Bounty Hunter Recipes: Pork Chops with Caramelized Onions

There’s nothing like a hearty pork chop to make a satisfying weeknight meal. We asked Chef Nick from our downtown Napa Wine Bar and Smokin' BBQ for a quick and easy meal for late Summer gnoshing.  Pair it with a sprig of rosemary, some mashed potatoes or quinoa, and our 2012 Palacios Remondo “La Montesa”Rioja and you'v got a great meal!

Ingredients:
1 T olive oil
4 (4 ounce) pork loin chops, 1 inch thick
3 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cracked black pepper
1 onion, cut into strips
1 C water

Directions:

Rub chops with 2 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. pepper, or to taste. In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Brown pork chops on each side. Add the onions and water to the pan. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes. Turn chops over, and add remaining salt and pepper. Cover, and cook until water evaporates and onions turn light to medium brown. Remove chops from pan, and serve with onions on top.

Promontory Estate

Nothing makes our job as Bounty Hunters more fun than getting a peek behind the curtain at an exciting new winery. Last week our buying team had the pleasure of meeting with Will Harlan of Promontory Estate.  He gave us a tour of his family’s winery under construction and a tasting of recent releases, which we will be thrilled to offer you in September.

Promontory Estate is an isolated little canyon high above Yountville and Oakville, and is just to the south of Harlan Estate as the crow flies. It’s one of the rare outcrops of metamorphic rock in the typically igneous, volcanic Napa Valley. The vineyard produces a wine of power and intensity that the Harlans tame with a 4 year-rest in French oak vats before bottling, a method reminiscent of a top Barolo estate.

The 2009 and 2011 wines were stunning, world-beating examples of Cabernet Sauvignon of uncommon beauty. Bill, Will, and winemaker Cory Empting have exacting standards, and it shows. Thanks for letting us in for a sneak preview of this project!

Japanese Whisky

Suntory has always led the charge, and was the first Japanese Whisky registered in the United States, beginning in 1961. Since then, there have been massive billboards in Times Square, and Suntory’s classic “jug” style bottle was a staple on liquor store shelves through the 1970s. There was a bit of a decline, as whiskey sales in the US lost ground to Vodka in the late-1970s and through the mid-1990s. 

In 2003 began an unparalleled surge in popularity thanks to the film Lost in Translation. Bill Murray’s dead-pan, stoic performance has been revered, but that fictional tale is not the first to feature actors and celebrities from the UK and US endorsing these fine drams. Now the brand is omnipresent, be it the legend that is Yamazaki 18 year old or the subtlety found in Hibiki Harmony, you likely know something about Japanese whisky.

Sofia Coppola likely found inspiration from her famous director father and his series of ads for Suntory extolling the virtues of whisky and friendship with another film legend, Akira Kurosawa. Perhaps seeing Sean Connery go from disheveled to perfectly pressed after a glass of Suntory Crest was the muse for Mr. Murray’s performance.

Humorous ads such as the one featuring a cartoon, bobblehead-like Duran Duran singing “The Reflex” might spark your interest. Perhaps a little ad-lib by the incomparable Sammy Davis Jr. would prove Suntory Whisky is of your class. Maybe a glass of Suntory on the rocks drunk to the jazz jams of my man, Ron Carter, on the bass, is your ideal soundtrack for relaxing times.

We have our hands on a few great Japanese Whiskys, click here and check it out for yourself. 

Humbly Authentic

There’s something about authenticity that sets certain products and people apart. Authenticity greets you like your puppy at the door when you come home, it embraces you like a warm blanket.  At Bounty Hunter we are drawn to authentic personalities: originators, rebels, those who think outside the box. It’s part of what has set us apart in what we do. We always look beyond the surface, to the story behind the story. That’s one of the reasons we’ve always been fans of Wild Turkey Distillery.

Wild Turkey is humbly authentic… and that starts with the people: the Russell family, and their patriarch, Jimmy. A man who will proudly tell you he has been making his way to the distillery every day for 62 years. He’ll be the first person to greet you and shake hands at the visitor’s center, and for those occasions possible, he’ll lead you into a barrel warehouse to sample individual barrels of bourbon. He’s a natural storyteller and at 82 he is as quick-witted and sharp as anyone 60 years his junior. He, along with son Eddie and grandson Bruce, still run the day-to-day at the distillery, overseeing its production and quality control.

It’s funny to watch this video, introducing Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey as the new “Creative Director” for the distillery, and see him ask Eddie Russell if there was a time his dad said “Here you go, son” and hand over the reins. Eddie replies “it hasn’t happened yet”. It’s a moment that ends in laughter, and is a reminder this is a brand that IS truly authentic. An icon that has been built over the last six-plus decades on the backs of hard work, dedication to craft, and holding oneself to the highest standards possible.  At the end McConaughey says “we’re not for everyone, and that’s okay”. We can get behind that!