>> MING: Hey, Ming Tsai here with Simply Ming.

Today I have a fantastic chef from Cambridge, William Kovel.

He has two great restaurants, one called Catalyst, and Catalyst Caf.

He's got a fantastic pedigree, worked all around the world.

Started in San Francisco at Jardinire with my buddy Traci Des Jardins.

He's worked at Radius with Michael Schlow.

He's worked in London.

Today, he's going to be cooking pork, a big, old, thick pork chop, oven roasted, with some carrots, broccoli rabe, and a cider jus.

That's why it's called a pan sauce.

Literally, you're making the sauce from the pan.

I'm going to take pork as well, pound it out, make a tonkatsu on house rice in a Worcestershire aioli.

Traditionally, tonkatsu, in Japan, they have just kind of Worcestershire sauce.

I'm going to make my version of a Worcestershire aioli.

We're cooking pork, right now, right here, on Simply Ming.

>> MING: William, it's great to have you here.

>> Ming, great to see you.

>> MING: Thanks for being in my house.

Um, so, as tradition has it, we're going to make a quick cocktail, and then we get to cook a whole bunch of pork chops, right?

>> Sounds like a great plan.

>> MING: Dude, I am so psyched to have you here.

This is a apple spritzer that we actually use some charred vermouth, but we soak it with charred oranges that give it this great orange flavor.

So, if you don't mind, can you fill these with some ice?

>> Absolutely.

>> MING: So, how's Catalyst going?

>> Going well.

Yeah, it's, we're in a busy time for the restaurant.

>> MING: It's a large restaurant, dude, right?

>> Yeah.

>> MING: How many seats?

>> We have a capacity for 300.

>> MING: That's fantastic, dude.

>> Is that enough ice?

>> MING: Yeah-- no, go a little more.

>> A little more, okay.

>> MING: So, equal parts of-of apple and then the-the white vermouth.

That's it.

Such a simple drink, this is a really light drink.

You know, the spritzer was created back in the 1800s in Padua, Italy.

And the idea was people wanted to drink but to have something a little bit lighter, right?

So, both of these have much less alcohol content than-than other spirits.

So, because of its lightness, and by topping with some sparkling water, uh, it gives you a great little flavor.

And as you know, it's an aperitivo, right?

>> Yes.

>> MING: It's great to help for your digestion.

It's an old Italian trick, right, if you have a little upset stomach.

They always say, "Well, just have a little apple."

but this has a little bit of extra with the charred orange vermouth.

>> Great way to start the day.

>> MING: It is.

Just top it off.

Actually, I love, this Mexican sparkling water is so good.

So bubbly.

All right, get that.

Pretty little drink.

Like this.

>> Beautiful.

>> MING: Let me give it a quick little stir, 'cause you want to taste everything together.

There we go.

And... All right, chef.

To you.

>> Thank you.

>> MING: Chin-chin, buddy.

Nice to have your here, cheers.

What do you think?

>> That's great.

>> MING: Pretty light, right?

>> Yes.

>> MING: All right, ready to cook some pork?

>> Very.

>> MING: All right.

>> Very much so.

>> MING: Come on, chef, let's do this.

All right, chef, what's your dish, please?

>> All right, today we're going to make pork chops, roasted pork chops... >> MING: Yeah.

>> With broccoli rabe, carrots, and a cider jus.

>> MING: Awesome.

All right, can I do any prep for you?

>> Yeah, so, we're going to start off, you can start off with broccoli rabe.

>> MING: Okay.

>> We just want to cut it down.

So, I love broccoli rabe, when we roast it, it gets nice... >> MING: Show me what you want, and I'll do the rest.

>> ...nice and crusty.

So, some of the stems are bigger, so take about an, like, an inch off the bottom, >> MING: Okay.

>> And then, just, you can cut just in half a little bit, and that will separate.

>> MING: Okay.

So, why broccoli rabe, right?

I mean, there's tons of veg out there, why is this one of your faves?

>> Yeah, so, so, my wife and I love broccoli rabe at home.

So when we roast it in the oven, in a 400-degree oven, the leaves get crispy, it gets crunchy.

>> MING: Right.

>> It's a little different texture than just steamed, plain broccoli.

>> MING: I love it.

And-and just so good for you, right?

>> Yeah.

>> MING: I mean... >> So good.

>> MING: All-all veg is so good for you.

>> Yeah.

>> MING: All right, here, you...

I'll do that.

>> So, we've got beautiful pork chops When you, when you, Ming, when you go to the store and you buy pork chop, make sure you buy three quarters of an inch to an inch thick.

>> MING: Why's that?

>> Just because I think they-they cook better, they're more consistent, they won't dry out as much.

>> MING: Awesome.

I love, I mean, I love broccoli rabe, you said it.

Broccoli is fine.

This has...

I like the bitterness, right?

>> Yeah.

>> MING: It has-has a much more complex flavor.

>> So, I'm just seasoning them with salt and pepper.

And by the way, if you can get naturally raised pork, organic would be the best.

It's more expensive, but it's not that much more expensive these days, right?

>> It isn't.

>> MING: Organic used to be three times more expensive.

Now, it's like 30% more.

Buy a little bit more expensive... >> MING: Right.

>> And the end quality is the result.

So, I'm just going to... >> MING: Yep.

Get this cranked up for you.

All right.

So, canola oil?

>> Canola oil.

>> MING: You wouldn't use olive, right?

'Cause it will smoke too much?

>> No, it'll smoke too much.

>> MING: Right.

All right, get those going, chef.

I'll finish my prep over here.

>> And you hear, it steams up.

(pork sizzling) >> MING: Love it.

>> Medium-high heat.

And how long you going to sear those for?

So, those will be about two, two minutes on each side, we'll get a nice color, nice golden brown.

>> MING: Okay.

>> On each side; while that's going, I'm going to start the carrots.

So we just... beautiful baby carrots here >> MING: Throw the rabe in here?

>> Uh, yep, throw the rabe in there.

>> MING: Okay.

I'm just going to cut these in half.

The goal is to try to make everything about the same size, so it roasts about the same time.

>> MING: Yep.

>> Then we'll pull it all out of the oven and everything is done.

Ah, can I do anything else?

>> You can cut these in half.

>> MING: Okay, perfect.

>> And we'll put a little bit of olive oil in this and just toss this up.

>> MING: Awesome.

>> In there.

>> MING: I love how simple this is.

It's literally, you know, one-pot cooking or two-pot, if you have a... >> It's a week-night staple at our house.

>> MING: That's awesome.

And you have three, three children, right?

>> Three children.

I have a daughter who's seven and identical twin boys that are four.

>> MING: So, you're not busy at all.

>> Not busy at all.

And the two restaurants, so we've got a lot going on.

>> MING: I can imagine.

Ah, season this up for you, chef?

>> Yeah, season it up.

>> MING: Okay.

>> We're going to add a little bit of salt, pepper, and just a touch of chili flake.

>> MING: Okay.

>> My wife and I like a little bit of spice.

>> MING: Nice.

You don't have to use chili flake, you use another pepper if you like, Aleppo pepper is really popular now, and... >> MING: Right, yeah, I love Aleppo.

So, like, one... one good pinch?

>> Yes.

(pork sizzling) Got a nice-nice color here.

These are actually beautiful.

>> MING: Nice.

>> Almost pork T-bones.

You have a piece of pork tenderloin and the loin.

>> MING: What else can we do?

So, oil, salt, pepper, chili flake.

And we're good to go.

>> MING: Awesome.

Okay.

>> I'm going to give this about another minute.

>> MING: Perfect.

>> Get some caramelization on there.

>> MING: And we have...

Chef, I put this sheet tray in... >> Okay.

>> MING: You wanted to preheat it.

>> Absolutely.

>> MING: Tell me about this trick.

>> So, I like to do this at home.

I'll get a-a sheet tray nice and hot, So, when I do put the vegetables down on the pan, I start that caramelization process immediately.

So, it starts to getting some color.

>> MING: Dump away.

>> All right.

>> MING: Fantastic.

>> You can hear that.

>> MING: You can hear the sizzle.

I love that.

>> Yeah.

Make sure it's a nice, even layer when you do put it down, so everything cooks.

>> MING: All right, perfect.

All right, are those porks good to go?

Yeah, porks are good to go.

>> MING: All right.

Let's go in the oven here.

All right, you first, chef.

>> All right.

>> MING: Fantastic.

Beautiful.

>> All right.

>> MING: Perfect-- how long is that going to be now?

>> So, I would probably do about seven to nine minutes, depending on the size of the pork chops.

>> MING: Okay.

>> The same with the vegetables.

>> MING: What temp are you looking?

So, about 130 to 135.

>> MING: Right.

>> That's where you want to cook it.

>> MING: There has not been a case of trichinosis in America for over 50 years, right?

>> Yes.

>> MING: So that used to be the pork disease, it just doesn't exist anymore.

So, please don't cook your pork all the way through, 'cause it gets dry.

>> It does.

>> MING: And then it's chewy, and it's like cardboard.

>> Yes.

>> MING: All right, so we're going to come back in seven minutes.

We're going to do a little prep, looks like, here.

Then we get to eat some pork chops.

>> Yes.

>> MING: Beautiful.

>> All right >> MING: Beautiful.

All right, chef, it's been what, about 11 minutes?

>> 11 minutes.

>> MING: How do you think?

>> They look great, yeah.

>> MING: Right, oh yeah.

>> Perfect.

>> MING: Get your veg.

>> Come on over.

>> MING: Oh, yeah, this looks awesome.

>> Just let them rest.

Resting is a really... >> MING: Okay, explain that, please.

>> Yeah, so... >> MING: 'Cause they're not tired, They're more than tired, right?

>> When-when meat comes out of the oven, >> MING: Yep.

>> It's tense, it's tight.

You want time for the juices to reabsorb.

When you rest a piece of meat, it's more tender than right out of the oven.

>> MING: 100% >> So, if you cut into this pork chop right now, it would be chewy, and it would be, it wouldn't taste very good.

>> MING: Yeah-- let me turn this flame on.

>> All right.

>> MING: So now you're going to make a pan sauce?

>> Pan sauce.

>> MING: I'm going to do the French trick, I... >> Yeah.

>> MING: You know about the French... You either put flour on the handle or put a towel over it, because you and I... you grab that handle, you just burned yourself.

>> Yes.

>> MING: And you have... you have some imprint.

>> This is the basis, so this fond or the stuff that's left over from roasting is our basis of our sauce here.

>> MING: Okay, so you got... >> So, I'm going to cut some shallots up real quick, and you're going to peel some apples.

And you can use any kind of apple.

Granny Smith is great, because it's a great... >> MING: Right.

>> Baking apple.

>> MING: Love it.

>> Yeah.

And you-you can do a rough chop on the shallots.

>> MING: Okay.

>> I'm going to just throw these in here.

>> MING: Give you that apple, chef.

All right, I love this.

This is a classic pan sauce, right?

This is...

I mean, when you, what?

You learned this from Traci, or you learned this... this classic French technique, right?

>> Yeah, this is just classic French technique.

And I'm just going to get this translucent.

I don't want any, a lot of color on that.

As-as that's doing, I'm going to pick a little bit of thyme.

>> MING: And we got this unfiltered cider.

I'm a big fan of cider, always have.

I love this country-type cider, 'cause in France they would have it as well, right?

>> Yes.

>> MING: You can tell, it's, you know, it's a little bit cloudy.

>> It's not too sweet, it's got a great mouthfeel.

>> MING: And it-it tastes like the terroir, right?

We talk about that with wines, right, you can taste the land.

>> You can taste more of the actual flavor.

All right, so, I'm going to throw the apples in here.

>> MING: Okay.

>> Apple.

>> MING: Beautiful.

Get you some more here.

>> Spoon.

>> MING: Smells good.

>> And then, so, we don't really want to cook the apples to apple sauce.

We just want to get the rawness out of them.

>> MING: Right.

>> Because we do have a really rich piece of meat in the pork.

So, what we're doing is adding acidity from the apples to kind of break that fattiness up from the pork.

>> MING: Love it.

We say it all the time, chef, right?

It's about balance of flavor.

>> Yeah.

>> MING: Acid to sweet, crunchy and smooth.

All right, a little bit more good?

>> Yeah.

>> MING: Cool.

>> I'm just going to pick a couple pieces of thyme.

I love thyme.

>> MING: Oh, those are good apples.

Nice and tart.

You have enough apples?

>> I do.

>> MING: Okay, perfect.

I love, I see...

I would imagine you're not using all that butter, but you're going to... >> Oh, yeah.

>> MING: Love it.

>> But I always say I am... a saying in the restaurant, "When in doubt, butter it out."

Makes every, makes everything better.

>> MING: Wow.

I see a t-shirt.

>> Yeah.

>> MING: What is doubt, butter it out.

>> Butter it out.

>> MING: Oh, my God.

I'll give you credit, my friend, don't worry.

I'll say, "Said by W.K."

What else you... oh, the cider.

>> The cider, yeah.

>> MING: There you go.

>> So, any time you add alcohol to any flame... >> MING: Right.

>> Just want to be careful.

This is a very low-alcohol cider.

>> MING: Right.

>> So just got to be mindful of that.

>> MING: Yeah-- i.e., if it was rum... >> Yeah.

>> MING: It could, it could hit you.

So, again, I want to repeat what chef was talking about.

The fond, F-O-N-D, the fond is what's... all the good juice of the pork that gets stuck to the pan, You have to get that stuff off, 'cause that's all your flavor.

That's why it's called a pan sauce.

Literally you're making the sauce from the pan.

Is that on?

>> That's good-- yep.

So, I add a touch of honey.

>> MING: Okay.

>> The honey will actually thicken it up.

>> MING: Interesting, and that, what honey is this?

>> This is a wildflower honey.

>> MING: Okay-- local, right?

>> Local wildflower honey, yeah.

>> MING: Which, by the way, and I know a lot about allergies, 'cause my son used to have a bunch.

If you eat local honey, that helps actually for your allergies.

Because those bees are taking the pollen that's local, And that could actually help your allergies during the hay-fever season.

Eat local-- you should also eat local, period, 'cause it takes less gasoline, energy, to get it to your table.

>> What you're looking for is about halfway down, you can see that there's not a lot of liquid here.

>> MING: Okay.

>> Um, but you still have a little bit of sauce.

Now, I'm going to start to add a little bit of butter.

>> MING: All right, that looks good.

Chef, you want chive batons or just chopped chives?

>> Just chopped drives.

>> MING: Okay.

>> And what I do is I'll turn off the heat, 'cause I don't really want to... cook, and I'll just kind of swirl the pan.

>> MING: Smells so good.

All right, can I lay the-the veg down on the... >> Absolutely.

>> MING: The plate?

All right.

So, just scattered around, chef?

>> Mm-hmm.

>> MING: Oh, wow, look-- yeah.

>> Feel how crispy that is?

>> MING: That's, that's the genius of broccoli rabe right?

>> Yeah.

It actually adds a nice texture, instead of adding, like, a fried shallot at the end like we do in restaurants or... >> MING: Right.

>> Or garnish, we have it all built in there.

>> MING: Love it.

>> And it's two pans, it's great for a weeknight.

>> MING: Beautiful.

Okay.

Get those pieces of meat down.

>> So, you can see these-these pork chops are nice and rested.

>> MING: Yep.

And-and see, and this juice, that... you're going to lose some.

So, people are, some people are like, "Oh, look at all the juice you lost."

You would have lost all the juice if you sliced it when it was hot.

>> Yeah.

>> MING: Right.

Love it, this dish looks so good, chef.

Oh, God.

That looks incredible.

>> I kind of thought about this dish.

My wife, you know, when we make pork at home, I could make it with, you know, spicy noodles, and she would still whip out one of the kids' applesauces and put it on there.

So, it's always pork and apple.

So, we make this quite a bit.

>> MING: That's like the mint jelly on lamb for the Brits, right?

>> Yeah.

>> MING: Uh, chives?

>> Absolutely, a couple chives around the top.

>> MING: Dude, fantastic.

Unfortunately, we can't eat it now.

If you don't mind, we're now going to make my pork dish.

Then we get to eat.

>> All right, sound good.

>> MING: Great dish, Chef.

That's a good dish.

Chef, that dish looked awesome.

>> Thank you.

>> MING: I cannot wait to get into that.

So, I'm doing a pork tonkatsu, which, I'm using, actually, tenderloin.

And I'm going to pound it out and paner it, right, get a nice panko crust.

It's going to be on a house rice with some furikake and some caramelized onions.

So, if you can bang those onions out, Just cut them this way.

We'll get those caramelizing.

>> Okay.

>> MING: And I'll start on my pork here.

So, usually, you want a large, scaloppini-type.

So, what I'm going to do is cut it one way, cut it this way, and then I'm going to pound it, right?

So, there's one piece like that.

>> Okay.

And tonkatsu, in Japan, always served on a bowl of rice.

Sometimes it's chicken, usually it's pork, right?

Usually with a lot of gravy.

And what we're going to do now is take one piece, lay it between parchment like that, and then... pound it flat.

Good for getting your frustration out, right?

>> Yeah.

>> MING: All right.

So there we have one.

>> And this is just to make the cutlet even.

>> Yeah, make it nice and even so it cooks evenly.

Do that again.

I always say, if you can play squash, whack the ball as hard as you want, you can get the frustration out.

All muscle.

No way to really do this quietly, so.

But you want... like that.

Nice and thin.

Chef, throw this in the pan for me here.

I'll throw a little olive oil... so it's koroneiki olive oil from Greece, which I love.

It's just one of the most delicious and healthy olive oils.

>> Okay.

>> MING: All right.

>> Yeah.

>> MING: So, we're going to go nice and slow, as you know, chef, maybe 15 minutes.

Let them caramelize.

I will put a little bit of seasoning in it.

>> Okay.

>> MING: Salt and pepper.

Awesome.

So, now with our pork... What we're going to do, Hey, chef, do me a favor, will you, like, scramble those eggs for me?

>> Absolutely.

>> MING: So, classic paner technique is flour, eggs, and then panko, right?

This works great with chicken breast, this works great with fish, it works with anything you want to have a nice coating on.

Key, of course, is season, 'cause pork doesn't come seasoned.

So, salt and pepper, and, as you know, chef, season both sides, right?

>> Absolutely.

>> MING: 'Cause you don't want to season hard on one side.

It's better to spread the flavor out.

In this instance, it doesn't quite matter, 'cause it's so thin, but it's just smart to season both.

Guarantees every bite is delicious.

All right, so then what you do is, you lay it in the flour.

The flour then prepares it for the egg to stick to the flour.

And usually you use one hand, 'cause you want to keep your other hand clean.

And this then goes into the panko.

So, I'm going to do the second one.

This you can do in advance, if you're actually doing a party or something, you can get these, you can get your cutlets all coated.

And then when you want to cook it, you can just take it out of your fridge and then cook it.

So, here's my first... first one.

You want to get a good panko coating on both sides.

All right, so there's one.

And here's cutlet two.

Chef, pour a little of this extra-virgin olive oil.

>> All right.

>> MING: Yeah, there you go.

Give me about a quarter-inch.

We're going to go this... not super-high heat, 'cause again, olive oil will burn.

So, we're going to let this come to temp.

So, chef, you can just drop a panko.

See that little sizzle, right?

>> Absolutely, yeah.

>> MING: I think that's good.

Again, I don't want it, I don't want it too hot.

There we go, that's perfect.

There's one, there's two.

Oh, yeah, baby-- all right, chef, we're looking good, these onions are going to take about ten more minutes, probably, right?

Get a nice caramelization.

This is going to probably be about three or four minutes a side.

>> Okay.

>> MING: When we come back, we get to plate up, each get a pork tonkatsu.

Stick around.

>> Sounds good.

>> MING: All right, chef, look, two-and-a-half minutes, G., B., and D. >> Gorgeous.

>> MING: Oh, yeah, baby.

That's what we're talking about, and the onions are coming along nicely.

Perfect.

We're going to make a little aioli here.

So, traditionally, tonkatsu, in Japan, they would have just kind of Worcestershire sauce.

I'm going to make my version of a Worcestershire aioli.

So, minced garlic, couple of egg yolks, a little salt, a little pepper... and Worcestershire.

Some people say Worcester shire, which I don't think is right.

Then... And this... when you make an aioli, you usually-- or mayonnaise-- you put the oil in really slowly.

I used to do it at Fauchon in Paris, and I would have a huge mixer, and it would take, like, two hours.

With a hand mixer, you can put the oil in, and usually it's four- or five-to-one ratio of oil to your liquid.

It could be a wine, it could be a vinegar.

And I discovered that if you actually start it on the egg and go-- the egg's on the bottom-- and then slowly lift it up...

It emulsifies for you...

Pretty quickly.

(mixer whirring) See that?

>> Yeah, yeah.

>> MING: It's amazing.

>> Is there an oil you like to use for aioli?

>> MING: I, I love olive oil.

I like the flavor of olive oil.

I mean, look at that.

>> Yeah.

>> MING: Perfect.

>> Lot of time saved.

>> MING: That's how you can make a house mayonnaise.

Just, couple of eggs, pick your favorite oil.

If you want garlic and stuff, you can do it.

There we go, let's give this a quick try.

Not bad.

A little more salt.

A little more of that.

All right, chef, we can plate up.

>> Let's do this.

>> MING: Okay!

Do me a favor, if you don't mind.

>> Grab your onions?

>> MING: Yeah, grab those onions.

What we're going to do is, we have house rice here.

Let me go ahead and grab my tonkatsu, 'cause you want to get these out.

These are perfectly cooked now.

Oh, yeah, baby.

Oh, yeah, baby, look at these.

(exclaims) That... that looks like money.

All right.

So now we're going to take house rice.

This is house rice, I call it, 50-50 brown and white, which is what we have here.

I soaked the brown rice for an hour first, right?

>> Okay.

>> MING: Let it catch up, 'cause, as you know, it takes more water.

Then I mix them together and then cook them together.

All right, chef, just cover those with caramelized onions for me.

>> They smell delicious.

>> MING: Nice.

Beautiful.

We have some furikake, which is a house-made-- we do this at Blue Dragon-- it is garlic chips with sesame seed, togarashi, and toasted seaweed called yakinori.

All right, we have our two beautiful... All right, chef, here we go.

Tonkatsu one, tonkatsu two.

A little of this Worcestershire aioli.

A little dollop like that.

I don't know if this going to be as good as your dish, chef, but it's going to be a good second.

>> Oh, it looks fantastic.

>> MING: All right, a little more furikake.

All right, chef.

>> Wow.

>> MING: Grab yours, you get to eat pork two ways.

>> All right, let's do it.

>> MING: Let's go.

Provence, to you, cheers.

>> Thanks, chef.

Grenache, primarily, a little Cinsaut.

Dude, can you please serve us your dish?

>> Absolutely.

>> MING: Looks so good.

Love it.

Thank you very much.

Bon apptit.

I hope you enjoy.

Oh, my God.

>> Yeah, this is delicious.

>> MING: That is superb, dude.

The broccoli rabe is spectacular, right?

The crispiness.

But I love how you made the apples with apple cider, right?

Cidre brut?

Perfectly cooked pork chop.

You don't brine, right?

>> I don't brine, no.

>> MING: It takes time, right?

It takes 24 hours, the whole nine yards.

All right, here... >> This is delicious.

>> MING: Do you like it?

Is it okay, you sure?

>> Yeah, the aioli is great with the pork, the onions, everything-- the rice is gorgeous.

His is better.

(laughing) Chef, you obviously know how to cook.

Maybe next time, have you in my kitchen, we'll do some steak, 'cause I think that's what you like to cook the most, you said.

(chuckles) >> Mm-hmm.

Chef, I raise a glass to you, as we're chewing.

Thank you.

>> Thank you.

>> MING: Go to Catalyst next time you're in Boston.

Chef, thank you so much.

>> Pleasure.

>> MING: Love, loved cooking with you.

And love all you for watching, thank you, and as always, peace and good eating.

Cheers.