Smothered Pork Chop Gravy

Smothering is a technique, not a sauce. You dredge the meat, brown it, build a gravy in the pan and then let the whole thing cook slowly with a lid on until the chops are falling apart and the gravy has taken on everything they released. It takes an hour of low heat and it needs almost none of your attention once it is going.

Ingredients

Makes about 600ml of gravy plus four chops

• 4 bone in pork shoulder chops about 200g each, shoulder rather than loin because it stands up to the long cook
• 60g (2¼oz) plain flour seasoned with 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp paprika and ½ tsp garlic granules
• 3 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 25g (1oz) butter
• 2 large onions sliced
• 3 cloves garlic sliced
• 700ml (1¼ pints) hot chicken stock
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• salt and black pepper to taste

Kit

• Heavy casserole with a lid
• Tongs
• Shallow dish for dredging
• Wooden spoon

Method

1. Pat the chops dry and press them into the seasoned flour on both sides, shaking off the excess. Keep the leftover flour, because two tablespoons of it will thicken the gravy later.

2. Heat the oil in a heavy casserole over a medium high heat and brown the chops for three to four minutes a side until they have a real crust. Do them in two batches so the pan stays hot, then lift them onto a plate.

3. Turn the heat down to medium, add the butter and the onions with a pinch of salt, and cook for ten minutes. Scrape constantly, because the flour from the dredge will be stuck to the base and that is where the flavour is.

4. Add the garlic and thyme and cook for one minute. Then scatter over two tablespoons of the leftover dredging flour and stir it in until the onions look coated and pasty. Cook it for two minutes.

5. Pour in a third of the hot stock, stirring hard to lift the base clean. Once smooth, add the rest of the stock and the Worcestershire sauce and bring to a simmer.

6. Slide the chops back in with their resting juices, tucking them under the gravy so they are properly smothered. The liquid should come most of the way up but not cover them.

7. Put the lid on, drop the heat to the lowest setting, and cook for fifty to sixty minutes. It should barely bubble. Turn the chops once halfway. They are ready when a fork twists in the meat with almost no resistance.

8. Lift the chops out, let the gravy bubble uncovered for five minutes to thicken if it needs it, then season and pour it back over. Serve with rice or mashed potato.

Tips worth knowing

• Use shoulder chops, not loin. Loin has no fat or connective tissue and an hour of braising turns it into cardboard, while shoulder gets softer and better the longer it goes.
• The dredging flour left in the dish is seasoned and toasted, so use it to thicken rather than fresh flour. It is free flavour that most recipes throw in the bin.
• Keep the heat genuinely low once the lid goes on. A rolling simmer tightens the meat and reduces the gravy to sludge, and you cannot undo either.
• If the gravy tastes thin at the end, lift the meat out and reduce it hard for five minutes rather than adding cornflour. It concentrates and darkens at the same time.

Keeping and reheating

Keeps four days in the fridge and genuinely improves overnight. Freezes for three months with the chops in the gravy. Reheat covered in a low oven at 150C (fan 130C, gas 2) for twenty five minutes with a splash of stock.

Questions people ask