Stuffed pork chops and cheddar jalapeno cornbread recipe
Culinarily speaking, stuffed pork chops were a big hit with the boys Susan Jung liked at university. The relationships may have faded, but the recipe is still close to her heart
When I was at university, cooking helped me relax. I began collecting cookbooks about various cuisines and attempted to make what seemed at the time to be extremely complex recipes, such as puff pastry, nor mei gai (tunnel-boned chicken stuffed with glutinous rice) and opera cake - all of which I've since mastered.
I cooked for large groups of friends, which was not easy on a student budget. And I had parties where people would pitch in to make everything from my grandmother's recipe for sui gau (boiled dumplings) to hand-rolled pasta with a rich ragu.
Of course, I also cooked for boys I liked: stuffed pork chops were a big hit, culinarily speaking. The relationships may have faded but the recipe is still close to my heart.
Stuffed pork chops (pictured)
Pre-salting the chops overnight makes the meat moist and tender and allows the salt to penetrate so the pork is evenly flavoured. If you're feeling extravagant, buy chops from Iberico or Kurobuta pigs. The meat is far superior to supermarket pork. Ask the butcher for chops of a similar size, so they cook at the same rate.
2 bone-in pork chops, each about 2cm thick and weighing about 250 grams
Coarse sea salt or kosher salt