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I did a poll to figure out which article I should schedule next, so as demanded by popular vote — we gun’ make PORKCHOPS!
I love checking out THE BIG MEAT when I go grocery shopping. Sure, you can buy pre-portioned cuts of meat, but where is the fun in that? I scan the meat selection until I find the BIGGEST, most cumbersome hunk of meat I can find.
Then I take that sucker home and butcher it up into manageable portions and freeze it.
This haul of pork became several porkchops, and the butt-ends of the loin I cubed to make ground pork using my food processor.
But what to do with all of those porkchops?
You see, I bought the pork on impulse… but I have never been a huge fan of pork.
Go ahead and laugh at me, I got seduced by the sale.
I have never been comfortable cooking pork. I just don’t know what to do with it! Almost every time I make it it’s dried out, or bland, or just generally unsatisfying.
But I already committed to the pork chops, and here I am. Staring at a freezer full of porkchops with no plan.
That evening poring over recipes I discovered smothered porkchops and I decided to give that a try.
And I may have fallen in love with pork just a little bit.
It is ridiculously easy to accidentally overcook a porkchop, and the end result is tough and dry and not fit for a dog. I used to always set timers but they are pretty unreliable — if the meat is thicker or thinner cut? Has more or less fat on it? Is your oven properly calibrated to the temperature you set it to? And pork can be extremely unforgiving. It’s undercooked, you pop it back in the oven for another three minutes, and pull out a pan of sawdust.
Thankfully meat thermometers exist. If you ever want to experiment with a cut of meat that you are unfamiliar with, *definitely use a meat thermometer*. It will save you. You can wean yourself off of your thermometer training wheels as you get more familiar. A meat thermometer also makes it easier to cook something smothered in sauce when you can’t rely on visual cues like juices running clear.
And cooking the meat in the skillet is a lot more forgiving than the oven because you are actively watching it cook and you can monitor it more carefully without disrupting the cooking process. I am a prolific and terrible opener of oven doors.
For some baffling reason one recipe I read wanted you to simmer the porkchops for an additional 45 minutes to an hour after the gravy was complete. I have no idea why. It does not take that long. I think it’s reasonable to say that you can finish this entire meal top to bottom, including a side of mashed potatoes, in about a half hour.
The key to the “smothered” part of a smothered pork chop is the gravy, and that’s where I was really having the most trouble. I am proud to say that I have finally learned how to make gravy, which is good considering the gelatinous blob I ended up with on Thanksgiving.
Originally published at https://filltheskillet.com on February 15, 2021.
