Recipe of the week: A sweet and spicy pork chop, Town Hall–style

A home cook should undertake any new dish with “a sense of adventure and curiosity,” said chef Mitchell Rosenthal in Cooking My Way Back Home (Ten Speed Press). Too many times, people see a restaurant cookbook and instantly conclude that the recipes are beyond their own kitchens’ capacities. But that’s rarely true, and it misses the point. Most any recipe is an invitation to explore, to try new things, and to “use all your senses” as you tailor the recipe to your abilities and tastes.

The brined pork chop below is a signature dish at Town Hall, one of the three restaurants my partners and I operate in San Francisco. When you make it, feel free to tinker with its mix of hot mustard and maple syrup, and to play with ingredients in the brine. Just don’t cut back on the salt content: It “needs to be strong enough to penetrate the center of the meat.”

Recipe of the week

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Peanut and tasso-crusted pork chop with hot mustard

2⁄3 cup kosher salt

¾ cup sugar

2 cloves garlic, smashed

¼ cup peppercorns

½ bunch thyme

4 quarts water

4 pork chops

2 tbsp unsalted butter

½ cup tasso, finely diced (or ham mixed with 1½ tsp Town Hall spice mixture, recipe below)

1 cup roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp maple syrup

4 tbsp whole grain mustard

Diced chives for garnish

For brine, mix salt, sugar, garlic, peppercorns, thyme, and water, and stir to dissolve salt and sugar. Add chops, cover, and refrigerate 24 hours or up to 3 days.

When ready, in a heavy-bottomed frying pan melt 1 tbsp butter over medium-high heat. Add tasso and sauté until crispy. Remove from heat and let cool.

In a food processor, combine cooled tasso, peanuts, Worcestershire sauce, maple syrup, and remaining butter. Pulse a few times to blend. Set aside.

Rinse pork chops under cold running water. Pat dry with kitchen towel. Heat pan over medium-high heat. Add a little grape-seed or vegetable oil. When oil shimmers, cook pork chops, 5 to 6 minutes on each side, or until pale pink at the center. Two minutes before the chops are done, smear 1 tbsp of mustard on top of each chop, then cover each chop with one quarter of tasso mixture and continue to cook just until topping is warm. Garnish with chives and serve. Serves four.

Town Hall spice mixture

Makes 1/3 cup

2 tbsp cayenne pepper

1½ tsp paprika

1 tsp each salt, white pepper, black pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder

½ tsp each dried thyme, dried oregano, and ground cumin

¼ tsp each ground coriander and dry mustard

1⁄8 tsp celery salt