Barbecued Pork Chop Supper

January 2022. Deep winter. Angela is past her due date — the baby comfortable, apparently, in the warm darkness of the womb, in no rush to meet the Alaskan January that waits outside. "The baby is cozy," Angela said, annoyed. "The baby doesn't know what negative fifteen feels like." The baby will learn. All Alaskan babies learn. The learning starts at the first breath — the cold air, the shock of a world that is darker and colder than the world inside, the introduction to a state that will test you from day one and love you in equal measure.

I'm on standby. Phone charged. Volume up. The hospital bag is in Angela's car. James has driven the route to Providence three times to verify the optimal path, because James is an engineer and engineers optimize routes the way Lourdes optimizes garlic — compulsively, lovingly, with the absolute conviction that the correct amount is always more than you think.

I made tinola — the gentle soup, the waiting soup, the ginger chicken soup for the days between "any day now" and "today." The ginger was strong. The broth was warm. I ate it standing up and then sat down and the correction was automatic now, the five-and-a-half-year practice of standing-to-sitting that Dr. Reeves would note with quiet approval if I told her, which I won't, because some practices become so integrated that mentioning them feels like mentioning breathing.

The tinola carried me through the first few days of standby, but by day three the broth needed a companion — something with more weight to it, something that could hold its heat on the stove while I refreshed my phone for the hundredth time and James recalculated his route to Providence for the fourth. A barbecued pork chop supper is exactly that kind of meal: unhurried, generous, smelling of something good happening without anyone having to tend it. It felt right for a kitchen that was already full of waiting — one more warm thing doing its quiet work in the background, ready when we were.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 55 min | Total Time: 1 hr 10 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

4 bone-in pork loin chops (about 3/4 inch thick, 6–7 oz each)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon neutral oil (vegetable or canola)
1 medium yellow onion, sliced into rings
3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 cup barbecue sauce (store-bought or homemade)
1/4 cup chicken broth or water
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Fresh parsley, chopped, for serving (optional)

Instructions

Preheat and season. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Pat the pork chops dry with paper towels and season both sides with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika.
Sear the chops. Heat the oil in a large oven-safe skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sear the pork chops 2–3 minutes per side until lightly browned. Transfer to a plate and set aside — they don’t need to be cooked through yet.
Soften the onion. Reduce heat to medium. Add the sliced onion to the same pan and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4–5 minutes until softened and just beginning to color.
Add potatoes and sauce. Nestle the potato chunks around the onions. Stir together the barbecue sauce, chicken broth, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce in a small bowl, then pour the mixture evenly over the potatoes and onions.
Return the chops. Lay the seared pork chops on top of the potato mixture, pressing them down gently so they are partially submerged in the sauce.
Bake, covered. Cover the skillet tightly with a lid or foil and bake for 35 minutes.
Finish uncovered. Remove the cover and bake an additional 15–20 minutes, until the sauce has thickened slightly, the potatoes are fork-tender, and the chops are cooked through (internal temperature of 145°F).
Rest and serve. Let the pan rest 5 minutes before serving. Spoon sauce and potatoes over each chop and scatter fresh parsley on top if you like.

Nutrition (per serving)

Barbecued Pork Chop Supper — Something Warm for the Long, Hopeful Wait