Dear Home Ec 101,
I was hoping to do something with pork chops this week too, they are on sale. Do you do anything special to them, or just bake them straight up?
Can anyone point me to a good pork chop recipe or pork roast (but not loin) recipe?
Puzzled by Pork
Heather says:
At the risk of alienating yet another potential sponsor . . .
I give you Fake ‘n Bake Pork Chops
Recently I’ve had requests for very simple recipes, so here is another along those lines. We’ve all seen the commercials for those packets. Here’s my version:
- 2 – 3lbs pork chops*
- 1 egg white
- 1 5oz can evaporated milk
- 1 cup bread or cracker crumbs**
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp dry mustard
- 1/2 tsp salt
- ~ 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper – optional
*These can be bone in or out, but the cooking time I mentioned is for 1/2″ thick chops, if you use a thicker cut, you must adjust the time accordingly. As much as I like breaded chops, I’d recommend using the thicker ones for grilling or stuffing.
Whisk together milk, egg white, and about 1/2 tsp of ground pepper. Don’t measure the pepper, just eyeball it.
Place the pork chops in a shallow dish and pour your milk mixture over them. Now ignore it for 10 minutes, read, make a side dish, fuss at the kids, whatever you want.
Turn the pork chops over, preheat your oven to 375F, and stir the remaining ingredients together in a shallow dish.
Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
One at a time, take the pork chops from the milk mixture and coat with your crumb mixture. Set the chops on the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, turn, and bake for 10 – 15 minutes more.
If chops have bones, they will cook more quickly and should be turned closer to the 10 minute mark.
According to the USDA pork is done when it reaches an internal temp of 160F.
Enjoy.
LOL! I have the same dishes!! I bought some pork sirlion chops and this is what I did with them:
sea-salt
fresh pepper
aged balsamic vinegar
olive oil
toss in a bag and let marinate over night!
Grill or pan fry.
It was de-lish!
My #1 tip for pork chops: soak them in a brine. It makes all the difference in the world!
I dissolve brown sugar (a quarter of a cup or more) and a tablespoon or 2 of salt into a couple cups of boiling water. Some people add more salt, but my husband doesn’t like a lot of sodium in his diet, so sometimes I skip the salt altogether & it still turn out great. Anyway! After stirring the mixture until the sugar & salt is dissolved, I add a handful of ice – 0r 2 or more; this isn’t an exact science – to bring the temp of the water down until it is cold. Soak the porkchops in this for 8 hours or more. Your pork chops will be sweet, juicy, & full of flavor.
Mary brought up brining: it works wonders! I was introduced to it by Cooks Illustrated. One time I brined a chicken before I roasted it and it was amazing – very tender and juicy.
That pork chop recipe is simple and looks great – I’m going to try it!