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Pork Chops with Rice
6 pork chops 6 tablespoons rice, uncooked 3 tomatoes, cut in half 6 slices large onion 6 slices green pepper salt and pepper 2 tablespoons shortening 1/2 cup water Brown chops in hot shortening, add the rice, then tomato, onion, pepper and seasoning, water last. Cover closely and cook at 375 degrees F. for 3 hours. Serves 6.
A Depression-era skillet-to-oven supper: chops seared, raw rice and vegetables piled on, liquid last, then a long covered bake. Two things in the original need attention before you start — the liquid and the time.
- Liquid is the hingeSix tablespoons of raw rice (a scant 1/2 cup) wants roughly twice its volume in liquid, and half a cup of water plus the juice of three halved tomatoes is tight for a long covered bake. Keep the lid tight so none escapes, and top up with hot water if the pan goes dry.
- The stated time is far too longAt 375F, covered, the rice is done in 45 minutes to an hour and the chops are cooked through well before that. Three hours at that temperature leaves dry meat and scorched rice. Check at 45 minutes and add a splash of hot water if the pan looks dry.
- Pork chops then and nowPork of this period was fattier, and cooks were taught to cook it to grey. Modern loin chops are lean; 145F at the centre with a short rest is enough. Bone-in chops around 3/4 inch hold up best to a covered bake.
- ShorteningTwo tablespoons of vegetable shortening or lard gives the best browning. Any neutral oil works; butter alone will darken too fast in a hot pan.
- One vessel, oven-safeBrown and bake in the same pan — a heavy skillet or Dutch oven with a lid. If your skillet has no lid, cover tightly with foil rather than transferring, so the fond stays with the rice.
- Rice typePlain long-grain white rice is the likely intention and absorbs the liquid predictably. Brown rice needs considerably more liquid and time; instant rice will collapse.
- AssemblyAdding the water last, as written, matters: the rice should sit in the fat and pick up the browned bits before the vegetables and liquid go over the top. Season the layers, not just the surface.
- YieldThe recipe's six servings rest on six chops; six tablespoons of rice is barely a tablespoon a head, so increase the rice and liquid together if you want this to stand as a one-dish supper.