In the last few years I’ve found myself trending towards a simpler way of eating. This is definitely the case when I’m choosing a restaurant. I just can’t seem to get that excited anymore about fancy, long meals. I will gladly go if invited, since I’m always curious. But when it’s just me that gets to decide? It’s simple and traditional that always wins out.
I’ve also noticed that even when I’m at home, my style of cooking is getting simpler and simpler. Lately I’ve been rediscovering old recipes that I used to make all the time, but that for some reason just fell off my radar. Of course, many of these come from the pages of Marcella Hazan.
One of my all time favorite recipes of hers is one I used to make at least a once a month back in the early days of my marriage. Pork Chops with Sage. If it sounds simple, it’s because it is. And that is the beauty of this almost non-recipe. The trick of course, as with any super simple recipe, is to get your hands on good ingredients. In this case: big, fat, fatty pork chops. I know I just used the word fat twice. But you want them both thick and as fatty as possible.
You know how I ranted about chicken last week? Well, please permit me to have a little bit of a pork rant. Pork is NOT the other white meat. In the last couple of decades , with misguided fear of fat, the pork industry in the USA has tried (and succeeded) to rebrand itself as a lean alternative to chicken. And so began breeding pigs that are much leaner. But you want to know what a lean pig tastes like? Not much. Fat not only brings in natural flavor, it is also what makes pork tender. No fat means tough hard meat with little taste.
Rant over.
Since this recipe is so simple try your best to go to your butcher or farmer’s market and get your hands on some thickly cut, old fashioned, pork chops that have a nice rim of fat along the edge.
As for the rest? Fresh sage is essential. And yes, as per Marcella I use both olive oil AND butter. You should too. Here’s a video that explains it all.
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pork chops + sage
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 2
Ingredients
- 2 thickly cut pork chops
- flour
- salt, pepper
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup canned tomatoes
- 8 fresh sage leaves
Instructions
- see video
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Looks fantastic! My cooking style changed after my first trip to Italy, no more recipes with 12 different items. For me, 3 or 4 simple ingredients is plenty.
The pork I get from my farm share is dark and rich because the pig roots around in the fields and forest. Doing what pigs should do. And the meat is delicious.
You’re lucky to have a great farm share that includes meat!
Looks fantastic and the music in the video is divine. Of course, Marcella’s recipes are some of our favorites, too. Does the meat stay pretty tender when cooked this way? I’ll try it and report back, off to the market tomorrow morning. Ciao!
Thanks, and glad you like the music. The meat gets tender along the way: at first when it cooks during the first 15 minutes it gets a bit tough, then you keep cooking it for another 20 minutes or so, and it turns tender. You may have to add more water than I did in the video
From experience I have learned to get well marbled chops and avoid “hard” browning which tends to toughen chops. Let the braising do the cooking. These are simple and wonderful!
I’m with you on the simple and direct approach, I remember another one of Hazan’s recipes for porkchops with fennel seeds that I used to make a lot, I will definitely try this one, thank you so much. (when I cook Asian, that’s when the 3 ingredient formula doesn’t hold up and I have to reach further)
Oh I sort of remember that fennel recipe too, but it wasn’t in her first two books. Where was it?
Great “rant” on fat & pork chops. When I was a kid the family didn’t have a lot of money and my mother would cook pork chops 3 times a week.
Pork was extremely cheap during that time. Believe me pork tastes a lot different now than 50 years ago (better then)! Love the web site & blog — keep up the good work.
Thank you! Good fatty pork is still pretty cheap here in Umbria, so we are lucky
My mouth is watering! I love Marcella too. Will get out her cookbook again. Been so busy with cooking alla Ina Garten.
Ina is a great source too!
Elizabeth, this looks so good! I’m with you…as time has worn on, I’ve really gone the simpler is better route too…so unfussy and so delicious and I can put my elbows on the table when I gnaw the meat off the bones! Speakng of bones…chops with bones are a “MUST.” As far as the pork chops go…again they have to look like yours. We get all our pork products from an organic pork farm and their stuff is amazing…can’t remember the breed of pigs, maybe Berkshire’s…the quality of pork makes all the difference! And we do love our pork! Maybe even more than chicken (no kidding!)
Yes, bones are the best. I find it so surprising when people tell me they are ‘scared’ of bones. I just don’t get it.
Yum. In your camp on this, Elizabeth. Do not need deconstructed. Thanks.
30 minutes seems like a very long time to cook 2 not vey thick pork chops. I do something similar but rub garlic, sage and rosemary into the meat then after browning use white wine instead of tomatoes. They are usually done in 10 minutes. I’ll try the tomatoes next time, looks delicious.
Believe me, the time is right. They go through stages, first barely cooked (which is not what this recipe is about) then kind of over cooked, to almost stewed in the tomatoes (which is what you are aiming for). So the chops are VERY cooked. Almost stewed, and the meat should be tender. Again, this won’t work so well with leaner cuts. The fat is what ensures tenderness at the end.
I hear ya oinking, Elizabeth. It is going to take some courage for those of us who may or may not be using supermarket pork chops, albeit places like Whole Foods, etc… Here in GA there is nicely-raised pork to be found, but it takes some driving, and then still can be blah. But the Nonna braising method does work, and the acid in the tomatoes tenderize also. Mille graze for the Marcella reminder. (Remember how crabby she got in her advanced age about “only 3 ingredient cooking, Damn it.”) Hahaha, we’re with her now. Geez.
I find , surprisingly, the closest to old fashioned porky flavor on pork chops are from Trader Joe’s. The chops at Publix are no more interesting flavor-wise than sheetrock might be.
Great rant! I love to eat like this and I’m looking forward to making this for dinner.
The video was delightful! I loved the shot of you ravaging the sage – your sage plants look very happy. So often sage is finicky for me (don’t move me, don’t overplant me, not too much sun, not too little). I love little pots of things growing that are useful too. Thank you!
Nice and simple recipe. That`s why I love Italian Cuisine so much. It`s delicious and so simple. Since I discovered that kind of food I am not interested anymore in what all the Tv chefs and star chefs tell me about food. No little towers, little foams and gimmicks for me please, it`s too time – consuming and complicated for the every day cuisine.
Greetz
Marcella is my go to always if I have an ingredient and want some inspiration. She came to Australia many years ago and I attended a class – she was a brilliant teacher, if a little stern! As you say – and as Marcella says – the long moist cooking is what makes the chops so succulent and tender. Hard cooking makes pork seize up. Re the fennel recipe – I make one with a ground fennel, rosemary, garlic and orange rind paste, and cook it in a mixture of white wine and orange juice. Some wedged fresh fennel in with it is delicious as well.
The fennel recipe sounds delicious!
Hey! Hi. I picked up 2 chops at my farmer’s market last weekend ($12 each!) and made this last night. Amazingly delicious. Juicy meat. And the tomato flavour intensifies as it cooks–will definitely put this on my favourites list to make again.
Love this video & the music!! So fun! We’re making this tonight to go with our cacio e pepe. I hit the Italian market today and am ready!
Just made tonight (your recent dinner party, bean & zucchini soup post, sent me here). Easy, quick & scrumptious. Thank you for sharing. I can’t wait to make for my parents when I visit them soon.
It’s a good one! Glad you found it!
Hi, I have loved this recipe for years as well. Any good ideas for what veggie to serve along-side for a dinner party? Planning on polenta and ?? Thanks!
Since the sauce is so strong and tomatoey I would stay with something simple on the side. Roasted cauliflower, steamed broccoli or sound good to me!