While Amy may not have cared much for my beef stew, my pork chops, based on this recipe is such a hit that it has been dubbed "Kick-@$$ Pork Chops".
The Players
| The Hardware | 9" cast iron skillet, well seasoned Meat tenderizer A flat, non-porous surface such as a plastic cutting board Tongs Whisk A piece of foil large enough to cover the skillet |
| The Ingredients | 2 boneless pork loin chops, ~4-6 oz each, ~1/2 in thick kosher salt 1 tbsp flour, plus lots more for dusting and pounding 3 tbsp butter ~ 2 cups chicken broth |
The Method
Preheat the oven to 350. Season the meat with a few pinches of salt and let stand about 5 minutes. Dust your work surface liberally with flour, put the pork loin chops on the dusted surface, liberally dust the other side of the pork with flour, then pound the bejeebers out of them with the meat tenderizer, adding more flour as needed and flipping once. Get them as flat as possible (I usually shoot for 1/4 inch or less), and in the process they'll gain a lot of surface area. I have a double-sided mallet, one flat and the other textured. I prefer to smack the chops with the textured side. Once the chops are sufficiently flattened, let rest a few minutes, while you put the skillet over high heat. Melt a tablespoon of butter in the skillet and then brown both sides of one of the chops. Remove to a plate and repeat with the other chop. Remove the second one, reduce the heat to medium, then add the final tablespoon of butter to the pan. Once melted, whisk in a tablespoon of flour, continue whisking for about a minute. Whisk in the chicken stock and let simmer for a couple of minutes. Add both chops back into the pan, making sure they're both submerged in the gravy. Cover the pan with foil, then pop in the oven. Cook for 75-90 minutes. Serve with a side of mashed potatoes (garlic mashed, if you're so inclined).
Makes 2 servings.
6 comments:
How thick are the loin chops, Tom?
See, that's what I get for posting late at night when I'm tired. I screw things up. The chops themselves are around 1/2" thick, and I shoot for under 1/4" as my target thickness.
Okay, how do you keep the smoke alarm from going off? ;-)
Well, while browning the chops, if it's making a lot of smoke, I turn on the vent fan over the stovetop :) I also forgot to mention that I turn down the heat to medium after removing the second chop, so I updated the recipe (again).
Sheesh. I think I need an editor for my posts :)
The entire Gemmer family thanks you for this post. I made this tonight and everyone agreed to eat it (not a small feat in this house). Rob even said they were the best pork chops he'd ever had. Mmmmm, only had beef broth but still made good gravy.
Yay! Glad y'all liked it. I've tried using beef broth for this before, but the beef broth we use just doesn't have a very good flavor. Actually, we've tried several different brands, and none of them seem to have good flavor. Sigh...
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