Pork-in-the-Oven

My Mom made this on a regular basis when I was growing up. It was one of my favorite dishes. For a very tasty dish, it’s amazingly simple to make.

Pork-In-The-Oven

• 8 pork chops
• 10-1/2 oz can chicken stock
• salt & ground black pepper
• flour

In a heavy skillet, brown the pork chops in oil, cooking both sides; season with salt & pepper during cooking. Pour 1/2 the chicken stock into a deep casserole dish. Dredge the pork chops in flour and place in casserole. Sift 1/4 cup additional flour on top of chops. Add remaining chicken stock to drippings in the skillet, and then pour over the pork. Cover and bake in a 350 F oven for 1 hour.

Mom always browned the pork well, as it make the gravy richer and the dish more flavorful. Yet sometimes it came out better than others — it was always good, sometimes it was great.

I couldn’t figure it out, as Mom deglazed the pan after browning the meat well, so all the flavor of the browned bits made it into the baking pan.

Recently, I tried something slightly different and it had a much larger effect than expected — instead of a baking dish, I use a covered, oven-safe skillet, so the meat is browned and baked in the same pan. I didn’t expect this to make much difference — my intention was from laziness, as 1 less pan needs cleaning. But it works consistently to produce a more flavorful dish, so I’m sticking with it.

I also vary the seasonings — I typically use seasoned salt and add 1/4 tsp of something else such as granulated garlic or paprika. The extra seasoning perks the dish and varies it from time to time.