Chops with Cherry Mustard
A hundred times I’ve written about how much I love condiments. If I listed all of those I’ve posted on, it would be too long of a list, but you can find them in the recipe links if you wish.
Recently I was flipping through a cookbook I’d forgotten about (ooops!) and opened up to a beautiful photograph of a pork chop on a plate with a schmear of magenta-colored cherry mustard. And I knew what I was making next.
The cookbook isHome Cooking with Jean-Georges, by Jean-Georges Vongerichten.
Of course the man/chef is famous, but I’ve been a fan ever since he opened a restaurant J & G Grill at the St. Regis in Deer Valley, Utah. I’ve only been for lunch, but man do they do a great job. Here is a photo of my veal bolognese I had in April while dining at the restaurant. I had dreams of this meal for weeks!
Really, I couldn’t care much about the pork chops, I really wanted to make the mustard. So here’s the recipe – you just need fresh cherries!
Cherry Mustard
2 tablespoons Colman’s dry mustard
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 pound Bing cherries, stemmed, pitted (3 cups packed)
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup ruby port
2 tablespoons sugar
In a medium bowl, stir together the mustard and 1 tablespoon water until smooth. Let stand for 15 minutes. Stir in the salt until well combined.
Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, boil the cherries, red wine vinegar, port, and sugar over high heat, stirring occasionally, until syrupy, about 10 minutes.
Transfer to a blender and purée until smooth. (If you want the mustard void of any bits, use a sieve to create a really smooth condiment.)
Return the mixture to the saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Boil, stirring occasionally, until the consistency of ketchup, about 5 minutes.
(This took me about 5 hours.)
Stir the cherry mixture into the mustard mixture, a little at a time, until completely incorporated.
This mustard will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
I was just going to make pork chops in a traditional fashion, until I read through the recipe. And these chops were outstanding, and (not surprisingly) paired beautifully with the cherry mustard!
For the pork chops:
2 tablespoons ground cumin
3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/4 cup honey
4 Berkshire pork chops
Heat a grill, if using, and oil the grate. In a small bowl, stir together the cumin, vinegar, and honey. Reserve 1 tablespoon in another bowl and use the rest to brush all over the pork. Let the pork stand for 5 minutes.
Grill the pork, turning every 45 seconds to cook evenly, until the center is still a little pink, about 8 minutes.
Remove from the grill, brush with the reserved honey mixture, and let rest for 10 minutes.
Serve with the cherry mustard.
I haven’t done this yet, but any leftover cherry mustard, if there is any, I’m going to combine with butter for a beautiful and tasty compound butter.
The mustard is fabulous. Not too mustardy, for one thing. Mustards made with Colman’s can be quite potent.
The mustard is also not vinegary, or sweet. Perfect for my palate.
Cherry mustard would be fabulous on a cheese platter, but I haven’t tried that yet.
About the Author: Chef Mimi
I love that you love condiments too and appreciate all the recipes. I’m a big fan of flavored mustards and this cherry version sounds particularly delicious!
When I catered I always like making some different kinds of condiments. It always pleased people because it was unexpected. Curried pumpkin mustard or strawberry mayo… just whatever sounded good with what I was serving. Nothing was as involved as this mustard, but it’s so worth it. I’ve since had it on brats!
Wow, this is a great combination, I would never have thought of putting these flavours together.
The cherry and mustard? It’s great! I’ve made a peach mustard before, which was also yummy !
I’m totally a condiment girl, too, Mimi! We really need more room in our fridge, just to hold condiments! It’s a problem. But my mouth is watering just reading about this cherry mustard! We are in the thick of bing cherry season, so this has my name all over it! Thanks!
I hope you get to try it. It’s truly spectacular.
Lovely condiment Mimi. Does it only last 3 days because you couldn’t help but keep eating it because it was so good?!! As I read the ingredients I wonder if it would keep longer. It’s almost a chutney by looks.
Will be making this as soon as Cherry season rolls round again. Thankyou Mimi for this lovely condiment.
Mine is still there in the fridge. My husband won’t eat mustard, so I’m not going through it really fast. But no mold yet!
Thank you!
Delicious. I know I just made this because this post impressed me so much. It’s that touch of cumin! GREG
Hahahaha! That was fast! Did it take you hours to reduce as well? So worth the wait, though! The cumin was a surprise ingredient. Or, i should say, unexpected.
I love cherries and mustard, so I think I will try this lovely recipe sometime soon!
Thanks, Irene. You’ll love it!
I don’t like pork but the cherry 🍒 mustard sounds good. Wow what patience you have!:). Five hours to reduce it. I hope it was worth it. Looks great Cheers sherry
It was definitely worth it. I just lived in my kitchen that afternoon. I’ve lost quite a few pots reducing liquids, so I wanted to be careful!
Cherries are in season now here. I’ve never had cherry mustard and am curious what it tastes like.
It tastes exactly how you’d imagine it! But it’s nice and smooth – not sweet, not too mustardy, the right amount of vinegar.
This cherry mustard looks “out of this world” delicious Mimi. I could see it complimenting a variety of dishes. Oh, and BTW, I just ordered the Home Cooking with Jean-Georges cookbook. Thanks so much for the tip.
Oh, you’ll love the cookbook! I have so many recipes bookmarked. And it’s rare that I follow a recipe to the “t,” but I made his pork chop recipe as well. Outstanding.
I’m so excited by this recipe, and have been since seeing it on IG! Another amazing condiment! (Are you SURE we aren’t related??) By the way, I thought of you last night when I used my homemade Worcestershire sauce! Isn’t it fun making your own condiments? Thanks for this, Mimi!
So you made W sauce???!!! Didn’t I just mention that to you? Ha! I love condiments, and I definitely love making them. This is a good one. Yes, we might be related.
Because of the “dreaded G” I have been making Worcestershire sauce for nearly 30 years! There is a recipe on my blog – it is really quite good! I hav started researching homemade hoisin sauce, so if you see anything, let me know!
I checked the index of the book I mentioned, and there’s no recipe. Darn.
Love cherries. Love mustard. Sounds fabulous!
And you’re right. A real treat.
Ooh this sounds like just my thing. I’ll see how my parents’ cherry tree is doing this summer, then I’ll definitely give this a go!
Fun! I had one little cherry tree but it was ruined by all of the raccoons climbing all over it picking my cherries!
I’m not sure the mustard would last for three days…I’m thinking of all sorts of other ways to use it. Pork chops would be first on the list. Thanks, Mimi!
Yeah, it’s pretty darn good!
What a delicious idea! At first glance, I suspected that cherry mustard might be rather sweet. Glad to hear this one is more balanced. Also, this is a really fun idea that could have so many tasty uses. Cheese tray is an excellent idea! And I’m really intrigued by all that ruby port in this recipe. Sounds like fun to me!
It is definitely balanced. The port and vinegar worked well together, just a little sugar, and not much dried mustard. I’ve had it with bratwurst; it would be good with any kind of sausage, really.
A lot of flavors going on here, between the cherry mustard and the spicing of the pork chops. Sounds terrific! And very creative — thanks.
It is a truly fabulous combination between the chops and mustard. Of course, J-G knows his stuff!
Oh good! I’m pretty sure you’ll love it!
You are so welcome! Actually, thank Jean-Georges!
Yes! I spend summers in a region packed with cherry orchards, and eat a ton of Bing cherries, but I’ve ever made anything with them … well, maybe a cocktail. Cherry mustard you find on in every supermarket in this area. Homemade sounds like so much fun! I’d have it on a chop any day!
You are so very lucky. And I enjoy eating cherries as well. So much so that there wouldn’t be many leftover for baking or cooking! Sounds like you have some fun grocery stores as well.
Now here is a recipe I must try! I normally go for the ‘big picture’ recipes instead of condiments, but here is my inspiration!
It’s really a lovely condiment! In a few days I’m going to be serving it with a terrine and some cheese. Can’t wait!
The sauce sounds delicious! I know you say you don’t car much about the pork, but that’s one perfectly marked/grilled chop. Beautiful!
Well I would have cooked the chop the normal way until I saw a very unique recipe, so I decided to actually follow it! And it was unique and delicious!
You’re so funny, I couldn’t care about the pork chops, lol!! I share your love of condiments and this sounds amazing with the coleman’s and the cherries! I can’t wait for your terrine, either!!
I actually purchased the terrine I’m serving with the cherry mustard. I absolutely love making terrines, and I looked to see how many are on my blog, and there are none! So I guess I decided the photos were so terrible that I trashed the posts. In the fall I’ll make some again. They’re so good.
That’s so funny, I love to make terrines, too, although it’s been ages. I had my first one in an underground French restaurant in Denver, and had my first French Onion Soup there, too. I also tossed the wine in my glass at my ex-boyfriend who said/did something awful, then stood up, picked up the napkin (it was cloth) from an empty table next to me, handed it to the gentleman behind him with my apologies and walked home 1 1/2 miles in my little black dress and high heels! I had SO forgotten that!
I bet you got your love of terrines from your Mother!
OMG what a great story! I’m proud of you for not putting up with whatever he did or said!
Sometimes I think I need to channel my younger self!! lol! And eat more French food!
Goodness, that cherry mustard sounds fabulous!
It really is!
The combination was fantastic. Although of course this guy knows what he’s doing!
I actually don’t much care for condiments as a rule, but *this* looks fabulous. I’m sure it compliments the pork beautifully. By the way, where do you get your pork chops? I find it hard to find a nice juicy chop, pork is raised so lean these days.
Strange that you asked me this question. I usually import my meats, from both Lobel’s and D’Artagnan. I just can’t get what I want locally. And I always get Berkshire pork. But we were given a gift cert for a new butcher shop in town and I have been 3 times without them having what I wanted! So last time I bought these pork chop. They were actually really nice and tender. I think a bigot key is cooking properly. Not that you don’t cook them right, but I only let pork get to 150 degrees. But I don’t mind a little pink.
Oh wow. There’s plenty of fresh cherries in my local supermarket at the moment so I’ll be giving this a go. I love mustard with my meats, usually just Dijon. But this will be a nice change!
I love Dijon, especially with sausages. This is a very nice alternative!
Mimi, the cherry mustard sounds fascinating! I love condiments, too. They really take food to a whole new level.
They really do! I love cheese pairings as well. I was once served a Bleu cheese with lemon curd, and it was incredible.
I have made this recipe many times from the cookbook. The sweet and heat goes very well with fatty heritage pork, and also works well with salmon. The sauce also goes well with brie or similar rich cheese.
Mmmm yes, I can definitely see that!!! Cherries are fabulous!