Opinion – Barbecue Nation: Make pork chops with cranberry farofa for New Year’s Eve dinner

How about impressing your guests at the end of year festivities with a beautiful pork rack full of flavor and that still helps to maintain good health?

The pork rack is a curious cut: it is a part of the pork loin cut together with the rib bone, but without the rib meat.

It usually costs from R$ 20 to R$ 60 per kilo, depending on the region of the country. So that you can serve individual steaks, ask your trusted butcher to make cuts on the underside of the bones, between each rib bone.

For the farofa, I selected cranberries, acidic red berries from North America, grown mainly in the United States and Canada, and often used in Thanksgiving recipes.

You can find cranberries at health food stores or by ordering them online. Take the opportunity to buy a 1 kg package to use in addition to the recipe – studies show that they have antioxidant properties, which help with urinary tract health, strengthen the immune system and improve heart health. The indication is to eat five units a day.

Pork rack with cranberry farofa

INGREDIENTS

1 pork rack of approximately 2 kg
1 cup of cranberries
1 cup of cachaça
1 chopped onion
3 minced garlic cloves
6 tablespoons of butter
3 cups of panko flour
2 tablespoons chopped parsley and chives
1/4 cup toasted and chopped walnuts
1 liter of pork broth
Zest of 1 Sicilian lemon
Juice of 1 Sicilian lemon
Aluminum foil and twine

PREPARATION

1. Leave the cranberries soaking in the cachaça for at least 30 minutes.
2. In a pan, melt half the butter.
3. Add the garlic and onion to sauté, strain half of the cranberries and add to the pan to sauté and season with salt and black pepper.
4. Add the panko flour and stir non stop for 10 minutes until it’s very crispy and golden.
5. Finish with toasted walnuts, parsley, chives and half the butter.
6. Butter the pork chop, starting with the meat next to the bone, leaving it open about a finger thick.
7. Season with salt and black pepper and stuff with the cranberry farofa.
8. Close with the string and place in a deep baking dish, season on the outside with salt, black pepper and lemon zest.
9. In the baking dish, add half of the cranberries left over with the cachaça, 1 liter of pork broth and the juice of 1 Sicilian lemon. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in a preheated oven at 220°C.🇧🇷C for 1h30.
10. After 1h30, remove the foil and return to the oven to brown. Take the liquid from the roasting pan to beat in the blender, strain and place in a pan to reduce.
11. To serve, leave to rest for at least 10 minutes, slice between the bones and serve with the sauce.