And this little piggy got all sauced up! ...and my double standards

Up until now, I have always cooked pork chops whole: Either with cream and rosemary, or tomato sauce and chutney, or crumbed. But last night, my Oracle of Culinary Wisdom, Food Ideas, instructed the meat to be sliced off the bone and cut into strips.

Son sautéed half a red onion in a smidgeon of olive oil in our Family Frying Pan until it was translucent. The pork strips from two pork chops were added and tossed about until they were golden brown. A handful of soft Turkish dried apricots were added and then the sauce was put in. I did not go out and buy Sweet and Spicy sauce as the recipe directed, I decided to make my own. I took about 125 ml of ready made sweet and sour sauce, added a gianormous heaped tablespoon of apricot jam and then chilli powder slowly to taste, until it was just tasty but not yet blazing. The meat was cooked in this sticky goo for about a minute. Reverse gasp! It was sooo lekker. We served this superb, sticky, fruity, meaty muddle alongside basmati rice and steamed green beans and butternut. Beans got their butter cladding and the butternut got its mixed spice dusting. All in all, a supper that scored a secure nine! Never can a dish score ten because there is a chance that it could be improved sometime in the future.

I have a solid set of double standards in the kitchen. While I measure some things meticulously, there are other times when I am not so precise about things. This reminds me of a dear friend of mine in Holland, Maaike. Whenever I have been over to Enschede, Maaike has invited me over either to cook bobotie for her family, or to taste her delectable European fusion cooking. I will one day write about her Dutch version of Boeuf bourginon. The first time I made bobotie in her home, I took a recipe along to leave with her so that she could make the real South African dish on her own some day. In Holland they actually have box bobotie, %$&^*, like our Knorr box lasagnes! I ask you? I have been told that the bobotie I make tastes nothing like the doos bobotie. Of course it wouldn’t, mine is real!

Anyhoo, I was cooking merrily away, pretending to be a famous TV chef, demonstrating with broad gestures and confident singing tones, cooking from the heart, liberating unquantified amounts of herbs and spices into the saucepan, when it was pointed out that I was not measuring much, and how on earth was my hostess going to be able to replicate the dish? Deflated only momentarily by reality, I picked myself up, dusted my ego off and announced “There’s no need to be scientific about everything!” To this day, I am reminded with a mischievous smile by Maaike that “There’s no need to be scientific about everything.” A saying her family apparently uses quite liberally now! You gotta love your friends. A toast to Maaike, her hubbie Gert, and her two young ones, Mienke and Riekhold!