Pork Chops With Onion Gravy

I agree with Juliet Jones that we don't all have chicken or beef stock sitting around ready to use in small quantities. Opening a can, using half of it, and throwing the rest of it away 4-5 days later seems like a waste. Bouillon cubes are great. Even better, I think, is the jarred "Better Than Bouillon" (BTB); it has a very long refrigerator life, now comes in many flavors (chicken, beef, ham) including Low Sodium, and can be used to produce any amount of broth, small or large. I swear by it.

I make a similar dish but add apple slices to the onions near the end (not too soon or they turn to mush) and do the whole thing on the top of the stove in a covered pan rather than in the oven. You can also add a splash of white wine or apple cider just near the end to give it a bit of acid brightness. I finish it off with a few twists of the pepper grinder.

Bouillon cubes don't ever seem to get much of a mention here in the Times recipes, but I use them a lot when chicken stock or chicken broth is called for. (After all, who has "half an inch" of chicken stock sitting around waiting to be used?) Just dissolve one of those small cubes in a Pyrex jug of boiling water.

I do exactly as NHW suggests. Better Than Bouillon is an essential in my refrigerator when you don't have broth and need less than a cube or can full.

Unless the pan is a complete mess or burned (which it shouldn't be), I would dump excess oil, leave some, and definitively not wipe out the pan. That's called fond, FCS - put the onions in and as they cook and release their juices, the plan deglazes and you capture the best part of the flavor of the dish.

Freeze leftover off-the-shelf broth in ice cube trays and keep in freezer for months and months. Pop a handful or two into the pan and there is no waste. Loved this with the added apple slices NHW recommends. I used a splash of Calvados at the end because I can't help myself.

Jullet asks "Who has half-an inch of chicken broth sitting around?" I keep an open box of broth in the fridge. I always date it, so that I know it's good, but generally use it all for adding to dishes just like this. Low sodium of course. Buillon is loaded with salt.

I too was often plagued by recipes that called for 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup of chicken stock. Eventually, I realized that I could store in different sized containers. Now I also freeze some in ice cube trays; when frozen, I empty them into plastic freezer bags. I use as many as needed for sauce, gravies, etc.

To those that are concerned about the saved flour mixture, I might be reading it wrong, but I think what he's taking about is saving the leftover flour mixture to use later in the recipe, when you sprinkle some on the onions.

I love this- thanks NYT! My Mom would use this method and add carrots, potatoes and celery. Everything on top of the stove, covered for 40-45 minutes . Mash the potato with your fork on the plate. Add mushrooms for "fancy."

The leftover flour is not a microbial hazard as it is mixed with the broth brought to a boil and cooked for 45 minutes. No pathogens survive that.

I save my vegetable trimmings, peels, etc., esp onion ends and the outside layers that get peeled away, and all the chicken bones. I put 'em in the freezer until I have a large ziploc bagful. Costco rotisserie chicken carcasses end up in there, a lot. I make the broth, skim the top and divvy it up into plastic containers, about 1 1/2 cups each, and freeze them. If you don't need that much, put it in a pan on low to defrost some and pull the ice lump out when it's enough. Return to the freezer!

What's the point, Sam, of making a "big, flavorful crust" on the chops when they are later immersed in liquid and braised, turning the crust soft and mushy?

You only save it to use in the gravy in this recipe.

To deal with recipes that call for just a small amount of broth, I freeze broth in ice cube trays and use as many cubes as I need. It’s a low bar, but canned broth is usually better than my home made. And when I have leftover broth from a can or carton, that’s what does into the ice cube trays for next time. (When I do like my homemade broth, I, of course, also freeze that in trays.) if I need a lot of broth, I use a lot of cubes.