First of all. my wife is soup woman. She makes so many great soups, every soup from every region of the world. I'm an OK cook, but don't make soups because hers are so delicious. Monday night we had Veracruz chicken tortilla soup, OUTSTANDING. Last night, AMAZING Italian Chicken Noodle Vegetable soup (no tomato)....she makes Thai, French, Russian, Vietnamese, Spanish, Japanese.........you name it.
So in her honor I made this dinner, basically in my own style, learned over the years, copied from her to the extent possible. It's not pho, so don't sweat that, this is a white boy fusion food twist on a Taiwanese dish. Some of the ingredients maybe you rednecks don't have so improvise if necessary, but I'm telling you nothing here is very exotic. I served bok choy on the side along with the hot pickled stuff.
For four people, one chop each, adjust soup base as necessary.
4+ very fresh ~3/4"+ pork chop with bone
butter
white wine preferable the non-cheap Chinese cooking variety
1 32 oz box of of beef pho soup base
32-64 fl oz of chicken broth
1 large onion quartered
1 carrot
1 medium large dried chile pepper (your choice)
black pepper (optional to taste)
ginger (optional to taste)
star anise (optional to taste)
Chinese five spice (optional to taste)
1/2 bay leaf (optional to taste)
celery greens (optional to taste)
flour
egg
Panko coating
fry oil
Chinese vermicelli type noodles
sriracha, bulldog sauce, Korean/Japanese pickles, greens
First of all start with at least 4 fairly thick pork chops (~3/4"), any less number of chops and the soup base won't be as good. Just cut the round out and set aside, at this stage you are after the bones and the remaining meat. In a good sized heavy base stock pot throw a little butter in and brown the bones very well. Don't burn them but get them dark. Then deglaze the pot with Chinese or Japanese cooking wine (any white wine is OK) then pour in one 32 oz box of of beef pho soup base and 32 oz of regular chicken broth, with a second 32 oz for top up. Add one roughly cut up onion, a couple hunks of carrot, one dried pepper of your choice, and other aromatics of your choice, black pepper, star anise, celery greens, smashed garlic, Chinese five spice, ginger, and 1/2 bay leaf. ALL these solids will be strained out later.
Get the pot to a good boil then back to simmer. You really don't have to cook it long, even less than one hour will work if the pork gets tender. But you can surf the web for a few minutes. When ready to cook the other items, just strain everything out. You may fish out the hunks of pork, chop and add back to your broth or as a garnish when serving, if you like.
Now for the chops. Pound each one fairly flat, less than 1/4". You'll need a meat mallet for that. Don't use a sledge hammer. Then follow the Panko box instructions. So easy a cave man can do it. Dredge chop round in flour, then beaten egg, then seasoned panko and fry in your choice of oil, remove drain and place in warm oven or serve immediately with soup if your noodles are done. For something so simple I just do it in cast iron, not need to fill the deep fryer. The panko gets golden the chops are cooked.
Noodles. Get the very thin dry Chinese wheat noodles. (sometimes they are called egg noodles but they contain no egg but have a yellowish appearance) Fat noodles simply won't do. They cook quickly in boiling water just like any pasta.
Serve up. Put noodles in bowl, ladle soup broth on top, garnish with the pork chunks from the broth, parsley, fresh basil, or even cliantro. Serve with pork chops and greens on the side. Dip cut pieces of chop in siracha or bulldog sauce. Relish with kimchee and/or kimchee pickled cukes. Beer or drink of your choice.
