Veal Chops in Cherry-Pepper Sauce

Name: Veal Chops in Cherry-Pepper Sauce
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: american
Ingredients: 1 (16-ounce) jar pickled hot cherry peppers; 3 tablespoons olive oil; 3 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced; 1 cup dry white wine; Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste; 4 bone-in veal chops, cut about 1-inch thick (approximately 10 ounces each); 1 tablespoon neutral oil, like canola or grapeseed; 2 tablespoons cold salted butter; 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

By Sam Sifton

Total Time: 45 minutes
Rating: 4(323)
Notes: Read community notes

You can use this sauce — spicy and fragrant and slightly syrupy, what the Italians call agrodolce — on veal chops as I call for here, or on pork chops, on steaks, on chicken. I bet it’d be good on grilled seitan or drizzled over tofu. The recipe is reminiscent of the cooking at red-sauce emporia like Bamonte’s in Brooklyn, Rao’s in Manhattan, Dominick’s in the Bronx and, I hope, Carbone in Greenwich Village, where I first learned how to put it together at the elbow of the chef Mario Carbone. Serve with spaghetti dressed in butter and Parmesan, with garlic bread, with a spoon so you can slurp what’s left on the plate. “It’s a flavor that’s purely Italian-American,” Carbone told me. “You won’t find it in Italy, no way.”

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

1(16-ounce) jar pickled hot cherry peppers
3tablespoons olive oil
3garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
1cup dry white wine
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4bone-in veal chops, cut about 1-inch thick (approximately 10 ounces each)
1tablespoon neutral oil, like canola or grapeseed
2tablespoons cold salted butter
2tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Make the sauce: Drain the cherry peppers, reserving 1 cup brine, then stem, halve, core and seed them. Place a large skillet over medium-high heat, and swirl the olive oil into it. When the oil begins to shimmer, add the garlic, and sauté, stirring frequently, until it begins to color, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the peppers, the reserved brine and the white wine, and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook until the liquid has reduced by slightly more than half, 10 to 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and remove from the heat. (The sauce can be made a few hours ahead of time.)
Step 2
When you’re ready to cook the meat, season it aggressively with salt and pepper. Place a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat, and swirl the neutral oil into it. When the oil begins to shimmer, place the meat in the pan, working in batches if needed, and sear until the meat has browned, formed something of a crust and cooked through to medium-rare, 5 to 6 minutes on each side. Transfer the chops to a warmed platter.
Step 3
Add the sauce to the large, heavy-bottomed skillet in which you seared the meat, and warm over medium-low heat. Whisk the butter into the sauce until evenly distributed and the sauce develops a velvety sheen. Spoon sauce over chops, and garnish with parsley.

Ratings

4 out of 5

323 user ratings

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Private Notes

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Cooking Notes

Sandra Schock4 years ago

What would be a good substitute for the hot cherry peppers? a different type of hot pepper?

Joan Marriott4 years ago

I have read that Professional Chefs sear veal chops very quickly then transfer them to an oven preheated to the desired internal temperature of the customer's order to finish cooking. This method would presumably hold the meat at the desired internal temperature & not allow it to continue to climb higher making for overdone veal chops while the additional chops in your batch are being seared. Unfortunately cooking veal at 5 to 6 minutes a side after searing would make my two dogs smile widely.

RME4 years ago

And PS, it helps to coat each side of the chop or halibut steak with a thin coat of mayonnaise before searing. You won't taste the mayonnaise but it will brown more evenly and at at a lower temperature. Amazing Ribs and Serious Eats both explain science reason this works.

Wendy4 years ago

I grew up eating this dish in upstate New York but with pork chops. The pickled cherry peppers are delicious and you can cut them smaller to cut down on the heat. (We eat these in Utica Greens all the time, a scrumptious dish that can scarcely call a green.) I do brown the chops in my cast iron skillet then transfer them to a sheet pan to finish in the oven while I make the sauce. I love the idea of trying this with Ahi or Halibut! Thank you for the suggestions!

RME4 years ago

I make this often with pork chops, and halibut. Pork and veal chops, and halibut, benefit from an hour or two in a 5% brine for some science reason. For chops /halibut less than 1" thick a high temperature sear in a preheated cast iron pan works - maybe 3 minutes a side. For thick chops and halibut I find reverse sear is easier to get right than sear and finish in oven (Google "reverse sear Amazing Ribs or Serious Eats.")

Mimi Pond4 years ago

This was superb, very flavorful, and easy to make. My “a piacere” was that I used pork chops. I could only find sweet pickled cherry peppers so I added a pinch of hot chili flakes. I was out of white wine. I had a grossly sweet rose so I used that, just to use it up. Didn’t hurt it at all! Followed all the other directions, served with the spaghetti with butter and parm, and green beans. I believe the brine helps to tenderize the chop. So very delicious, this goes into regular rotation!

Doreen8 months ago

This is my husbands go to at least 2 times a week... he uses pork chops, chicken, steak.... delicious!!! Since we moved to AZ from NJ it was rough trying to find our fav cherry pepers by B & G... no where to be found in Tucson. We found Mazetti sliced cherry pepers and they work!!!Everything here is chili peppers!!! Delicious!!!

gigi1 year ago

i have made this with pork chops and my home-canned cherry peppers (moderately hot.) would love to try it with veal chops but they are nearly impossible to find (tried all three of my usual grocery stores - if I drive about 40 minutes each way to the other side of town, maybe they could be found. maybe not. ) it is a delicious dish with the pork, lightly seared.

Andreabakes2 years ago

Sam, I’ve wanted to make this for some time - but in the time of Covid… I didn’t have cherry peppers, so I subbed pepperoncini. I added a tsp of honey and 1/4 cup of homemade chicken stock. I still added the white wine and brine. Pan seared the veal chops, put it all together and it was oh so good!

Larry2 years ago

I guess I broke all the rules here. Tried chicken breasts, seared until meat thermometer read 160, then chucked into toaster oven set to 300 while sauce was finalized. Used mixture of hot and sweet cherry peppers, the latter of which are sweet in name only, then only 1/3 cup of pepper juice. Final sin was pouring in a few ounces of Trader Joe tomato sauce as a coda. End result is so terrible we have had this every other Friday night since the recipe was published.

Eloise3 years ago

It seems there are many for whom the hot pickled cherry peppers are not working. Try "sweet pickled cherry peppers"....same jar, same brand, same peppers. They are by no means sweet. In this case I think sweet simply means mild, not hot. Many thanks to the reader who suggested a light mayonnaise coating to brown the chops. I always use this for grilled sandwiches, but never considered it for anything else. It's real!

NancyS3 years ago

Delicious! Just a bit too hot for my taste. I used sliced hot cherry peppers - next time I think I will use a mixture of hot cherry peppers and sweet ones. This is a keeper!

rob3 years ago

This was fantastic, although I will say that cooking the veal chops at 5 mins per side made them medium-well. They would have been better with 3-4 mins per side.

Donna3 years ago

My Aunt, 1st generation Italian-American, used to make a variation of this dish, with pork chops and hot cherry vinegar-peppers. No wine. Only olive oil. Instead of serving with spaghetti, she always made it with mashed potatoes on the side, which she made first without any butter, then just before serving, she'd put the mashed potatoes in the skillet so they got a brown crust from the sauce. Fantastic!

allisonfoxhole3 years ago

My husband said this is the best thing I’ve ever cooked. I have to agree. Used my home grown and pickled cherry bomb peppers and served it with pasta as pictured. I only made 2 veal chops but kept the sauce recipe for four. The more sauce the better. This is heaven!

Kellen O'Laughlin4 years ago

@Sandra - I couldn't find cherry peppers and used a banana pepper mix, it came out excellent. Peppadew would also work. Just be mindful that cherry peppers are naturally more fruity, and if you use a more hot/acidic pepper mix, you may want to add something sweet for balance (I used honey)

Wendy4 years ago

Vanessa4 years ago

The pickled hot cherry peppers were so hot they rendered the sauce inedible for us. Perhaps a different kind of cherry peppers would be a little more palatable.

Patricia Boutilier4 years ago

I couldn't find hot cherry peppers--used sweet and added a sprinkling of flatiron pepper co, dark and smoky blend. No white wine either, used tomato bouillon. Turned out fine.

Anna4 years ago

Would it be ok to do this pork tenderloin?

Bill4 years ago

Unless you like pickled peppers I would avoid this one. I made it according to directions except I could only find sweet pickled peppers. The sourness of the sauce was disconcerting and didn’t I my opinion go well with the rest of the meal.

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