Glass Encrusted Pork Chops
1 pyrex baking dish
2 succulent, free range pork chops (you’ll probably have to scour multiple local farmer’s markets to find these)
1 small head of garlic, cloves separated but skin left on
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
1/2 c. dry white winePreheat oven to 425. Place pyrex baking dish in the oven so it will preheat as well. It’s important to use a pyrex dish to get the proper glass shard crust on the pork.
Heat a skillet over medium high heat, add olive oil, then whole garlic cloves and saute for about 5-6 minutes, until golden brown spots start to appear. Remove cloves from oil and drain on a paper towel. Add pork chops to pan and cook for about 4 minutes per side, until starting to turn golden brown and making your mouth water.
Using tongs, transfer pork chops to preheated dish in oven and sprinkle garlic cloves over the top. Deglaze hot skillet with wine, and bring to a boil Reduce by half.
Once deglazing liquid has reduced, pour over pork chops and pan. Watch pyrex pan EXPLODE before your very eyes, adding a dangerous yet crunchy glass crust to your succulent, free range, hard to find pork chops…. Get over shock of the explosion, then clean up glass shards that can be found all over the kitchen. Order a pizza from your local pizza joint, drink a glass of wine, and lament the loss of your pork chops.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
POP-CHINK! That’s the sound the pyrex pie dish made when it exploded all over my dinner..
Though I lost my dinner, I did learn a valuable lesson about pyrex baking dishes — they are sensitive to heat differentials! After a quick google search on ‘boiling liquid makes preheated pyrex explode’ I came across the following explanation of exploding pyrex :
Pyrex is made of glass. When glass changes temperature rapidly it can undergo “thermal shock.”
The text book definition of thermal shock is: “Stress produced in a body or in a material as a result of undergoing a sudden change in temperature.”
When a Pyrex bowl is heated or cooled rapidly, different parts of the bowl expand or contract by different amounts, causing stress. If the stress is too extreme, the bowl’s structure will fail, causing a spectacular shattering effect. <— yes, it sure will (Jen’s comment)
The main way to avoid this effect is to be mindful of how quickly you change the temperature of Pyrex. Stove tops and broilers conduct heat quickly, and will likely cause the bowls to fail. Taking a bowl directly from the freezer and putting it into a hot oven might also trigger breakage.
Also, pouring 212 degree liquid into a 425 degree pyrex pan may cause it to explode…
So, I guess I’m in the market for a new pie pan. I’m obviously going to avoid Pyrex — at this point, it seems it’s just a brand name rather than a stamp of quality. According to the same website as above:
Pyrex bowls were originally made of something called borosilicate glass, which is very resistant to thermal shock. Currently, Pyrex is made of soda-lime glass, presumably as a cost-cutting measure, as soda-lime glass is very inexpensive. Also, Pyrex is no longer made by the original manufacturer, and is essentially a brand name, rather than a material.
I’m thinking Le Creuset — do you have any other suggestions?
Comments
This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 9:08 pm and is filed under Garlic, Succulent Spices. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Sorry to hear the tragedy. I also noticed the glass baking pans don’t hold heat and tend to take longer to cook.
I do love my le creuset baking pans - you get nice crispy brown surfaces (both top and bottom.) And cleaning is sooooo easy.
If you are open to used, look for Cousances on ebay. They were a competitor of Le Creuset and were superior in many ways — cast on handles (rather than wooden or hardened plastic) allow them to be placed into the hottest oven. Glazed, unenameled bottom on some of the heaviest pieces prevents chipping and rusting better than an enameled bottom, which tends to chip and scratch on heavy pieces because the heavy ones are the ones you bang against something more frequently. Pouring-spout edges on many styles. And superior enamelling. Le Creuset bought Cousances and still produces some of their basic styles, but unfortunately didn’t continue the cast-on handles and pouring spouts, and the enameling isn’t as good. If you can find an excellent-condition Cousances item, it’s worth the hunt.
Hiroko - glad to hear you like the le creuset pans — I have a couple casserole dishes, but all the pie pans I see are just ceramic — not the enameled cast iron type… what do you have?
valereee - thanks for the suggestion — I hadn’t heard of Cousances before. I’m totally fine with used cookware — it’s sort of another method of recycling; also, I find you can get nice pans for a fraction of the price of new ones… seems like a win-win situation.
Oh dear! I made glass-speckled butter last summer. It was similarly tragic.
Good to know about Pyrex, though.
Food Is Love
I just stumbled on your site and you gave me such a good laugh - so sorry it was at your expense but your description was knee slapping. You came across as the eternal straight Man/person. So sad about the pork chops but who said life’s lessons were cheap. And thanks for the great info on glass cookwear - I didn’t know alot of that.
Debs - yikes! how did that happen?
giz - better to laugh it off than to get upset, huh? I’m guessing that it’s not that often that one explodes her own dinner… it was a ’spectacular explosion’ as described on the pyrex info site…
that has happened to me too my dear! I accidentally placed a glass pyrex dish on a hot burner and BANG… complete glass explosion. Not pretty! Great post!!
My and I were trying to make butter by putting cream in a jar with a marble and shaking it. As an experiment, we put half the batch in the mixer to see how much faster that would be. Then, he shook his jar too hard and the marble broke the glass jar, sending shards of glass flying into only one other spot in the kitchen: the bowl of the mixer. Tragedy.
For the record, you don’t need a marble. It just makes it faster.
Food Is Love
Oh my gosh, I regret to say the same thing happened to me. However, the dish exploded on my countertop about 2 feet from my face. Thankfully I was wearing my glasses or my poor eyes would have been glass laden.
Needless to say, every time I remove a pyrex dish from the oven I pretty much run! Sorry we have this in common, it is bad, bad news.
This happened to me too, about ten years ago. My pan wasn’t even subject to rapid temperature change - I’d just taken it out of the oven and put it on a trivet on the worktop. Boom. Glass and supper everywhere. And it’s *terrifying* when it happens.
These days I use the Le Creuset cast iron and enamel baking dishes. They’re pricey, but they last a lifetime, they’re easy to clean and they conduct heat evenly and beautifully.
Jen,
I am so sorry for the lost of your pork chop! I never really bake with pan made out of glass. I mostly use ceramic and metal for all of my baking. Le Creuset is excellent choice, have you consider Emille Henry ceramic baking?
By the way,
Thank you so much for your vsit to my site.
But in true blogger fashion you took a photo before cleaning it up! There’s something quite peaceful about that. And I am sorry you lost those gorgeous pork chops.
While sad about dinner–it sure made a great story and photo. I have a lecrusset, cast iron skillets and a couple unglazed and glazed ceramic baking pans. The cast iron is the best.
OMG! I was so curious about this dish when I just saw the title and whoa!!
So sorry about the explosion, but thanks for sharing this because I’ve learned something totally new here!
Le Creusets are a good option.
Ugh, I learned all about glass and temperature shock the first time I tried to can cherries. A few of my jars had gotten cold. I poured in the hot cherries and juice and looked away. When I looked back the bottoms of all of the jars had completely blown off spilling molten hot cherries and juice along with lovely glass shards.
I like glass pie plates, but only for pie. Metal pie tins can brown the crust too much on the bottom. I love my one Le Creuset dutch oven but I’ve been looking for a larger one. I’ve heard really good things about the less expensive Mario Batali enameled cast iron pieces.
my pie dishes are le creuset ceramic stoneware - and that’s what I referred to. I think ceramic can hold more heat than glassware, and it cooks well. Very durable, washes easily (sometime better than le creuset cast iron pots), and presents well on the table.
I do love the cast iron pots too - but my recent better favorite is my pressure cooker. I’m having way too much fun with it.
and yes, the pyrex pans used to be much better quality - my mom’s pie dish from about 35 years ago was definitely different color (bit greener than translucent) and much heavier and thicker, which I cannot imagine breaking at all - it will last another few decades if not longer. The pyrex I see these days are no longer those pyrex, I agree.
I stopped using pyrex years ago because I like to start things on the stove top and then send to the oven. That way you get a nice carmelization going for the reduction. I use both my All-Clad pans, and an old seasoned cast iron skillet for this depending on whether I need a lid for it. I’ve also transferred the meat to porcelain bakers (Revol, Cordon Bleu…)to do the same thing if I want to serve the dish right from the oven (which looks better than my pans…) And Mario Batali’s enamel is awesome. Not as expensive as Le Cruset. Good luck with your decision!
you poor girl! and such beautiful pork chops! this has thankfully never happened to me, but your explanation would have been useful…when i was in store management for a certain major corporation (NOT wal-mart), a ‘gentleman’ kept me on the phone for almost half an hour demanding money back for a similiarly shattered glass pan and insisting he was going to sue me for selling faulty merchandise.
love your post!
This post reminded me of some cumin-spiced glass shared I shaved atop a truffle risotto for my parents.
Delicious!