Mojo Madness

A few days ago I was given some left-over pork chops from a friend. They were made with Shake and Bake, and quite frankly they were bland. I must have my Pork with mojo, and mojo is a rare comodity on the south side of Chicago. I was in a bit of a hurry, and since I was out of my Miami stash of Mojo, I decided to quickly make my own and microwave a pork chop soaked in it.

I ran down the check list quickly in my mind as I ravished the pantry:

Sal: Check
Cumino: Check
Oregano: Check
Hojita de Laurel: Check
Naranja Agria: Check (thankfully I still had half a bottle)
Ajo: Check
Vino Seco: uh oh...

I was out of cooking wine, which for some strange reason is another rare comodity in Chicago. Bueno, 5 years in Chicago made me prepared, in these years I learned how to make a pseudo-vino seco by boiling white wine with salt. And so I raced to the liquor cabinet and man we were out. Crap! And I was out of Rum (from making myself Cafe Mambi's all last week. BTW: thank you CB for that recipe). It's all or nothing for me, and so I was tempted to eat the bland pork chop without my mojo. Then it hit me: vodka, why not use vodka?

I cut the vodka with water and brought the mojo to a boil. Due to the vodka and my haste I accidentally ignited the mojo, and so it was au flambe for a good minute. When it had burned out, I generously spashed some mojo on the pork chop and microwaved it.

The microwave beeped. I removed the pork, and being pressed for time, I ate it right out of the tupperware. All I have to say is that the taste was AMAZING! It was mojo with a that encendido flavor of burnt liqour. If you've ever had a flaming drink or a Queimada Gallega, then you know exacty what I'm talking about!

Bueno, if you're ever making mojo, and you want to give it an extra kick, then I must say that vodka is an excellent substitute for cooking wine -and if your brave enough, make it au flambe!