Pork Chop and Potato Scallop

My hero

When I was 17 and trying out for Girl's State, I was asked this question: "Who is your hero?" "My grandma," I replied, and the audience laughed. I thought that was strange, so I went on to explain exactly why she was my hero. The audience laughed again.   

Mystified, I later asked my parents what was so funny. They said my cousin, who had been in the hot seat right before me, had said exactly the same things. 

That's the kind of woman Grandma was. However, it seems that even a heroic woman can sometimes get things wrong. Take this recipe, for example. Look closely at the quantity of water and tell me if it seems right. No? It didn't seem right to me either. However, I'd had doubts about a recipe and things had worked out fine. I decided to go ahead and test the recipe as written.  

How not to make Pork Chop and Potato Scallop

As instructed, I browned four pork chops. This required the addition of a little oil to the pan.  

While the chops were browning, I peeled and sliced four cups of potatoes. 

So far so good. 

Once I mixed the rest of the ingredients, though, things went south. What was supposed to be a sauce that I could layer with the potatoes was instead a brimming pot of soupy liquid.  

I tried layering but got floating instead. And when the pork chops were placed on top, they immediately sunk and hovered just below the surface like a pack of alligators waiting for their prey. 

I had so many doubts. And yet, I persisted. I put the baking dish into the oven and baked it at the stated 375 degrees for one hour. It looked pretty much the same when it came out. 

I stuck a thermometer into one of the chops to make sure it had reached an acceptable temperature. The potatoes were tender enough to pierce with a fork. Everything seemed okay, it just wasn't the dish I remembered eating when I was growing up. Served up, it didn't look bad. The sauce was just really runny. 

How did it taste? Well, the pork chops were a little chewy, but the potatoes were fine. The sauce, however, was bland. Overall, it was edible but not something to shout about on Instagram. While we were eating, my mother said, "Isn't this recipe in our family cookbook?" 

Wait . . . what? 

I went to get the family cookbook my sister-in-law typed up years ago, and, sure enough, there it was. The same recipe. And yet, not. 

It called for a quarter of a cup of water not four cups. Now, that made more sense. It also meant that Grandma had made at least one mistake in her life. (Okay, maybe two. Remember this cooking disaster?)

Well, nobody's perfect. 

So, what was I to do? I couldn't leave Grandma's wrong recipe on the interwebs for everyone to judge her by. I had to test the real recipe too. So that's what I did. 

The right way to make Pork Chop and Potato Scallop

The cutting of the potatoes and the browning of the chops went exactly as before. But when it came time to mix the sauce, things looked much different. It was thicker and creamier, possibly due to all that sour cream. 

By the way, I used Cream of Chicken soup instead of Cream of Mushroom because my family prefers it. This thicker sauce actually formed layers with the potatoes. 

And the chops sat on the top like they were supposed to do. 

Because we were eating this dish twice within the space of one week, I decided I might as well test one more thing. Instead of baking it in the oven, I layered the ingredients in a slow cooker and set it to low for about 5 hours. I've had success cooking pork chops that way, so I was curious to see if they would be more tender than the baked-for-an-hour version. 

The Verdict

"This is much better than last time." Those were my husband's exact words, and I had to agree. The chops were fork tender and the sauce was extra creamy. The flavor is quite mellow and could lend itself to the addtion of some different herbs or spices to jazz it up. But if you're looking for good ole comfort food, this dish qualifies. 

Try it for youself! Click on the recipe to download or print it out.