Reinventing Leftovers with Reggae Reggae Sauce:

The Makings of Seared “Jerked” Pork Chops, with Spicy Roasted Vegetable Pilaf
1 November, 2009, Cambridge, UK



I had a bunch of roasted root vegetables that I was getting tired of eating, day after day. They are relics of an, otherwise, wonderful side that accompanied a roasted chicken I had about a fortnight ago. They include roasted potatoes, rutabaga (what is called “swede” in the British vernacular), parsnips, and carrots. I’ve stretched my imagination on how to “extend” the life of them, having made home fries, vegetarian hash, omelets, and frittatas. As I ran out of ideas on how to reinvent the damned things, it became clear that they were at the end of the plank.

Right before I pushed them into the freezer, I decided to see the extent to which Reggae Reggae Sauce* can, to use their slogan, “put some music in [my] food.” Here’s how the experiment went, and it took 15 minutes of prep time, marinating/thawing overnight, and about 35-40 minutes to cook, of which most of it consists of waiting, and no participation.

I marinated two frozen pork chops with the sauce – just poured enough to coat each one on both sides, and left it in the fridge overnight to defrost and marinate.

At hand, just lying around the fridge, I had ½ a yellow bell pepper, a scotch bonnet pepper, and ½ an onion; I diced these finely. I also defrosted the remaining cup and a half of roasted vegetables in the microwave. Poured 1 ½ cups of long grain rice, got 3 cups of water heated in a water boiler.

Scraping the marinade off of the pork chops, and patting them dry, reserving the marinade on the side, I heated about 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a milk pan, on high, and seared the pork chops for about 4 minutes per side. I set these aside on a plate to continue cooking on top of the rice later on. With the remaining oil in the pan, I put my chopped onions and peppers into the pan, and browned these, then added the rice to coat and slightly toast the rice for about 5 minutes, then fortifying it with about 1 tablespoon of chicken base that I had made earlier (reduced 5 cups of chicken stock, that I made from the roast chicken, down to ½ a cup). While toasting the rice, I had poured boiling into the vessel containing the leftover marinade, and poured it directly onto the rice. Then I added the roasted vegetables. Stirred everything together; got everything to a rapid boil, and then covered the pan and reduced it to a medium boil. I continued to cook this for about 20 minutes. Placing the seared pork chops on top of the cooking rice, I reduced the heat to the lowest setting, and cooked everything for about another 8 minutes before turning off the heat.

Removing the meat from the rice, I let them rest for about 5 minutes. While waiting, I fluffed the rice and let it cool down to a safe-temperature to eat. I then thinly sliced the pork chops, which were quite juicy, and then dressed them with 1 ½ tsp of chili oil, and about 1 tablespoon of Reggae Reggae Sauce. I spooned some of the pilaf onto a plate and top with some of the meat, and topped it off with some hot sauce. This was tasty, and I ended up eating more of it than I should.

*Reggae Reggae Sauce is a Jamaican jerk sauce. It is dark brown, malty in its flavor, slightly sweet, and mildly acidic, with a viscosity of loose ketchup, but with a bit more texture. The flavor is complex, almost like Worcestershire sauce, but with a sweetness similar, but less pronounced as Bulldog brand tonkatsu sauce from Japan, or HP brand British Brown Sauce, only with a stronger bouquet from the herbs and spices of Jerk seasoning.