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Having grown up in a household where my father was a butcher
for the local Safeway store and my mother worked in the same meat department,
we had a variety of cuts of meat every day. Breakfast fare usually included thick
slices of bacon, smoked, peppered, and honey cured. Occasionally a pork chop
made its appearance on our breakfast plate beside the usual eggs and fried
potatoes and onion. We didn't have that big of a breakfast every weekday
because Mom spent long days at work and school was calling - we usually ran a
little late with 4 teenagers and 2 elementary-aged kids to get ready. But the
weekends found us all gathered in the country kitchen around the beautiful
round oak table that my younger sister now has in her home.
Again on the weekends we enjoyed various cuts of meat that daddy patiently
showed us how to prepare. Mom was usually in the garden or making biscuits.
Reminder of Home
I was reminded tonight of the thick pork chops that Daddy used to bring home
and stuff with delicious dressing prepared just like you would for the
Thanksgiving turkey. He would take a very sharp knife and cut a slit in the
meat across from the bone and stuff it with cornbread dressing.
Request for Pork Chop
I had asked my hubby to please bring home some pork chops
from the grocery (he usually does our shopping) because we hadn't eaten them
for quite some time. He found some beautiful chops that were about 1-inch thick
with the bone in. If you sometimes wonder how to cook pork chops that are that
thick I find that baking them is probably the easiest thing to do.
Preparation of Meat
I rinsed the meat under running water and patted them dry. I had prepared a
basil olive oil mixed with garlic salt and dry Italian seasonings that I placed
in a shallow bowl. Then I rubbed this on all sides of each pork chop. I then
wrapped them tightly in aluminum foil, placed them in a heavy cast iron skillet
to bake in my 350º oven. I baked them for one hour.
They were delicious. And because I had wrapped them in foil
I had no mess to clean up. Of course, they could just as easily be cooked in
any oven-proof dish and if you chose to not use the foil, the chops would brown
nicely. My were not as brown but tasted more like a pork roast.
You should try this method of cooking pork chops. I found I could not
"fry" my pork chops all the time. Cooking them this way cuts down on
the calories and fat.
Bon appétit. |
