Lorena at Food Revolution runs a monthly event called Frugal Food and the February challenge is to create a meal for two, featuring apples, for seven dollars or less. I immediately thought of my Mom's stuffed pork chops-- a dish she was making back in the '70s, long before grocery stores routinely offered cuts of meat pre-prepared for cooking, as they do today. As is true with so many of her recipes, this one is not written down anywhere and so I had to call her. Now before I move on to our fascinating mother/daughter dialog, I have a little confession to make. Sometimes I write out the dialog before I call her just because it amuses me and I know her that well. And nearly every time it goes exactly the way I expected. But every now and then she refuses to cooperate and doesn't deliver the funny line I'm expecting and so I have to ask leading questions. I try not to sound too obvious, but I think she might be starting to get suspicious.
Me: I need to know about your stuffed pork chops.
Her: Well, they were pork chops and I stuffed them.
Me: Ha, ha. But seriously.
Her: No, really.
Me: Mom. I remember that you used put the stuffing inside but also mound it over the top and that it got nice and crispy, right?
Her: Oh yes, that's the best part.
Me: And the stuffing is just bread crumbs, apples, onions, celery and... what else?
Her: You'll want to mix it with some hot water or a little chicken stock, and the stir in a beaten egg, so it holds together. And salt and pepper them, inside the pocket and out.
Me: Okay, that's easy enough. Did you brown the pork chops?
Her: Nope. Just stand them up in the pan and bake them.
Me: They stand up in the pan?
Her: On the bone.
Me: What?
Her: Trust me. Just make sure you buy center-cut chops with the bone in.
Me: Um, okay. How long did you bake them?
Her: About an hour at 350.
Me: Okay. I think I'll add garlic to the stuffing. I like pork with garlic.
Her: Good idea.
And then the rest of the conversation was about a recipe for chops stuffed with spinach and fontina she wants to try, which immediately made me wish I were making THAT, but anyway...
This is as written down as the recipe is going to get. I cut slits into the chops to form pockets and stuffed them, and put extra the stuffing in little ramekins, baked them, and served them on side, as Jack really likes his stuffing. And I served green beans with the chops. Oh, and they really do stand up in the pan with the stuffing on top. Who knew?
The cost breakdown worked out like so (I did not count the garlic, as it's a staple, nor the cup of chicken broth, as I had some left from the pozole I made the night before):
4.39 2 bone-in center cut pork chops (1 1/2 inches thick)
0.49 bagged breadcrumbs
0.50 half an apple
0.20 half an onion
0.10 celery
1.19 green beans
6.87
Not too bad, considering how expensive meat is. And it was nice to re-experience a favorite dish from my childhood, too. Now I want to try this spinach and fontina stuffing, so Mom... call me when you've tried and let me know how it turned out!
I love how you broke down the cost of the recipe. it reminds me my days doing the food cost numbers at work. fun, fun, fun!
Posted by: Aran | February 27, 2008 at 07:09 AM
You're killing me here -- i could eat stuffing every single day. I've already thawed chicken for tonight's African Groundnut Stew, but i've two extra-thick pork chops in the freezer, perfect for tomorrow.
Posted by: Anne | February 27, 2008 at 07:56 AM
Wow, those are some hefty chops! (Never gotten them that thick before-- it needs a special (read: expensive) request from the butcher.) I think they would stand on any edge you put them, heh :) This would also be a great addition to that blogging event, the one with the mother-to-daughter recipes... (The name is escaping me now)
Posted by: Manggy | February 27, 2008 at 09:43 AM
i never tried stuffing pork chops..i guess this is a brilliant idea to keep the moisture and juice intact during cooking..i love too the way that cost was broken down :-)
Posted by: dhanggit | February 27, 2008 at 10:32 AM
Mmm. I'm usually not a big fan of pork chops because they tend to be dry, but these look moist and flavorful. :)
Posted by: Adele | February 27, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Lol. Looks delicious : )
Posted by: Jessica | February 27, 2008 at 03:37 PM
your conversation with your mother amused me - I have those sort of discussions over old recipes
(oh and I meant to ask Jack in my ocmment on his previous post when we would get a recipe for a baked bean burger - I am intrigued!)
Posted by: Johanna | February 27, 2008 at 04:44 PM
Excellent!!! I have always loved stuffed pork chops. I have seen the Frufal cooking event but I am not very good at Math...wink...wink...
Posted by: Bellini Valli | February 28, 2008 at 12:27 AM