Stubb’s BBQ rub, a brand fairly new to me, is sold in a variety of spice mixes and works well on chicken, lamb or pork. I particularly like the sea salt, paprika and garlic mix.
The prep on these pork chops is simple; sprinkle on, rub in and let rest for about 30 minutes.
This recipe was inspired by the blog Melissa’s Southern Style Kitchen and I love that she browned the pork chops in bacon fat. Such a lovely color.
I like to cook with fresh herbs when available. Winter in Honesdale, Pa. wipes out my herb garden and sends me unhappily hunting through the pantry and spice shelves for dried herbs. That’s one of the reason I like and admire thyme. Thyme laughs in the face of winter; Ha, ha, ha. It does not die under 3 feet of snow, just hangs out green and cozy, waiting for my husband to dig down through the snow to snip some sprigs for my recipes. Look closely at the photo below. You can still see the ice crystals. I love thyme! While I also like to give props to sage, which can endure a mild winter and will fight the good fight until the first serious snow fall of all day everyday, it eventually caves, blackens and disappears until Spring. Thyme 😀
I’d like to thank Melissa for this recipe that reminded me of how much I like cabbage. Sure, I fiddled with the ingredients a bit because I just do that. For the original recipe, click on the link above.
I didn’t add apples to the cabbage because I didn’t have any and no one wanted to mask up and glove up to drive through the snow to get them. Instead I added bell pepper. No harm done.
Braised Cabbage and Pork Chops
6-8 pork chops
Stubb’s sea salt, paprika and garlic rub
4 thick slices of bacon, diced
1 onion, quartered and sliced
1 green pepper, diced
1 tsp fennel seed
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
Leaves from 3 sprigs of thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
1 head cabbage, roughly chopped
1 1/2 cup apple cider
Sprinkle the chops with the rub on both sides, rub in and set aside. In a large skillet, cook the bacon until crisp, remove and set aside.
Add the onion and bell pepper to the bacon grease in the skillet and saute until soft. Stir in the cooked bacon, fennel, garlic powder, sugar, salt, pepper, thyme leaves and cabbage, cooking for about 2 minutes.
Tuck the browned chops into the cabbage and pour the cider over all. Bring to a boil, cover with a lid, then lower to simmer for 25 minutes. Serve.