Candied Pork... AkA The One I Protect the Most

Everyone, or at least everyone with a food centric family has a recipe that was handed down to them from their parents or grandparents. This recipe was handed to my mother from my grandmother, and to her most likely from her's. I have loved this dish my whole life and as a child it was prepared for me on special occasions or on the rare occasion that I did something right. Here is my recipe for Candied Pork, or Pork Loin in Caramel Butter Sauce, depending on how fancy you want to be.

You are going to start with room temperature boneless pork loin chops, ad pretty and nicely cut as you can find them. I recommend you use about an inch to an inch and a half thick. Get your pan really hot over high heat with some butter, salt and pepper your loins nicely and seal them in the pan briefly. Then immediately add some warm water and light brown sugar and make sure you let the water come to a boil first (shouldn't take longer than a few seconds). One might ask "how much water and how much light brown sugar?" well the answer to that is less easy than I would like. I have never actually measured the water or sugar, but what I can tell you is that you want a super saturated solution. If you took science class you know that this means that the water and sugar have reached a point where absolutely no more sugar can be dissolved in the solution.

Once you have added your water and sugar and it starts to bubble get it moving IMMEDIATELY you don't want the sugar to burn in the bottom of the pan before it dissolves. When it is completely dissolved lower your heat to a nice simmer, cover your pan, and let it reduce. You need to watch it and flip your chops about half way through. You will know its done when the level of sauce in your pan is around 1/3 to 1/2 what it was to begin with.

When your sauce is fully reduced your chops will be done. You need to remove the pan from the stove and leave it covered off the heat to let the sauce rest. It will thicken as it stands. Once it has sat for about five minutes plate your chops, cover them with sauce and serve. I recommend saving the left over sauce for other things... it is super tasty. Candied Pork Chops... Done.