Skillet Smothered Pork Chops

I made these yesterday as part of a big Sunday lunch spread - with rice and gravy (the Tony's roux mix stuff - thick thick!), speckled butter beans, mixed steamed veggies with a homemade cheese sauce, and rosemary rolls (from frozen, don't get too excited).

I was very happy with them! I learned a lot - my pork chops always come out overdone, dry, and ugly-pale. I have figured out the secrets to stopping all those problems. Behold:

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Skillet Smothered Pork Chops

• 1 lb thin cut pork chops (thin cooks faster, yay)
• Salt, pepper, and Tony’s (as always, to taste)
• Garlic powder/salt, onion powder/salt, paprika, cayenne, etc. (whatever you have on hand or want to use in a dry rub)
• 1-2 onions, sliced into rings
• 1 can mushroom pieces, drained (or 1 package fresh mushrooms, cleaned and sliced)
• 1-2 cloves fresh garlic, roughly chopped (I suppose this could be optional, but I like garlic!)
• Small bowl of flour, for dredging
• Oil for frying – ½ inch deep in frying pan
• 1 tbs (more or less) butter

Dry rub the pork chops with your seasoning mix of choice – some black pepper, Tony’s, garlic powder, paprika, and a little salt works well. Get both sides real good. Let the chops rest a few minutes while you heat the oil in the skillet (medium-high heat for frying).

Dip each pork chop in flour (you can lightly season the flour with more of the seasoning mix if you want), and shake off the excess. Set the floured chops aside and let them rest another few minutes. When the oil is hot, add a generous pat of butter, and let it melt (be careful of any popping).

THAT is where I was always going wrong. The butter is essential to get the pork chops brown. Butter is a browning agent. You can totally mix frying mediums and put oil and butter together. True story. Enlightening as hell.

Anyway, when the oil/butter is hot enough to fry in (I always test it out with the tiniest sprinkle of flour to see if it sizzles), add the chops in 3-4 at a time. Don’t crowd the pan. Cook them a few minutes (like, 3-4 minutes?) until brown, then flip them over and cook the other side another few minutes. Remove with tongs to drain on a paper-towel lined plate. Make sure it’s cooked through – if there’s any pink left (check the thickest part of the thickest chop), cook it a little more.

I went ahead and cut all my chops in half, to make extra sure there was no pink in there. Then I pretended this was all part of my plan later, to make serving easier to manage or something. In the past, I was so afraid of pink pork that I overcooked my chops all to hell. That is pork abuse. A little bit of frying will do the trick. You don't have to fry them, then bake them for an hour, then blowtorch them, then drop them in hot lava to make sure they're dead. It's fine. A few minutes on each side will do! It's really liberating to realize this.

When all the chops are cooked through and removed from the skillet, drain most of the oil out. Leave a little bit, plus any of the drippings (the brown floury crud in the bottom of the skillet. Yeah, I know - eww. BUT ALSO mmmm.) Return the skillet to the heat, and toss in the onion rings. Stir them around a bit until they start to get nice and brown. Then add in the mushrooms. Salt and pepper them some (not too much, there is plenty of salt in the meat already! This is a dish that's easy to over-salt), and stir a few more minutes. You want the onions to be softened but not mushy. Finally, add the chopped garlic and stir another minute or two.

I'm glad I'm already married and not trying to date a dude, because I freaking love garlic. If you love garlic, y'all - marry someone that also loves garlic or you will be sad forever.

Remove the pan from the heat. There shouldn't be any juices or anything left in the pan, but you never know. If you have any excess liquid in there, drain it out. Add the pork chops back in, and stir them around with the onions and mushrooms.

Now go into your recipe book, rip out your old onion smothered pork chop recipe, and replace it with this one like I just did.