.
.
I have a wonderful Saladmaster electric skillet that I hardly ever use. Well, tonight I decided to unearth it from the rear of the bottom shelf of my pots-and-pans cabinet. After I washed off the layer of dust covering it, here’s what I did with it.
(By the way, my recipes may seem long and complicated but they’re really not. I just go into great detail so y’all will know exactly what steps I took. If you’ll just follow the recipe one step at at time, you’ll be done cooking and sitting at the supper table quicker’n you can say “Kiss My Grits!”)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Crispy-Crunchy Pork Chops with Creamy Gravy
THE PORK CHOPS
6 large pork chops
4 cups whole-wheat flour
6 large eggs
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp fresh-cracked pepper
2 cups Panko bread crumbs
2 cups stone-ground yellow cornmeal
Peanut oil for frying
Salt & Pepper
1. Arrange four good-sized deep bowls and one large platter on your counter.
2. Rinse and pat dry the pork chops and put them in the first bowl.
3. Pour the whole-wheat flour into the second bowl.
4. Crack and whisk the eggs in the third bowl. Add the Worcestershire sauce, paprika and cracked pepper. Whisk to blend.
5. Pour the Panko bread crumbs and cornmeal in the fourth bowl and blend.
6. Take a pork chop and dunk it in the flour, patting it down real good. Turn it over and pat it down again, making sure the entire chop is coated with flour.
7. Dunk the chop into the egg mixture and gently slosh it around, enough to cover the chop but don’t make a mess and don’t slop off the flour. Turn the chop over and do the other side,
8. Dunk the chop into the Panko bread crumb – cornmeal mixture, patting it down real good. Turn it over and pat it down again, making sure the entire chop is coated with the crumb-meal mixture.
9. Put the chop onto the platter.
10. Rinse your fingertips in cool water and dry your hands.
11. Repeat steps 6-10 until all the chops are coated. Let them rest a spell on the platter until the crumb-meal coating has gotten moistened from the egg mixture.
12. Pour cooking oil (I ==highly== recommend peanut oil) into your electric skillet, cast iron skillet, or whatever you’re going to use and heat to 350 degrees-F.
If your skillet doesn’t have a thermostat, use a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature of the oil. If it’s not hot enough, you’ll just make a big mess with soggy crust and dried-out chops. If it’s too hot, the batter coating will burn to a crisp and the pork will be raw and probably send all your guests to the hospital with salmonella poisoning, and we don’t want that now, do we?
13. When the oil is ready, CAREFULLY lower a chop into the oil with a pair of long tongs. Stand back as far as you can in case the oil pops. Add the second chop. Only do two chops at a time or they won’t fry nicely.
14. Meanwhile, heat your oven to 300 degrees.
15. After 3-4 minutes, GENTLY turn each chop. Let the second side fry until golden brown. If the first side didn’t get quite brown enough, turn over once more and fry for a minute or two longer.
16. Get yourself a large, shallow Pyrex dish or whatever. CAREFULLY remove the chops with your tongs and place them in your Pyrex dish. Lightly dust both sides with salt and cracked pepper. Put the Pyrex dish in the oven.
17. Repeat steps 13-16 until all six chops are done. Let them stay in the oven until the gravy is ready.
18. CAREFULLY, CAREFULLY, CAREFULLY pour most of the hot oil into a large sauce pan or Pyrex bowl. Keep about a half cup of the oil and all the bits of crispy stuff that settled to the bottom. Set aside the pan of discarded oil to cool, and then you can dispose of it later when you do the dishes.
19. Using a sharp metal spatula, scrape up all the crispy bits and drippings and remaining oil in the skillet and carefully scoop it into a small bowl using a rubber spatula. You want to get every last bit of crispy goodness.
THE CREAMY GRAVY
3 cups whole wheat flour
3-4 cups hot water
1/2 cup oil & scrapings from the frying oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 half-and-half or milk
1. Get out a large skillet. Heat on HIGH until it’s nice and hot, until a couple drops of water dance and sizzle across the surface and evaporate in a flash.
2. Pour the flour into the skillet. Using a large wooden cooking fork, stir the flour constantly and kinda shake the skillet until the flour is evenly but just lightly toasted. This will prevent the gravy from tasting raw.
3. Pour about 2 cups of water into flour. Immediately and vigorously mix with your wooden fork until you work out all the lumps. Add another cup or so of water and keep mixing.
4. Let it come to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium. Add your oil and drippings and some salt and pepper. Keep that stirring action going.
5. Now here’s where a bit of “by the seat of your pants” cooking comes in. If the gravy is too thick, like pancake batter (or worse, like spackle), you’ll want to add water a little at a time until the consistency is just right. And what is that just-right consistency? About the consistency of gravy.
6. Add the half-and-half or milk into the gravy and stir. Keep stirring until the gravy thickens a bit. If it gets too thick, add a bit more water and keep stirring. You want to cook it long enough to bind everything together. Don’t worry if it gets too thick, just keep adding water. You’ll be fine.
Serve with brown or wild rice and a nice mixture of lightly steamed vegetables.
.
I have a wonderful Saladmaster electric skillet that I hardly ever use. Well, tonight I decided to unearth it from the rear of the bottom shelf of my pots-and-pans cabinet. After I washed off the layer of dust covering it, here’s what I did with it.
(By the way, my recipes may seem long and complicated but they’re really not. I just go into great detail so y’all will know exactly what steps I took. If you’ll just follow the recipe one step at at time, you’ll be done cooking and sitting at the supper table quicker’n you can say “Kiss My Grits!”)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Crispy-Crunchy Pork Chops with Creamy Gravy
THE PORK CHOPS
6 large pork chops
4 cups whole-wheat flour
6 large eggs
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp fresh-cracked pepper
2 cups Panko bread crumbs
2 cups stone-ground yellow cornmeal
Peanut oil for frying
Salt & Pepper
1. Arrange four good-sized deep bowls and one large platter on your counter.
2. Rinse and pat dry the pork chops and put them in the first bowl.
3. Pour the whole-wheat flour into the second bowl.
4. Crack and whisk the eggs in the third bowl. Add the Worcestershire sauce, paprika and cracked pepper. Whisk to blend.
5. Pour the Panko bread crumbs and cornmeal in the fourth bowl and blend.
6. Take a pork chop and dunk it in the flour, patting it down real good. Turn it over and pat it down again, making sure the entire chop is coated with flour.
7. Dunk the chop into the egg mixture and gently slosh it around, enough to cover the chop but don’t make a mess and don’t slop off the flour. Turn the chop over and do the other side,
8. Dunk the chop into the Panko bread crumb – cornmeal mixture, patting it down real good. Turn it over and pat it down again, making sure the entire chop is coated with the crumb-meal mixture.
9. Put the chop onto the platter.
10. Rinse your fingertips in cool water and dry your hands.
11. Repeat steps 6-10 until all the chops are coated. Let them rest a spell on the platter until the crumb-meal coating has gotten moistened from the egg mixture.
12. Pour cooking oil (I ==highly== recommend peanut oil) into your electric skillet, cast iron skillet, or whatever you’re going to use and heat to 350 degrees-F.
If your skillet doesn’t have a thermostat, use a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature of the oil. If it’s not hot enough, you’ll just make a big mess with soggy crust and dried-out chops. If it’s too hot, the batter coating will burn to a crisp and the pork will be raw and probably send all your guests to the hospital with salmonella poisoning, and we don’t want that now, do we?
13. When the oil is ready, CAREFULLY lower a chop into the oil with a pair of long tongs. Stand back as far as you can in case the oil pops. Add the second chop. Only do two chops at a time or they won’t fry nicely.
14. Meanwhile, heat your oven to 300 degrees.
15. After 3-4 minutes, GENTLY turn each chop. Let the second side fry until golden brown. If the first side didn’t get quite brown enough, turn over once more and fry for a minute or two longer.
16. Get yourself a large, shallow Pyrex dish or whatever. CAREFULLY remove the chops with your tongs and place them in your Pyrex dish. Lightly dust both sides with salt and cracked pepper. Put the Pyrex dish in the oven.
17. Repeat steps 13-16 until all six chops are done. Let them stay in the oven until the gravy is ready.
18. CAREFULLY, CAREFULLY, CAREFULLY pour most of the hot oil into a large sauce pan or Pyrex bowl. Keep about a half cup of the oil and all the bits of crispy stuff that settled to the bottom. Set aside the pan of discarded oil to cool, and then you can dispose of it later when you do the dishes.
19. Using a sharp metal spatula, scrape up all the crispy bits and drippings and remaining oil in the skillet and carefully scoop it into a small bowl using a rubber spatula. You want to get every last bit of crispy goodness.
THE CREAMY GRAVY
3 cups whole wheat flour
3-4 cups hot water
1/2 cup oil & scrapings from the frying oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 half-and-half or milk
1. Get out a large skillet. Heat on HIGH until it’s nice and hot, until a couple drops of water dance and sizzle across the surface and evaporate in a flash.
2. Pour the flour into the skillet. Using a large wooden cooking fork, stir the flour constantly and kinda shake the skillet until the flour is evenly but just lightly toasted. This will prevent the gravy from tasting raw.
3. Pour about 2 cups of water into flour. Immediately and vigorously mix with your wooden fork until you work out all the lumps. Add another cup or so of water and keep mixing.
4. Let it come to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium. Add your oil and drippings and some salt and pepper. Keep that stirring action going.
5. Now here’s where a bit of “by the seat of your pants” cooking comes in. If the gravy is too thick, like pancake batter (or worse, like spackle), you’ll want to add water a little at a time until the consistency is just right. And what is that just-right consistency? About the consistency of gravy.
6. Add the half-and-half or milk into the gravy and stir. Keep stirring until the gravy thickens a bit. If it gets too thick, add a bit more water and keep stirring. You want to cook it long enough to bind everything together. Don’t worry if it gets too thick, just keep adding water. You’ll be fine.
Serve with brown or wild rice and a nice mixture of lightly steamed vegetables.
