Dear Home Ec 101,
I was hoping to do something with pork chops this week too, they are on sale. Do you do anything special to them, or just bake them straight up?
Can anyone point me to a good pork chop recipe or pork roast (but not loin) recipe?
Puzzled by Pork
Heather says:
At the risk of alienating yet another potential sponsor . . .
Recently I’ve had requests for very simple recipes, so here is another along those lines. We’ve all seen the commercials for those packets. Here’s my version:
- 2 – 3lbs pork chops*
- 1 egg white
- 1 5oz can evaporated milk
- 1 cup bread or cracker crumbs**
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp dry mustard
- 1/2 tsp salt
- ~ 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper – optional
*These can be bone in or out, but the cooking time I mentioned is for 1/2″ thick chops, if you use a thicker cut, you must adjust the time accordingly. As much as I like breaded chops, I’d recommend using the thicker ones for grilling or stuffing.
Whisk together milk, egg white, and about 1/2 tsp of ground pepper. Don’t measure the pepper, just eyeball it.
Place the pork chops in a shallow dish and pour your milk mixture over them. Now ignore it for 10 minutes, read, make a side dish, fuss at the kids, whatever you want.
Turn the pork chops over, preheat your oven to 375F, and stir the remaining ingredients together in a shallow dish.
Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray
One at a time, take the pork chops from the milk mixture and coat with your crumb mixture. Set the chops on the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, turn, and bake for 10 – 15 minutes more. 
If chops have bones, they will cook more quickly and should be turned closer to the 10 minute mark.
According to the USDA pork is done when it reaches an internal temp of 160F.
Enjoy.
