Cast Iron Skillet Pork Chops

I love my cast iron skillet. It’s a 10 inch Lodge skillet with pour spouts that I inherited from my grandmother, it’s perfect. I was so distraught this weekend when I thought I’d completely ruined it. I preheated my oven Sunday night to heat up some corn tortillas for fish tacos, and to my dismay realized I’d left my skillet in the oven after seasoning it a few nights before.  I found that a strange hard, sticky film had formed on the surface of my skillet.

Here’s what I learned about cast iron this weekend. First, some oils turn into a tar-like film when they are taken past their smoke points! Second, to get the film off, I suppose I could have used steel wool, but I didn’t have any and that seems way too abrasive. One trick I read online was to heat up the skillet on the stove, pour kosher salt in it and cut a potato in half and use the potato and salt to scrub off anything stuck to the surface. The salt and potato scrub took the film off in a snap, but then I needed to re-season it.

There are so many different opinions about what to season cast iron with. I read lard, bacon fat, crisco, and vegetable oil, even coconut oil or butter. One article I read said that all of these are wrong and to only use food grade linseed oil, or flax-seed oil (which has a very low smoke point, so I’m not so sure about this one).

I didn’t have any flax-seed oil, but like any good southern cook, I keep a container of bacon fat in my refrigerator at all times. After scrubbing off the film with salt and a potato, I coated all sides of my skillet with bacon fat, turned it upside-down on the top rack of my 350 degree preheated oven, and placed a sheet pan on the rack below it. I only left it in there for about 15 minutes because I started to smell the bacon fat, but I read everything from 15 minutes to an hour and a half in my research. With so many different techniques, I just decided to go my usual route and do it my own way, which turned out ok. I think, no matter what oil you use when seasoning cast iron, the key is not to let the oil reach it’s smoke point.

Having successfully cleaned and re-seasoned my skillet I had to do the next logical thing…Cook something in it! So I made a dish that everyone in my family loves. Here’s hoping your’s does too!

Smothered Pork Chops with Apples, Onions and Mushrooms

• 4 bacon slices
• 4 bone in center cut pork chops
• 4 tbs. dijon mustard divided
• 2 tbs. vegetable oil
• 2 onion sliced (root to tip)
• 1 C. button or cremini mushrooms sliced
• 1 fuji apple peeled, cored, sliced
• 2 tbs. flour
• 1 C. white wine (chardonay)
• 2 C. beef broth or vegetable stock
• kosher salt
• fresh cracked black pepper

1. In a medium cast iron skillet, cook bacon till crispy, reserve for garnish. Pour off bacon fat (reserve, cool and refrigerate). While bacon cooks, season one side of each pork chop with salt and pepper. Smear 1 tbs. dijon mustard on one side of each chop.
2. Wipe out cast iron skillet with paper towel folded into a thick pad. Melt 1 tbs of the reserved bacon fat in pan on medium-high heat. Sear pork chops seasoned side down and season other side with salt and pepper. Cook 3 minutes on each side, remove from pan and cover.
3. Wipe out pan again, melt 1 tbs butter in pan. Saute onions, and mushrooms on medium heat about 10 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high, add apples, saute about 5 minutes. Push vegetables and apples to sides of pan, stir in flour. Cook about 2 minutes.
4. Deglase pan with wine, simmer until almost dry (au sec). Add beef broth (or vegetable stock) bring to simmer, turn down to medium low and simmer about 10 minutes. Return chops and juices to pan, cover and simmer about 13 minutes.
5. Serve with cooked rice or cooked pasta. Steamed broccoli or asparagus would also go well with this dish.