Olives And Gin Bring The Flavors Of A Dirty Martini To Your Pork Chops

A dirty gin martini is the answer to many of life's problems. It is the perfect combination of strong flavor and luscious texture, plus, using gin in a dirty martini instead of vodka adds a deeper, more exciting flavor. Luckily for dirty martini enthusiasts, there are ways to impart these deliciously complex flavors outside of the glass and into savory cooking. To get the best flavor experience of a gin martini in your cooking, go for a protein that is essentially a blank slate on which you can build flavor and texture into it: Pork chops.

With this versatile protein at the ready, it's time to impart those dirty martini flavors. Start with a pan sauce: After cooking your pork chops in your hot saute pan, deglaze the pan with gin and dry vermouth instead of the typical wine or chicken stock. Scrape up the fond (those browned, flavorful bits on the bottom of the pan) and add chopped green olives. A squeeze of lemon at the end brightens everything up before you drizzle the sauce over the pork chop for a meal your local bartender would be proud of.

For something lighter but still packed with flavor, go the olive tapenade route. Choose a green, pimento-stuffed olive to get those bright, briny notes, then add a splash of gin and a healthy glug of extra virgin olive oil into the mix before you combine everything and top your chop.

Despite being best known for the London Dry variety, gin is a pretty versatile spirit with a lot to offer in terms of flavor. When figuring out the type of gin you want to use to enhance your pork chop, whether you go for a pan sauce, an olive relish, or a tapenade, choosing the right gin is an important step. If gin is about to be a regular part of your cooking repertoire, do some experimentation with some different types of gin to find the ones that work best in whatever dish you're cooking, just like you would when finding the right gin to go in your martini.

A London Dry will rarely steer you wrong, whether it's in a cocktail or with cooking, so reaching for a bottle of Bombay Sapphire or Tanqueray is a great option. Both will add strong notes of juniper and citrus, giving your pan sauce or tapenade an added layer of bright acidity and herbaceous flavor. To really tap into the dirty gin martini of it all, go for a gin that is inspired by the olive itself. Staple Gin, which is distilled with Castelvetrano olives, has a beautifully rich, savory flavor and silky texture to really push your dirty martini cooking to the next level.