An in-house specialty at Vincent’s Meat Market, nearly 20 meat cutters are ready at any time to take your order to custom specifications. A few years back, Jimmy Mechaca, a longtime employee credited with saving Peter when he had a heart attack in the store, whipped up this daily special to become a bestseller throughout the neighborhood and beyond. The process is fairly simple: take a thick-cut, bone-in, and frenched chop and butterfly it to create a pocket for the house-made stuffing of cheeses, spinach, and breadcrumbs. After that, sear it in some butter and finish it in a high-heat oven and you have yourself a main-course all-star that can be served up alongside some whipped potatoes and roasted vegetables.
- Four 8- to 10-ounce bone-in pork chops, frenched
- 1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup grated fontina cheese
- 1/2 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
- 1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
- 1 1/2 cups spinach, torn by hand into small pieces
- 1/4 cup chicken stock
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
In a mixing bowl, combine 1/2 cup of the breadcrumbs with the fontina, Gorgonzola, mozzarella, spinach, and chicken stock. Using your hands, work the mixture together, squeezing and tearing the spinach with your hands to combine with the other ingredients. Carefully divide and stuff the mixture equally among the pockets of the butterflied pork chops.
Using butcher’s twine, start from the backside of the bone of the chop and secure the twine around the bone at approximately a 45-degree angle. Wrap the twine back against the bone, and going in a triangle style, tie another 45 degrees in the opposite direction to secure the stuffing inside the chop. If necessary, use enough twine to ensure the stuffing is contained within the chop for cooking.
Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs on both sides of the chops. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches of 2 chops, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in the pan, then add the chops. Sear for 3 minutes, undisturbed. Flip the chops, sear an additional 2 minutes, and transfer the seared chops to a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet. Repeat the process with the remaining 2 chops and 2 tablespoons of butter. Place the pork chops into the oven and cook for 10 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches approximately 145°F. Remove the chops from the oven and, using kitchen shears, carefully cut and remove the butcher’s twine. Transfer the chops to a serving platter or plate. Garnish with the parsley and serve.
