Pan-Fried Pork Chops and Gravy

This is a really basic, simple, yet tasty pork chop recipe that feels, "Just like the way Grandma used to make 'em" kind of comfort food. It almost feels a little too simple to post as a recipe, but if you don't know how to do it, then you DO need a recipe, so here you go! I included all the directions with tips for beginners below.

Basics: You are going to season your pork chops with salt and pepper, then dredge them in seasoned flour before cooking on the stove. Then you are going to use the dripping in the bottom of the pan to make a simple gravy.

Pan-Fried Pork Chops and Gravy

• pork chops (bone-in or boneless)
• salt, pepper, garlic powder
• flour
• butter and/or olive oil

Gravy:

• 2 Tbl minced garlic
• 2 Tbl flour
• 1/2 cup chicken broth or water
• heavy whipping cream, 1/2- 1 pint
• 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
• 1/4 tsp each garlic powder, paprika and onion powder

Directions:

1. Season your chops on both sides to your liking with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
2. Mix together flour with more salt, pepper and garlic powder.  For about four chops, you can try using about 1 cup of flour. You can change up the proportions to your tastes, but for one cup of flour, maybe start with 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp each pepper and garlic powder. Place flour mixture into a shallow dish for dredging.
3. Over medium heat, either melt approximately 2 Tbl of butter and/or 2 Tbl of olive oil. You can use one, or the other, or both.
4. Dredge your pork chops on both sides in the flour mixture and put into the hot pan/butter/oil.
5. Cook for approximately 4-5 minutes on each side until no longer pink in the middle, or until your chops reach an internal temperature of about170 degrees with a meat thermometer. Times will vary depending on the thickness of the chops.
6. Remove cooked chops from pan and set aside. 
7. Into the pan you just removed the chops from, add your minced garlic and flour and stir to combine and cook for a minute or so. If your pan is now too dry because the chops soaked up all the butter/oil during cooking, you can had another spoonful of butter to the pan. Then add your 1/2 cup broth (or water) and deglaze the pan by scraping up all the bits stuck to the bottom. If the broth (water) is not enough liquid to really help you scrape up the bottom of the pan, you can also start adding your heavy cream (or milk) at this point until you can stir everything together well and get all the bits up.
8. At this point, you can slowly keep adding enough liquid (milk/cream) until you get the consistency of gravy that you are happy with. If it's too tight, add more liquid (I used an entire pint of heavy cream in my batch). If it's too runny, either boil it down to a thicker consistency or carefully add small amount of additional flour to thicken (stirring vigorously with a gravy whisk to prevent lumps).
9. Time to taste-test and add your seasonings. You can start by adding the recommended 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper, along with 1 tsp each of garlic powder, paprika and onion powder, or any other seasoning combination that you like. If you want to keep it simple, just use salt and pepper.
10. That's it! You can add the cooked chops back to the pan with the gravy to coat and reheat through, or pour the gravy over the chops on a serving dish, or serve both items separately.