This dish of pork chops with mango salsa probably has as many variations as there are dance styles at a country Irish wedding. Not that I get to attend too many weddings these days. My stage of life falls well after the ‘best friends wedding’ stage, the ‘christening the baby’ stage and even the “Is that your third wife?” stage. Thankfully, I haven’t arrived at the ‘funeral a week’ stage either. I am in that happy place of caring less and less what people think of me. This is a period in one’s degeneration where one also admits stuff to oneself and those around them. My admission here is that I hate to dance. I don’t waltz. Nor do I rhumba. If you see me doing a quickstep, I’m probably avoiding a creditor. However, one can’t think about eating a huge, 4cm (1.5 inch) thick, free range, organic, rare breed pork chop without feeling the need to take a quick turn around the island unit.
Hence, I get to do a salsa for you. I got my hands on four edible mangos (a pretty good trick here in Ireland) and add a few other ingredients to make this lovely dish.

Lovely ingredients and some lovely colours too.
Mango Salsa Ingredients
- 4 ripe mangos
- 1 or 2 red onions (depending on size)
- Juice of 2 or 3 limes (again, depending on size and juiciness)
- Large handful of coriander (cilantro)
- 1 red chili (for colour and flavour)
The preparation is very straightforward. Half the mangos, along the line of the edge of the big seed inside. Cut through the flesh of the half without the seed into a pattern to allow you turn the skin half inside out, like in the picture.

It looks like a dance skirt spinning….

Try to avoid eating it straight away. It’s very tasty.
Side note on quality pork: Most of you who get to read this will not be able to get organic, free range, rare breed pork. It’s not called rare for nothing. If you can, do. If you can’t, get the best quality you can. It’s worth the effort and expense.

There were 5 of us for dinner. Nearly enough to form a short conga line.

The slices need to be evenly spaced like dance steps.

Lots of seasoning is important for flavour. Don’t be shy.

The chops take on a glorious colour.

Pork stock and white wine . The Fred and Ginger of flavour sensations.

Deglazing and delicious. Perfect partnership.

Thankfully, there is a nice couple of glasses of wine too.
Linda Duffin | 2nd August 2016
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Still laughing at the creditor crack, you’ll have to pay for my laptop to be fixed if you keep making me spit out my tea.
Lovely combo, Mr B, and very fine-looking pork.
Conor Bofin | Author | 2nd August 2016
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If I can bring even aliterate tea in contact with a screen, my post is worthwhile. Luxuriating in France at present. Gathering recipe ideas, amongst other things.
Linda Duffin | 2nd August 2016
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O lucky man! It’s drizzling here. Have a great holiday. I look forward to seeing the results on the page.
Conor Bofin | Author | 12th August 2016
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Thanks Linda,
As I type, we are on our last day of the break before the long drive back to Roscoff. Over for another year – my tears are staining my keyboard…
Linda Duffin | 12th August 2016
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There, there, let me dry your eyes with my hanky, poor boy. I’ll bet you’ve got a few liquid souvenirs in the back of the car. 🙂
Conor Bofin | Author | 12th August 2016
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Bumper scraping the road!
katechiconi | 2nd August 2016
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Mango season is coming; the trees are in flower. I can’t get rare breed pork but I can get pretty good free range stuff… Better stock up. And that way of slicing off a mango cheek and cutting it so it can be turned out is called ‘making a hedgehog’ and is a skill every Queenslander knows well 🙂
Conor Bofin | Author | 2nd August 2016
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The skill is a rarity here, as are good mangos. My brother in Dar Es Salaam has them growing all around. Very jealous of ye both.
katechiconi | 5th August 2016
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Now, can you tell me why your replies to my comments are not appearing any longer in my in box since your blog’s facelift? I have to come back here to find out what you’d said. Not a hardship, of course, but a puzzle…
Conor Bofin | Author | 8th August 2016
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Hi Kate,
I’ll need to look into the machine!!
Best,
C
Mad Dog | 2nd August 2016
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I think you could be testing recipes for a food stall at the Notting Hill Carnival at the end of the month… This would be just the thing to restore weary carnival dancers 🙂
Conor Bofin | Author | 2nd August 2016
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Plenty of carnival colours in the salsa too MD. Notting Hill might even get me dancing.
Mad Dog | 2nd August 2016
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You never know 😉
Debbie Spivey | 2nd August 2016
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Conor! First of all I love the new site! Very clean and streamlined. where have I been? When did this happen? This pork chops look amazing! I love the idea of fruits and meat. Tonight I am taking the plunge with some chicken, peaches and plums… Wish me luck! 😉
Conor Bofin | Author | 2nd August 2016
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Great idea Debbie. I love mixing meat and fruit, as you know. This sounds like a lovely idea. Thanks for the encouragement on the site. A labour of love, as you also know.
Best,
Conor
Claire | 2nd August 2016
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love it – it looks amazing. Even though I am not a fan of pork chops reading this makes we want to try it. Completely with you on the wonderfulness of rarebreed, free range pork – better for us, better for the pig.
Conor Bofin | Author | 2nd August 2016
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Thanks Claire. The better life / better meat is a worthy concept. I have written about it before. Though, to avoid looking like an evangelist, I focussed on the taste benefits. I’m sure the pigs would thank me, if they knew my motivations.
Tasty Eats Ronit Penso | 2nd August 2016
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I usually pair mango salsa with shrimps, but I love this pairing with pork chops, which look so very perfectly cooked. Delicious! 🙂
Conor Bofin | Author | 3rd August 2016
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I suspect there is very little that this little salsa would not work with. It is a real pleasure Ronit. I really like the idea of shrimp, or pretty well any meaty seafood with it.
anotherfoodieblogger | 2nd August 2016
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You couldn’t very well call it a salsa without the chile in it! Lovely salsa indeed, though. And I have never heard of rare breed pigs, so it’s doubtful that I could ever find some fine chops like that over here. It looks like they are cooked to perfection!
Conor Bofin | Author | 3rd August 2016
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Thanks Kathryn,
There is a tendency for pork to be severely overlooked. This harks back to previous times when pork meat carried serious risks due to food poisoning from various bugs. These days, these risks are significantly less and while I would not advocate taking chances on undercooking, never overcook it. It’s such a waste in my opinion.
Best, as ever,
Conor
anotherfoodieblogger | 3rd August 2016
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Thank you Conor, but I still don’t know what rare breed pork is, lol! Is it just labeled that? We had some delicious 3/4-inch pork cuts tonight (my parents are visiting from Texas and she cooked them “her way”) but they were lovely pink in the middle and nice and moist, even if not the rare “rare breed” you mention. 🙂
Conor Bofin | Author | 3rd August 2016
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Here’s one of the few. Ety is a really nice person too.
http://www.ethicalpork.com/about-us.php
anotherfoodieblogger | 3rd August 2016
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Wow that is fascinating Conor! Thank you! I wonder if we have farms like that around here. If we want to eat good, ethical pork, this would be the way to go for sure. Thank you for supporting their industry. xoxo
DD | 3rd August 2016
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As always, you make me laugh! Love your wit and your pork chop dish looks delicious!
Conor Bofin | Author | 3rd August 2016
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Thanks DD,
If I can raise a smile, my day’s work is half done.
C
Gerlinde de Broekert | 3rd August 2016
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Great looking porkchops . I make a similar mango salsa and love it with my tuna tacos. I have to try it with chops.
Conor Bofin | Author | 3rd August 2016
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Now tuna tacos sound perfect for this. I have had it with swordfish. Tuna would be perfect. That is now on the shopping list.
Tara Sparling | 5th August 2016
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I’m not buying it, Conor. I know you said this lovely pork was rare, but the ability to carve up a mango just like that isn’t rare, it’s an absolute myth. If you keep showing off your knife skills in your posts to this extent I’ll get intimidated. For once could you show us mere mortals the benefit of a spoon?
Conor Bofin | Author | 8th August 2016
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I’m struggling to think of a witty reply. Though what use you have either for knife or spoon in your literary blog befuddles me. Also, I understand that your better half cuts up your food for you. So he told me anyway…..
Tara Sparling | 8th August 2016
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I know. I have him well trained.
Simply Splendid Food | 7th August 2016
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Nice Presentation! Lovely!
Conor Bofin | Author | 8th August 2016
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Thanks for the kind comments and for spending a bit of time around the blog.
Best,
Conor
Simply Splendid Food | 8th August 2016
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My pleasure!
ChgoJohn | 8th August 2016
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Those are some beautiful chops, Conor, and one heckuva dish.
Conor Bofin | Author | 8th August 2016
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Thanks John. It’s simple fare but the quality of the ingredients make all the difference.
StefanGourmet | 9th August 2016
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This looks great, Conor, and I like that you paired it with a white wine.
(I almost missed this as it didn’t turn up either as an e-mail notification or in the WP app.)
I like to sear the chops on the fatty side (‘standing up’) as well to get more flavor (and a bit less fat).
You sure were lucky to find good mangos. Good pork I can get; my favorite is iberico from Spain but there is also a good local breed (relatively, 3 hours away) from the Dutch province of Limburg.
Conor Bofin | Author | 9th August 2016
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So many people are unaware of what good pork is like. Factory farming is not a good thing. The mangos were an accident of timing. They are usually overpriced and under-ripe.
StefanGourmet | 9th August 2016
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Recently our supermarket meat has slowly been improving. I still only use it in emergencies, i.e. when I’m out of meat and the supermarket is the only place still open. The interesting thing is that it is not the flavor or quality of the meat that is the reason for the improvement, but animal welfare activists.
Conor Bofin | Author | 9th August 2016
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That is good news. I am very much for animal welfare. Not only because of the better quality meat. They deserve a half decent life too.
StefanGourmet | 9th August 2016
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You are so right that pork tends to be severely overlooked as well as severely overcooked. Have you tried pork chops sous-vide yet? 🙂
Kees loves pork, so it is definitely not overlooked in my kitchen. Tonight we had pork neck cooked sous-vide with chiles and served with leeks and beans. Sunday we had pork fajitas and pork char siu is coming up too. (Yes, I bought a large chunk of pork neck and we are eating 5 days from it.)
Conor Bofin | Author | 9th August 2016
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Not yet. A treat in store. The char siu is something I look forward to seeing.
StefanGourmet | 9th August 2016
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I’m not doing on the post on the char siu, because I’ve already posted it last year. We like it so much that I make it regularly. You can see it here: https://stefangourmet.com/2015/08/03/char-siu-sous-vide-chinese-bbq-pork/
Conor Bofin | Author | 9th August 2016
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I read it just now. The end result looks fantastic. I must give it a go.
Our Growing Paynes | 9th August 2016
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I tried commenting on this the other day and I couldn’t. No idea why! But I love to dance and I love mango salsas. This would be a great dish for a gathering.
Conor Bofin | Author | 9th August 2016
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Thanks Virginia. I had some difficulty two days ago myself. Must have been a bug in the works. Salsa, yes. To salsa, no!
Our Growing Paynes | 9th August 2016
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Something must have been up. Ah but the salsaing works off the salsa. 🙂