Cherry Pork Chops with CherryMan Cherries

Now this recipe needs a little explanation and back story.

It starts simply enough. I hate pork chops. My husband on the other hand likes them. So every so often, I'd cook them for him, using shake and coat methods and other people's recipes and generally winding up with a nice little pork hockey puck for him. It never worked out well.

One day, I was considering, and had this flash! Cherry soda! That might work. So I grabbed a bottle of Cheerwine which is a sugar sweetened cherry soda (look for the glass bottles) and started experimenting.
When the pork chops were served that night, they were moist, not noticeably sweet, a gorgeous reddish-pink color on the outside and an absolute hit with my whole family. Except me. I appreciated that they weren't dried out tough chewy pucks but still coated them in apple sauce to eat them.

So this is one of those rare recipes where it's not one of my favorites because I still hate pork chops. But the rest of my family thinks they are the best pork chops ever. They are certainly made with love.

Cherry Pork Chops
You will need:

• 1 jar of CherryMan maraschino cherries- I used Jumbo Cherries with Stems, but the rest of the varieties will work too
• olive oil
• 1/2 yellow onion- chopped fine
• 3 cloves of garlic- minced or 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 4-6 pork chops- I use top loin boneless chops
• salt
• pepper
• 12 ounce bottle or can cherry soda- cherry cola will work in a pinch

Put a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet and add the onion, garlic and saute until golden and the onions are translucent. Salt and pepper the pork chops, and add them to the pan. Brown the pork chops on both sides. 

After they are brown, put 2 cherries on each pork chop, and then pour 1 cup of soda around the chops, bring to a boil, cover and let simmer for 30 minutes, 40 minutes for thicker cuts. While doing this, pour the remaining 4 ounces of soda in a glass and add a cherry. Yum. You deserve a treat.

Serve with 2 cherries for each chop, the cherries aren't as sweet after cooking, but the tart and sweet flavor tastes lovely with them. My husband likes the liquid with the soda and pork juices over potatoes or to dip bread. 

CherryMan provided the cherries to me for review purposes. CherryMan cherries don't use high fructose corn syrup, and have the classic maraschino flavor that is the perfect topping for desserts or to use in baking. The Jumbo Cherries with Stems are large and delicious and um.. I just had one. Because darnit, I'm a grown up, if I want a maraschino cherry first thing in the morning I can have one. (Michael had a leftover pork chop. Did I mention he really loves that recipe?)

Check out CherryMan on FB and follow them on Twitter here.

You can also like my page on FB - Shala's Beadwork and Printables