The Unconventional Food Pairing Gordon Ramsay Fell In Love With In Spain

Rhubarb isn't just meant for pie, brownies, and jam. As culinary celebrity Gordon Ramsay has discovered, pairing the tartly sweet ingredient with meat, such as slow-roasted pork, offers an unexpectedly delicious dish that won't be easily forgotten. On a Reddit Ask Me Anything, the famed chef and restauranteur recalled the pairing and admitted that the unique recipe not only worked but truly shone as a dish. "Now rhubarb is something we literally eat with desserts, but this dish was incredible," he gushed. "It was in Spain. It was a double pork chop that had been slow-roasted over an open pit fire with rhubarb. Absolutely delicious."

Ramsay describes the gastronomic occurrence in which a friend tried to demonstrate superb cooking skills at a backyard party in Spain. Ramsay was filming Kitchen Nightmares at the time and admits, I didn't think it was going to work, to be honest." To his surprise, however, his friend knocked it out of the park with the rhubarb-enhanced meal. 

Ramsay certainly isn't the only one who advocates for this pairing. A Canadian chef replied to Ramsay's AMA thread, touting his own use of the ingredient combination in the kitchen, while other commenters shared similar recipes to strengthen the cause further. Olive Magazine combines the two ingredients in the form of a traybake, and EatingWell recommends spooning a sauce made with rhubarb and onions on top of roasted pork tenderloins for an aromatic dinner that hits all of the right tasting notes. 

Are you not sold on the idea of serving your prized pork dishes flavored by an ingredient more commonly associated with pie? Fair enough. You can still present a rhubarb cinnamon crumble cake after your next meal of pork chops. The one-two setup may inspire you to boldly mix the ingredients at your next supper, and after one taste, you may be confidently preparing pork chops with rhubarb at your own backyard parties.