Sweet and Hot Pork

If you've ever been married, there's a good chance that there are some dishes of your mother-in-law's that your husband still wants. I guess I am lucky in that my husband generally enjoys my food, and often brags about it to his buddies. However, there are still a couple of things that the mother always made that sticks in his memory. For Matt, one of those dishes is his mom's Sweet & Sour Pork. I'm really not sure where she came up with this recipe, but it has become one of her trademark dishes and, of course, being the good daughter-in-law and wifey that I am, I have added it to my recipe box as well.
This is not a dish that makes it onto the menu on a regular basis, mainly because it isn't beef, is has some kind of sauce on it, and its served over rice, not to mention the fact that is has a green vegetable in it. Don't get me wrong, he really likes it, but given the choice, he'd pick steak.

Now, with that said, I cannot force myself to cook beef every night, so he has adjusted to the fact that dishes get rotated for some variety. This came up in the rotation last night and I made a little bit of a switch to it. See, even though the green pepper does impart some good flavor to the dish, Matt still isn't a fan of them, so after they have given the dish their all, he picks them out like the 35 year old child that he is. But me, I know the way to his little foodie heart. As Emeril would say, you "kick it up a notch"!

So here is my variation on the mother-in-law's recipe, and let me tell you, I know its a winner when he takes ALL of the leftovers to work the next day instead of just the dish I made up for him.

Sweet & Hot Pork

2 pounds boneless pork (chops, loin, whatever you prefer)

2 TB oil for frying

Sauce:

1 cup BBQ sauce (whatever you have open in the fridge will do)

1/2 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup water

5 jalapeños, seeded, deveined, and chopped

1/2 jar pineapple apricot marmalade

Dredge the pieces of pork in flour, and fry in a hot skillet until golden on both sides. Drain off any excess oil. Mix the sauce ingredients together and pour over the meat.

Cover the pan and simmer for 45 minutes.

Remove the meat from the pan and mix in the marmalade and peppers.Return meat to the pan and cover again. Continue to simmer another 15 minutes.

Serve over rice.

The jalapeños gave this a really nice kick! One note on the pork. In his mom's recipe, you cut the pork up into bite sized pieces like you might find at a Chinese restaurant. I've taken to just leaving them the size of small chops. Takes a lot less time and effort, and it makes my carnivore feel like he's getting a meatier meal.