Cherries and mustard may sound like an unusual pairing, but they taste great together. Sweet, tart, and hot, this sauce goes well with chicken and veal as well as pork.

　　

Ingredients

Serves 4

　　2 tablespoons Colman’s dry mustard

　　1 teaspoon kosher salt

　　1 pound Bing cherries, stemmed and pitted (3 cups packed)

　　1/2 cup red wine vinegar

　　1/4 cup ruby port

　　2 tablespoons sugar

　　2 tablespoons cumin seeds, finely ground

　　3 tablespoons sherry vinegar

　　1/4 cup honey

　　4 (9-ounce) bone-in pork chops, preferably Berkshire (each 1 1/4 inches thick)

　　

Step 1

In a medium bowl, stir together the mustard and 1 tablespoon water until smooth. Let stand for 15 minutes. Stir in the salt until well combined.

　　

Step 2

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, boil the cherries, red wine vinegar, port, and sugar over high heat, stirring occasionally, until syrupy, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a blender and puree until smooth.

　　

Step 3

Return the mixture to the saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Boil, stirring occasionally, until the consistency of ketchup, about 5 minutes. Stir the cherry mixture into the mustard mixture, a little at a time, until completely incorporated. This mustard will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

　　

Step 4

Heat your grill to medium-high. Use a lightly oiled kitchen towel to carefully grease the grill grate.

　　

Step 5

In a small bowl, stir together the cumin, sherry vinegar, and honey. Reserve 1 tablespoon in another bowl and use the rest to brush all over the pork. Let the pork stand for 5 minutes while the grill heats.

　　

Step 6

Grill the pork, turning every 45 seconds to cook evenly, until the center is still a little pink, about 8 minutes. Remove from the grill, brush with the reserved honey mixture, and let rest for 10 minutes. Serve with the cherry mustard.

　　

c’est bon

Step 7

Whenever I’m adding a very hot mixture to a room temperature one, as with the cherry and mustard here, I add just a tiny bit at first and gradually add more and more. It’s important to temper it; otherwise, you’ll end up with globs of mustard paste in your sauce.

　　Reprinted with permission from Home Cooking with Jean-Georges: My Favorite Simple Recipes by Jean-Georges Vongerichten with Genevieve Ko. Copyright © 2011 by Jean-Georges Vongerichten; photographs copyright © 2011 by John Kernick. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved.Jean-Georges Vongerichten is one of the most influential chefs in the world, having single-handedly redefined haute French cuisine, lightening and refining it by adding select Asian accents. He is the chef-owner of dozens of restaurants in fourteen cities around the world. His flagship restaurant, Jean Georges, at New York's Columbus Circle, is one of six restaurants in the United States to have been awarded three coveted Michelin stars; it received four stars from the New York Times. The winner of multiple James Beard Foundation awards, he lives in New York City and Waccabuc, New York, with his family.Genevieve Ko is a cookbook author and the senior food editor at Good Housekeeping magazine. She has written for Martha Stewart Living, Gourmet, and Fine Cooking and lives in New York City with her family.