Country Fried Pork Chopsfried okra & squash · smashed potatoes · white pepper gravy
Scroll down · The porch light's on
Southern Supper · Serves 2 to 4
One skillet. The first cold night.
~60 min · Cast Iron + Oven
Tap any timer to start it · They run along the bottom
This is the plate that shows up the first night you can open the windows. Buttermilk and seasoned flour, one skillet of hot oil doing all the frying, potatoes crisping in the oven while you work, and a pan of pepper gravy made in the drippings at the very end. Nothing on it is fancy. All of it is the reason people drive home for the weekend.
The Pantry · What You Need
Everything on the counter.
Two dredges share one bowl of buttermilk. The chops get seasoned flour for a craggy crust, and the okra and squash get cornmeal for crunch. One skillet of oil fries everything in order, and the leftover drippings become the gravy.
The Chops
4pork chops, 1/2 in thick, bone-in or boneless
1 cupbuttermilk
1 cupall-purpose flour
1.5 tspkosher salt
1 tspblack pepper
1 tsp eachgarlic powder, onion powder, paprika
1/4 tspcayenne
Okra & Squash
3/4 lbfresh okra, cut in 1/2 in coins
1yellow squash, 1/4 in rounds
3/4 cupyellow cornmeal
1/4 cupflour
1 tspkosher salt, plus more after frying
1/2 tspblack pepper
pinchcayenne
Smashed Potatoes
1.5 lbbaby gold potatoes
3 tbspolive oil or bacon grease
to tasteflaky salt + black pepper
optfresh thyme or chives
White Pepper Gravy
3 tbspdrippings from the skillet
3 tbspflour
2 cupswhole milk
1 tspcoarse black pepper, or more
to tastesalt
For Frying
2 cupsvegetable or peanut oil
112 in cast iron skillet
1wire rack over a sheet pan
1thermometer
Two Things That Make or Break It
Oil at 350°F. Cooler and the breading drinks oil and goes greasy. Hotter and the crust burns before the chop is cooked. A clip-on thermometer is worth more than any technique on this page.
Drain on a rack, never paper towels. Paper towels trap steam under fried food and the bottom goes soft in two minutes. A rack keeps every side crisp.
The Game Plan
One skillet, in order.
0:00Oven to 450°F. Potatoes into cold salted water and bring to a boil.
0:10Set up the dredge: buttermilk, seasoned flour, cornmeal mix. Chops soak in buttermilk.
0:25Potatoes drained and smashed, into the oven. Oil heating in the skillet.
0:30Fry the okra and squash in batches. Rack.
0:40Fry the chops. Rack.
0:48Gravy in the same skillet. Potatoes come out.
0:55Plates down, gravy over everything, windows open.
01
Step One · The Potatoes
Boil, smash, roast.
Potatoes · Pot then Oven 450°F
Boil
Steam dry2 minutes in the colander
Roast
~47 minhands off almost the whole time
These go first because they take the longest and need the least attention. Boiled until tender, smashed flat, and roasted hard so the edges go shattering-crisp while the insides stay creamy.
A · Cold Water Start
Potatoes into a pot of cold water, salted like the sea, then bring to a boil. Starting cold cooks them evenly from edge to center. Boil until a knife slides into the biggest one with no resistance, about 20 minutes.
B · Steam Dry and Smash
Drain and let them sit in the colander two full minutes so the surface steam burns off. Dry potatoes crisp. Wet potatoes steam. Oil a sheet pan, spread them out, and press each one flat with the bottom of a glass or mug until it's about half an inch thick and the edges crack open. The cracks are where the crunch happens.
C · Oil and Roast
Drizzle with oil or bacon grease, salt and pepper generously, and into the 450°F oven for about 25 minutes, until the edges are deep golden and crackly. No flipping. They'll hold in the oven on low while you fry if they finish early.
♪ Press playAutumn Leaves· Nat King Cole
02
Step Two · The Dredge
Buttermilk, then flour, then wait.
Dredge Station
Buttermilk soak
Coat and rest
Three bowlsone wet, two dry
Set this up while the potatoes boil. Three shallow bowls in a row: buttermilk in the middle, seasoned flour on one side for the chops, cornmeal mix on the other for the vegetables.
A · Soak the Chops
Salt and pepper both sides of the chops, then into the buttermilk. Ten minutes is plenty for chops this thin. The buttermilk tenderizes and gives the flour something to grab.
B · Flour Them Twice
Pull each chop from the buttermilk, press it into the seasoned flour on both sides, dip it back in the buttermilk, then flour again. The double dip is what builds the craggy, crunchy crust that holds gravy. Onto a rack.
C · Let the Coating Set
Five minutes on the rack before frying. The flour hydrates and turns into a paste that stays on in the oil. Skip this and the breading slides off in sheets.
D · Coat the Vegetables
Toss the okra and squash in the leftover buttermilk, let the extra drip off, and roll them in the cornmeal mix until they're fully covered. Onto a separate plate. Fresh okra only for this; frozen weeps water and won't crisp.
Why Cornmeal for the Vegetables
Flour on okra goes soft fast. Cornmeal fries up gritty and crunchy and stays that way on the plate, which is the whole appeal of Southern fried okra.
♪ Cook toLong Black Veil· Johnny Cash
Halfway There
Porch light on. Skillet hot. Leaves on the windshield.
03
Step Three · Okra & Squash
Small batches, hot oil, salt right away.
Fry · Cast Iron at 350°F
Heat oil
Batch 1
Batch 2
Salt hotseasoning only sticks while they're still wet with oil
The vegetables fry first. They hold well on a rack, and the oil is cleanest now, before the chops add flour and browned bits.
A · Heat the Oil
About half an inch of oil in the cast iron over medium-high. Bring it to 350°F, which takes around 7 minutes. No thermometer? A pinch of cornmeal should sizzle hard the second it hits.
B · Fry in Batches
Okra first, one layer, not touching. Crowding drops the temperature and everything goes greasy. Fry about 3 to 4 minutes, turning once, until deep golden. Squash next, same time. Lift out with a slotted spoon onto the rack.
C · Salt Immediately
Sprinkle salt over each batch the second it comes out. Seasoning only sticks while the surface is still glistening with oil. Let the oil come back up to 350°F between batches.
♪ Cook toMidnight Rider· The Allman Brothers Band
04
Step Four · The Chops
Golden, one flip, 145°F.
Chops · Same Skillet, 350°F
Side one
Side two
Rest
145°FUSDA safe for pork, rests juicy
Thin chops fry fast, so the crust and the inside finish together. Two at a time in a 12 inch skillet. Four crowds the pan and they steam.
A · Lay Them Away From You
Oil back at 350°F. Lay each chop into the skillet away from you so any splash goes the other direction. 3 to 4 minutes without moving it, until the underside is deep golden.
B · One Flip
Flip once with tongs. Another 3 minutes, then check the thickest part: 145°F. Bone-in runs a minute longer than boneless.
C · Rest on the Rack
Onto the rack for 5 minutes, same rule as everything else fried tonight. Paper towels would steam that crust soft.
♪ Cook toTennessee Whiskey· Chris Stapleton
05
Step Five · The Gravy
Drippings, flour, milk, a lot of pepper.
Gravy · Same Skillet, Medium
Roux
Milk and simmer
~2 cupsenough to cover all of it
Everything the chops left in that skillet is flavor. White gravy is the roux kept pale, then thinned with milk and loaded with black pepper until it looks almost gray with it.
A · Pour Off, Keep the Bits
Carefully pour the hot oil into a heat-safe container, leaving about 3 tablespoons of fat and all the browned bits in the skillet. Heat down to medium.
B · Make the Roux
Whisk in the flour and cook about 90 seconds, stirring the whole time, until it smells toasty and loses the raw flour smell. Keep it pale gold. Darker than that and you're making brown gravy.
C · Milk, Slowly
Pour the milk in a little at a time, whisking hard, scraping up every browned bit. Simmer about 4 minutes until it coats a spoon and holds a line when you drag your finger through it. It keeps thickening off the heat, so pull it a touch loose.
D · Pepper Like You Mean It
A full teaspoon of coarse black pepper, then taste, then probably more. Salt last, since the drippings already brought some. Too thick, a splash of milk. Too thin, one more minute.
♪ Plate toCarolina in My Mind· James Taylor
Two Plates
Same skillet, built two ways.
Everything comes out of one pan of oil and one sheet pan. Gravy goes over the chop and the potatoes, never over the fried okra, which needs to stay crisp.
Chris
The Full Supper
Two fried chops, gravy over
Smashed potatoes, more gravy
A pile of fried okra and squash
Hot sauce on the table
Lauren
Lighter Plate
One or two fried chops, gravy on the side
Extra fried squash, skip the potatoes
Fried okra
Lemon wedge for the squash
If She Wants It Lower Carb
The breading carries most of the carbs on her plate. Dredge her chop and squash in almond flour or crushed pork rinds seasoned the same way, same buttermilk, same oil, same timing. It fries up just as crunchy.
The Soundtrack · Screen Door Open
Crisp air, old songs.
01Autumn LeavesNat King Cole
02Long Black VeilJohnny Cash
03Midnight RiderThe Allman Brothers Band
04Tennessee WhiskeyChris Stapleton
05Carolina in My MindJames Taylor
Nat King Cole opens because nobody has ever sung about falling leaves better. Johnny Cash brings the ghost story while you dredge, the Allman Brothers ride along with the hot oil, and James Taylor walks you to the table with gravy on everything.
The Pour
What to drink.
While You Fry
Shiner Bock
Dark, malty, barely bitter, and as Texas as the skillet. It sits right next to fried pork and pepper gravy without getting in the way. Ice cold from the bottle.
At the Table
Bourbon Apple Highball
Fall in a glass. Cider brings the orchard, ginger beer brings the bite, and bourbon makes it supper.
2 ozbourbon
3 ozapple cider, cold
1/2 ozlemon juice
topginger beer
garnishapple slice, cinnamon stick
If You'd Rather Wine
Beaujolais or Chenin Blanc
Fried food and cream gravy want acid. A cool Beaujolais if you want red, or a dry Vouvray Chenin Blanc if you want white. Both cut the richness and reset you for the next bite.
For the Tracker
Macros.
Chris · Full Supper
Two chops, potatoes, okra & squash, gravy
Cal
~1150
Protein
62g
Carbs
95g
Fat
55g
Lauren · Lighter Plate
One chop, okra & squash, gravy on the side
Cal
~620
Protein
34g
Carbs
38g
Fat
34g
Honest numbers: this is fried supper, and the oil the breading absorbs is the hardest thing to count. Frying at a true 350°F keeps that down. Almond flour or pork rind breading drops Lauren's plate to roughly 15g of carbs. Ballpark, as always.