Cut the rind in 4 places with kitchen scissors. Cover the rind only with salt and let stand at least 1 hour. More salt and more time is more crunch at the expense of being too salty. Its a personal preference.

Preheat the oven to 190°

In a heavy based stainless steel fry pan heat 2 Tbs lard. Wipe of the excess salt from the rind. Using tongs clamp the chops together and stand in the pan near to the edge on the rind and cook 6 minutes to crisp the rind. Lay the chops flat and cook 1 min a side.

In a baking dish spread out pads of the marmalade in an area large enough for the meat of the chops to lay on. Place the chops on the marmalade pad and coat with remaining marmalade and bake for 11 to 16 minutes depending on the thickness of the chop. Make sure the Rind is clear and not covered with any of the marmalade. Otherwise it won't be crispy.
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Why doesn't every French person drop dead at 50 from a heart attack. Have you seen what they eat. Butter, cream, beef fat, pork fat, on and on. Originally it was thought that the amount of red wine they consumed offset the cholesterol and other said baddies in Lard and butter. Not so! Recent studies show that eggs, dairy and animal fat might not be the enemy at all. Now I don't know and one study isn't to be relied upon. And the science community changes its mind regularly on this issue.

What does make sense to me is humans have consumed animal fats and dairy forever and in evolutionary terms we have consumed processed vegetable oils and margarines for just a blip in time. Highly processed vegetable oils are Transfats, now proven to be harmful and rapidly being withdrawn worldwide. What was said to be better for us might be killing us. I wondered why Chinese people who consume huge amounts of pork fat, duck fat and eggs have cancer rates far less than in the West

My physician says if your cholesterol was X at 20 and its now X plus a small amout then you are fine. If its X plus a lot then that's a problem. So its with great joy and flavour I am again using Tallow, Lard and Butter. What a flavour revolution. In the few years I have been doing this my cholesterol actually went down a touch. Probably due to other factors in my diet, mainly less daily intake and weight loss.
4 Large Pork chops with fat and skin
Table Salt
1 cup marmalade (homemade is best)
2 Tbs Tallow or Lard
I first had these sweet pork chops on my aunties farm in Crockwell in the late 1960,s and the texture and flavour remained. No other Pork chop retro recipe can be compared. A Pork chop with a crispy rind and tender juicy meat. Better than a roast.

The use of lard or tallow really helps the rind and flavour of this chop. You can bail out and use oil and it will work. Just not the same deep flavour and crisp rind.

I make my own marmalade as my Auntie did once a year and for this recipe I actually overcook some of the marmalade and add twice as much pectin sugar to end up with a very dense thick marmalade. It keeps it texture and shape even after being baked.

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image of sweet pork chop

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