Newfound Respect for Pork Steak

During this past weekend's freezer inventory project, we came across a few pieces of meat that have been in the freezer for a long, long time. I know why they've been in the freezer for so long (because I didn't want to cook or eat them) and I wasn't anxious to thaw them out.

1) Bag full of cut up fish chunks (not sure who gave this to us, but definitely not store bought).
--I knew Bruce would want these chunks fried and I don't like fried food.

2) A bag of chicken leg quarters.
-- Wasn't sure what to do with these other than put them on the grill and I'm not the griller in the family.

3) Pork steak.
-- I hate pork steak.

Well, Bruce thought we should either throw them out or thaw them out. Seemed a shame to toss out (good?) food so my evening projects this week have been coming up with ways to cook these foods.

Monday night I fried up the fish in our electric skillet. It was a very mild fish and Bruce liked it, but I didn't think it had much flavor and the house smelled like old grease for two days.

Tuesday night I oven fried the chicken leg quarters with a dusting of flour and cajun seasoning and a stick of butter. Tasted pretty good, but it was too greasy. I should have waited until I had some Pam to spray on it, rather than using butter.

Tonight I cooked up the pork steak. Actually, I found a recipe online and mixed it up on my lunch hour and it cooked itself in the crockpot for the rest of the day. It was delicious. I guess the trick to making it edible is to cut off as much of the fat as possible. When I've had pork steak in the past, it was so greasy I couldn't stand it.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
Pork steak (cut into portion size chunks)
1 teaspoon oil
1 cup ketchup
1 cup water
1/2 cup Balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 large onions -- sliced thin
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Season pork steaks with salt, pepper, and paprika. Place steaks in crockpot with oil, turning to coat. Slice onions very thin and lay on top of meal. Mix other ingredients in a bowl then add to crockpot. Cover; cook on low for a few hours. The longer you cook it, the thicker the sauce gets.

Note: The recipe didn't actually call for Balsamic vinegar, it just said vinegar. I wondered what kind -- white vinegar (I had some left over from coloring easter eggs) -- cider vinegar (I had some left over from making cukes/onions this summer) -- rice wine vinegar (I had some left over from a recipe I had 20 years ago) ??? Then I came across a bottle of Balsamic vinegar in my pantry. Seemed like a safe choice so that's what I used.