "Sodom and Gomorrah",
   may sub S&P to taste
3 Boneless center cut Pork Chops
1/4 cup AP Flour
1 cup Milk mixed with 2 TBS Lemon Juice
    (should substitute Buttermilk)
1 Egg, whisked
2 cups uncrushed Fritos BBQ Twists, made about 1 cup crushed


Preheat oven to 375 degrees

1. Combine Onion Powder, Garlic Powder and  "Sodom and Gomorrah" in a small bowl, rub on the meat, both sides.  Rub in well, allow to rest for 5 minutes so the spices soak into the meat.
2. Dredge the seasoned pork into the flour
3. Dredge the floured seasoned pork in the egg
4. Dredged the egged, floured seasoned pork through the crushed BBQ fritos (pressing into the meat if needed, coat evenly and completely)
5. Place the coated chops on top of the onion rings 
6. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, flip and insert a remote prob temperature thermometer into the meat.  Return to the oven and bake until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees
7. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes!

VERDICT... LOVED EM!

Again, click HERE to read Joelen's original post and recipe with more details, but I loved the taste texture and especially look forward to wacky Uncle Dave making these with the kids!  Joelen's was much more elegant looking, but my sandwich will be a kid pleaser!

Thanks Joelen!

And comeback tomorrow for another dish inspired from something posted on...