Smothered Pork Chops
- Total Time
- 3 hours, plus at least 12 hours’ refrigeration
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:8 servings
- 8thick, bone-in pork chops (more if using smaller chops)
- Anise brine (see recipe)
- 4tablespoons neutral oil, like peanut or safflower, or lard
- 1cup all-purpose flour
- 8medium yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1bay leaf
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 2quarts pork stock or chicken stock
- 1tablespoon finely chopped parsley, optional
Preparation
- Step 1
In a large nonreactive container, submerge the pork in the brine and place in refrigerator for at least 12 hours or overnight, then remove the chops and dry well with paper towels.
- Step 2
Heat oven to 325. Heat the oil or lard in a large ovenproof pot or Dutch oven set over medium heat. Dredge the chops in the flour, shaking off the excess. Reserve the leftover flour.
- Step 3
Cook the chops in the fat, about 4 minutes per side, until they are brown and crisp on the exterior, and transfer to a plate. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add the onions and bay leaf and cook, stirring often, until the onions are softened, about 15 minutes. Season well with salt and pepper.
- Step 4
Add 6 tablespoons flour to the onions, stir well and allow to cook 3 or 4 minutes. Slowly add the stock, stirring and scraping the pan well, until it is incorporated and the mixture is slightly thickened.
- Step 5
Return chops to the pot and bring to a simmer, then cover tightly and cook in the oven until very tender, 2 or more hours. Transfer chops to a plate and place pot on stovetop, over medium heat. Reduce sauce until it is thick enough to resemble gravy, skimming excess oil and foam if necessary. Return chops to pot to reheat, then serve with their gravy over rice or mashed potatoes. Garnish with parsley if you like.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Morgan
For those using the NYT Cooking IOS app, the anise brine hyperlink doesn't appear in the ingredient list (persistent issue with this app). You can find the recipe for the brine here:
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1014391-star-anise-brine
Star Anise Brine
Time: 30 minutes
Yield: About 1 gallon
INGREDIENTS
1 cup kosher salt
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 pods star anise
4 bay leaves
NYCDeke
The recipe requires a lot of prep time, but the results make it all worthwhile. The recipe is quite delicious (5 stars worth) as it is written, but note that it is essential to use a large pot—at least 8-qt. size. The pork chops will fall off the bone, and the sauce (gravy) is apt to be the best you ever have tasted.
lizinboston
I'm dubious of anything that takes longer than, say, 45 minutes to cook. Isn't brining just for poor quality meat? I'm a convert: the flavor that the brine gave to even high-quality meat raised locally is superlative-defying: it was that good. Modifications: at Step 5, added only 1 quart of stock, dumped the whole thing in the crock pot, and cooked for 6 hours on low. The result was the best pork I've ever had and enough gravy to put some in the freezer for Thanksgiving.
Tim H
Love this recipe, I've made it three times. The star anise flavor really comes through, so it's worth doing the brine. Added mushrooms last time, a nice addition.
Kristina Rebelo
This is one of my favorite recipes -- ever. Thank you, Sam. We get thick, gorgeous pork chops from a local farm when we are in Western Michigan. I hope the recipe doesn't daunt cooks -- if you follow the directions one step at a time, you will get the fabulous outcome. And do use the star of anise; you won't regret that wonderful flavor. I added sliced mushrooms at the end. Other than that, I followed the recipe to a "t."
Josie
The chops were very tender, but next time I would add some sliced apples to the onion sauté. It needs a little tartness.
Karen
No need to brine; cook for 1-1.5 hrs.; can do it all on the stove; don't use so much stock- I used half the amount called for, but it was still too much.
JG
I've made this recipe a few times. Always a hit with my kids, and they're picky eaters. As you'd guess, it's even better the next day. I like to eat the pork with some corn tortillas, drizzling a little sauce over them, along with some chopped cilantro.
Regina
I've made this dish (or similar) so many times but I use the thin cut chops so it takes less time (like an hour). I add paprika for more flavor. Plus, I do it all on the stove top.
Chris W
This is an easy and delicious recipe. The brine is great but don't be deterred if you don't have time to brine the chops. It's still very good, and after 2 hours of cooking, the pork chops are very tender. I've substituted white wine for a quarter of the chicken stock with great results.
Charles Paul Williams
This is seriously good the way it is written. Just had leftovers by shredding the remaining meat in to the remaining gravy, heating, and serving as open faced sandwich over toasted bread. The recipe scales easily. I've made with two, four, and eight chops.
Alan
Fantastic dish however can end up on the salty side if you leave in the brine for too long or over salt. Would also recommend chops on the thick side, the meat is incredibly tender once cooked. I add some mushrooms and also some dijon mustard before serving to give the sauce some depth of flavour.
Bicka
This was delicious. I would make a few changes. No flour on chops during browning to increase the flavor of the gravy. Really brown the onions and then flour to give more depth and color to the gravy. Add sautéed mushrooms and a bit of dijon mustard before serving to add some complexity. The pork was perfectly cooked. So hard to get such moist meat from such a lean cut but this worked.
Suzanna
I see it's called "Anise Brine', but I don't see where and how much star anise to be added. Thank you.
Mark
Have made this twice, both times fantastic. Only addition were a couple pints halved mushrooms. Takes gravy to next level. Used bone-in thick cut chops and served with garlic mashed potatoes and corn we had frozen from summers bounty. Sunday meal!!
anna
This was a great recipe. My only complaint is that it was too salty - I used Morton kosher salt. I think the writers should indicate the brand that they use, especially when you are about to waste a large meal like this.
sarah
I’ve been eyeing up this recipe for a while, finally made it last night using 4 chops and halving the rest of the ingredients. Used sea salt in the brine but cut the amount in half. Brined for about 10 hours then followed the recipe basically as is and cooked in my largest cast iron skillet for a little less than 2 hrs. Very delish. I’m not sure what kind of vessel one would cook this in if using 8 chops. 2 separate dishes? Layering the chops in a deep Dutch oven? One layer in a larger roaster?
John S
I found this recipe disappointing. Flavor wasn’t great. It was a rare blah recipe from NYT.
Bonnie
Could you use this technique with a boneless pork loin (not tenderloin)? They are always on sale, but mine turns out dry.
Gael
Is it ok to use pork loin?
James Alb
Fantastic recipe.....left the anise out of the brine and added the chili powder to the flour. De-glazed the onions with a touch of red wine before adding the stock. Really great sauce/gravy to serve over mashed potatoes with the meat tender and falling off the bone
Scott
Delish - though brine isn’t necessary. Also, didn’t cook in oven. Used blah pork chops from cub and cooked on stove. Put a little left over cream/butter from potatoes in the gravy. SUPER rich. Almost too rich. Thicker chops might benefit from oven.
Madison
Stupid good. Just do what it says. And enjoy.
NYC Cook
This wasn’t good. I followed the recipe exactly. I can’t figure out what people like about this. The anise infused a licorice flavor, which I normally like but that didn’t serve these pork chops well. The gravy was too thin. The onions shrank. My husband will eat anything even when something doesn’t work out, but this one not even he could eat a second time. We threw out the leftovers.
Vietnam1971
I don’t see the point of doing the initial cooking of the chops in the oven as opposed to the stove top.
Vanessa
I've made it exactly as written, but my favorite version includes buying a Costco pork rack & cutting it into bone-in pork chops, using only 5-6 onions, and replacing some of the stock with mushroom-infused broth and white wine (I use ~2 cups of chicken broth to rehydrate morels or other mushrooms + maybe 1 cup of white wine - ratios are flexible). Note: Use Diamond Kosher salt for the brine (if using Mortons Coarse Kosher salt only add 3/4 cup or less & go lighter when salting the onions)
RCook2009
By far the most delicious pork chops our family has ever had. My son actually said he didn’t know pork chops could be this amazing. I will make this recipe over and over.
Alicia
I added fresh herbs when sautéing the onions and it really took this to the next level! Thyme, rosemary and sage because I happened to have all three on hand.
Michelle
This was tasty and froze well. My only issue was I was unable to achieve the beautiful brown color; it was an unappetizing white gravy color.
Kdg
What pan holds 8 large pork chops? Photo shows pan with 3. Was trying to cook half recipe with 4 chops but they wouldn’t all fit in the pan so it was kind of a hassle to figure it out mid-recipe.
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