Southern Happiness

I would like to steal a line from the rapper Jay-Z for this post "That boy good!!!". This line comes from his song Empire State of Mind. You can only hear it in the song if you listen really close and you are listening for it. Just to let you know I am the PITMASTER of this home and the champion of the grill. Tonight when I arrived home I found a wife who was in distress from not being able to sew the chair pieces together because the Singer wasn't working. Guess what boys and girls. Push the gas really hard on your car and blow out the carbon, and so it is with Singer Model 417 sewing machines. I pushed the pedal on this old machine for about a minute and then guess what? It was running like a brand new Corvette. Erin is now excited and putting together Kalyns new reading chair.

Now on to supper. Because Erin was so upset before I fixed the sewing machine I made supper. Supper was a salute to my roots and Harris Jerry Flanders. The king of making something out of whatever was in the pantry. As a sidenote, we have been married for ten years and this was the first time that she let me cook okra and tomatoes my way. This shows how distressed she was. For supper I made Pork Chops, Okra and Tomatoes, and Black Eyed Peas. Here are some pictures of what this good ol' SOUTHERN BOY was up to this evening.

Just to put you on notice. This is how you pull off this dinner. The cast of characters includes THICK CUT PORKCHOPS!!!!!! Don't cheat yourself with the skinny ones. Be a MAN!!!! It takes about 40 minutes to cook them on the grill but if you do it right you will savor every bite. Before you grill cover them with a little bit of Kosher Salt and Pepper (freshly ground) on each side. The Kosher Salt keeps the moisture in the meat and keeps you from burning them. If you wanna look like a man in front of your lady you had better own your grill and not let it own you.

The rest of this is pretty simple. Okra (frozen), tomatoes (crushed). Put them in a pot bring them to a boil and then let them simmer for the entire time the porkchops are cooking. Black Eyed Peas, pour out of the can and follow the same directions for the Okra and Tomatoes. Once you have everything simmering dice half of a VIDALIA ONION (not a red onion turkeys), and place half in each pot. This should cook down nicely and after your PORKCHOPS are done you will have won her over with a wonderful taste of the DEEP SOUTH.

This is a meal that happened in my house growing up many times but Dad always used the smaller pork chops. When I discovered the THICK CUT PORKCHOP it made this meal off the chizzzain, crazy good. All I am saying is that if Erin likes my Okra and Tomatoes you can only imagine how much she loved the porkchop.

Ladies and Gentlmen "The PITMASTER has left the building."