March 4, 2014 PPI Dinner Sautéed Smoked Pork Chop with steamed Broccoli, Roasted potatoes and pickled cucumbers

March 4, 2014 PPI Dinner  Sautéed Smoked Pork Chop with steamed Broccoli, Roasted potatoes and pickled cucumbers

Another thrown together dinner.  I had worked all day and ate a ground beef burrito from Pete’s ($2.75) for lunch that had gobs of potatoes in it, so when I got home and Suzette pulled the PPI roasted Potatoes out of the fridge, I grimaced.   We decided to keep it simple.  I sliced up ½ of an onion and a red delicious apple into thin slices and Suzette sautéed them into the large skillet with the pork chops while I de-stemmed the flowerets from a stalk of broccoli and steamed them and fetched the pickled cucumbers.  I bought 4 of the largest cucumbers I have ever seen at Pro’s for $25 each this last week.  I swear the stuff is irradiated.

We drank water with dinner, to initiate our new no alcohol during the week program. 

  

We both slept badly, but had a great discussion about whether the pork chops were naturally smoked or chemically smoked.  We both decided chemically and that we were feeling the ill effects of the chemicals.  Then I remembered about our neighbor in Fort Worth named Mr. Webber, whose relative Dad had told me, in Kansas City invented Liquid Smoke. We both thought that Mr. Webber’s relative may have been the Mr. Webber who owned the Weber grill company, but when checking the story on the internet tonight I see that that is not correct.  The Weber Grill was invented at the Weber Iron Works in Chicago after WWII.  It must have been the chemicals.

But the Liquid Smoke story may be true.  Here is the Wikipedia version:

The idea to capture the flavor of smoke into a liquid form is not new. In 1895, Ernest H. Wright began bottling and selling what he named "condensed smoke".^[1] When Wright was 15 years old he worked at a print shop. One day while working, he noticed that there was a black liquid dripping from the stove pipe. This image had followed him through to his adult life when he became a pharmacist in Kansas City, Missouri.^[1] Wright always had an interest in chemistry, so when he eventually bought his own drug store, he began to explore the combustion of wood. Wright discovered that he could collect a liquid with the flavor of smoke, through condensation. As wood was burned, the smoke produced would enter the stove pipe, and as it was introduced to cold air, the smoke would condense.^[1]

Using this liquid "condensed smoke", Wright prepared a ham and fed it to his friends. He wanted to experiment, to see if the taste would be comparable to traditionally smoked ham. When his friends asked for more, Wright knew he had created a product that would sell.^[1] His next plan was to sell it to farmers as an alternative to traditional smoking techniques used to preserve meats. Wright was able to build his business through the connections he had built with local farmers. Eventually, Wright began selling his condensed smoke to farmers outside of the city.^[1]

As his company began to grow, Wright was able to hire a German chemist who was able to perfect Wright's method of creating his condensed smoke, as well as save Wright from a hefty lawsuit.^[1] At first Wright had refused to have his condensed smoke patented because then he would have no choice but to keep a record of his methods with the government. Wright was worried that his secret method would get into the wrong hands. This secrecy raised concerns at the government of the United States of America, and so they tried to sue Mr. Wright and his company on the terms that his condensed smoke contained wood alcohol.^[1] If it wasn't for Wright's German chemist, Wright would have probably lost that lawsuit, as the final product of condensed smoke using Wright's old method did contain wood alcohol.^[1] In 1997, B&G Foods purchased Wright's Liquid Smoke, which continues to be sold under the same name.^[2]

Bon Appétit