Pork Chops Normandie -- A Train Recipe

I have several cookbooks pertaining to U.S. railroads.  Some I got at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento.  Others I found at various other railroad museums around California.   My travel companion often finds these for us to visit, and I love looking through the museum stores to see what cookbooks they might have.

ISBN 978-0-8018-9323-0 

This one, Dining on the B&O, by Thomas J. Greco and Karl D. Spence, I probably got at the Sacramento museum, but I honestly can't remember right now.  In case you don't already know, the Baltimore and Ohio (B & O) Railroad took special pains to offer its customers excellent food, as an enticement to bring in more customers.  From the inside front cover:

Passengers who dined on the Baltimore and Ohio during the heyday of American railroading received five-star service:  white tablecloths, china, and silver; food cooked from scratch; and the undivided attention of skilled waiters.  The B&O's cuisine won wide acclaim as the finest railway food in the country.  Passengers enjoyed it as the slightly swaying dining car clicked along over the rails.

The authors, "captivated by the romance of the subject", researched the original sources of the recipes.  Most of them were from the 1940s and 1950s.  In this book, they give the original recipes along with modern interpretations, and photographs of the dining cars from the period.

The foreword is particularly fun to read as it describes your experience as a passenger, from beginning to end, as it could have been in autumn, 1957.  Written by the last Director of Passenger Services, William F. Howes, Jr., so you know it is authentic!

Most of the recipes remind me of the food my grandparents from the U.S. Midwest would have fixed and enjoyed.  Most of the spicing is with salt and pepper; many recipes include cream, butter, tomato sauce, bell peppers.  For me, who doesn't normally cook these types of dishes, this is a reminder of my childhood.

I would not label the recipes as unusual or surprising.  They are solid meals, some with a bit of flair, that could be "prepared from scratch in a kitchen that occupied a space about 16 feet long and only 7 1/2 feet wide."  (page 3)  If you get this book, take the time to read pages 3 and 4, which describe how they managed to prepare all this food as well as store it and all the utensils, pots, china, crockery, glassware, and silverware in that tiny space.  Truly impressive.

One recipe that appealed to me, because I love meat combined with fruit flavors, is on page 80.

Pork Chops Normandie

When ordering chops for this item show on requisition number of chops desired.  These will be furnished ready cut and four to the pound.  To prepare, place in a greased baking dish.  Season with salt and pepper.  Pour apple cider over chops until juice is even with chops.  Pare and slice firm tart apples over the chops.  About two applies to six chops.  Over the apple sprinkle cinnamon, a little ground clove and ground nutmeg.  Add two bay leaves and bake in a moderate oven about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

The apple cider, apples, and spice flavor impart a most delicious flavor to these chops and is something different from the average pork chop dinner.  Two chops are to be served to the order.



The "Chef's Comments" (modern interpretation) gives specific measurements for three chops, but I think the original recipe is easy enough to follow.  I already knew that a moderate oven is 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  I used one bay leaf for three chops.

My Notes

I greased the baking dish with olive oil. Salt and pepper went on both sides of the chops, which were at least 3/4" thick and weighed about 1/2 pound each.

It took about 1/3 of the bottle of apple juice you see above to get it "even with the chops", meaning to their tops.  Between 2 and 3 cups of juice into the baking dish I used.

I only needed about 3/4 of the green apple to cover the chops, so the rest was cut smaller (unpared) and put into the apple juice next to the chops.  I decided to place the apple slices decoratively on the chops, with a hope they would stay there and look good when I served the chops.

A slight dusting of cloves, a heavier dusting of cinnamon, and a medium dusting of nutmeg were applied.  The bay leaf went into the juice.

The air was scented with the spices and apple juice while it was baking.  Heavenly!

Ready for the oven!

This how they were after one hour at 350 degrees.  The recipe called for 1 1/4 hours, but when I tested them with a thermometer, the interior was over 180 degrees, which worried me.



The Verdict

These chops were two to a pound, so I only served one per person.  They were joined by a tossed green salad and sourdough bread.



It was easy to move the chops from the baking dish to the plate without losing the decoratively placed apples on top.  I chose not to include the apple juice as part of the serving.

First let me say that the flavors of apple and spices was present in every bite, and I loved it.  I thought the spices would be more in the meat than they were, but that didn't make sense because they didn't touch the meat much.  The apple flavor had penetrated the meat, which was wonderful.

My guest taster felt the same, and we both noticed that the meat was drier than we wanted.  I believe that one hour in the oven was too long.  If I do this again, I would check the internal temperature after 30 minutes.  But it was not bad or too dry -- we still ate every bite and enjoyed it!

Success!  I think my grandparents would have liked it and my grandmother would have fixed it more than once.  I recommend it, as it was easy to put together and fun to eat.

I am tempted to reduce the apple juice baking liquid to make some sort of sauce to serve with the chops, though, or to use it with some other dish, or to cook more meat in it (pork or chicken) before tossing it out.  It just seemed like a waste of a beautiful thing.